Mass Hymn: Przy obchodzie… History, Modifications and Contemporary Practice
Pieśń mszalna: Przy obchodzie… Historia, modyfikacje i współczesna praktyka

Summary/Abstract: Polish Mass hymns have quite a rich history and constitute an important, yet still insufficiently studied segment of the native Polish musical-liturgical tradition. In a strict sense, they are songs arranged specifically to be performed by all during the liturgy of the Mass. Historically, they were primarily nine-part cycles, modelled on the Ordinarium and Proprium Missae. They thus usually had the following structure: Introit, Gloria, Gradual, Credo, Offertory, Sanctus, Beneditus, Agnus, Ite missa est. One of the 105 Polish mass songs is a cycle intended for Marian feasts: Przy obchodzie… It was printed first time in Attachment II to Mioduszewski’s Śpiewnik Kościelny. There are a total of 35 source transmissions of this Mass song not counting all editions: Rev. Jan Siedlecki’s Śpiewnik Kościelny, Skarbiec modlitw i pieśni and Droga do nieba. To thoroughly examine the research material, this study employs an integrated methodology combining historical source inquiry, comparative and stylistic analysis, as well as liturgical interpretation. The article presents melodic as well as textual variants of this hymn, which were discovered on the basis of a search. Particular attention is devoted to the problems associated with adapting the hymn’s text to the renewed liturgy after the Second Vatican Council. In addition to presenting the history of this song, the present study also attempts a reinterpretation of the individual texts which functioned in tradition and replaced the ordinarium missae, thus making it possible to preserve the hymn from oblivion and to indicate concrete possibilities for its use within contemporary liturgical practice.

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