Polish fiddling

The Music of Poland covers diverse aspects of music and musical traditions which have originated, and are practiced in Poland. Artists from Poland include world-famous classical composers like Frédéric Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki; renowned pianists like Karl Tausig, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Arthur Rubinstein and Krystian Zimerman; as well as popular music artists, and traditional, regionalised folk music ensembles that create a rich and lively music scene at the grassroots level. The musicians of Poland, over the course of history, have developed and popularized a variety of music genres and folk dances such as mazurka, polonaise, krakowiak, kujawiak, polska partner dance, oberek; as well as the sung poetry genre (''poezja śpiewana'') and others. Mazurka (Mazur), Krakowiak, Kujawiak, Oberek and Polonaise (Polonez) are registered as Polish National Dances, originating in early Middle Ages. The oldest of them is Polonaise that comes from the Medieval pageant dances and it was originally called "chodzony", a "walking dance".

Polish music exhibits influences from a broad variety of world music styles which are represented by critically acclaimed bands, such as Perfect (Zbigniew Hołdys), Status Qwo, Maanam (Kora), T.Love, Golec uOrkiestra, Budka Suflera, Czerwone Gitary, Dżem, Big Cyc, as well as many other renowned artists, e.g. Czesław Niemen, Magdalena Ostrowska, Jacek Kaczmarski, Wojciech Młynarski, Czesław Mozil, Jakob Węgiel, Marek Grechuta, and contemporary singer-songwriters and pop icons including Margaret, Maria Peszek, Myslovitz, Edyta Bartosiewicz, and Doda; jazz musicians Tomasz Stańko, Krzysztof Komeda, Włodek Pawlik, Adam Makowicz, Leszek Możdżer, and Michał Urbaniak; death and black metal music bands Behemoth, Vader, and Decapitated; and film and contemporary classical music composers Wojciech Kilar, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Zbigniew Preisner, Abel Korzeniowski, Krzesimir Dębski, and Krzysztof Meyer, among many others.

Classical music

Medieval and Renaissance

The origin of Polish music can be traced as far back as the 13th century, from which manuscripts have been found in Stary Sącz, containing polyphonic compositions related to the Parisian Notre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody of ''Bogurodzica'', may also date back to this period. The first known notable composer, Mikołaj z Radomia, lived in the 15th century.

During the 16th century, mostly two musical ensembles – both based in Kraków and belonging to the King and the Archbishop of Wawel – led the rapid innovation of Polish music. Composers writing during this period include Wacław z Szamotuł, Mikołaj Zieleński, Nicolaus Cracoviensis, Marcin Leopolita and Mikołaj Gomółka, who composed "Melodies to Polish Psalter". Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków from about the age of five, became one of the most famous lutenists at the court of Sigismund III, and not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe, but blended them with native folk music.

Baroque

During the 17th century, Polish composers from this period focused on baroque religious music, concertos for voices, instruments, and basso continuo, a tradition that continued into the 18th century. The most renowned composer of this period is Adam Jarzębski, known for his instrumental works such as ''Chromatica'', ''Tamburetta'', ''Sentinella'', ''Bentrovata'', and ''Nova Casa''. Other composers include Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, Franciszek Lilius, Bartłomiej Pękiel, Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński and Marcin Mielczewski. Also, in the last years of the 16th century and the first part of the 17th century, a number of Italian musicians were guests at the royal courts of Sigismund III and Władysław IV. These included Luca Marenzio, Giovanni Francesco Anerio, and Marco Scacchi.

In addition, a tradition of operatic production began in Warsaw in 1628, with a performance of ''Galatea'' (composer uncertain), the first Italian opera produced outside Italy. Shortly after this performance, the court produced Francesca Caccini's opera ''La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d’Alcina'', which she had written for Prince Władysław three years earlier when he was in Italy. Another first, this is the earliest surviving opera written by a woman. When Władysław was king (as Władysław IV) he oversaw the production of at least ten operas during the late 1630s and 1640s, making Warsaw a center of the art. The composers of these operas are not known: they may have been Poles working under Marco Scacchi in the royal chapel, or they may have been among the Italians imported by Władysław.

Classical and Romantic

At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like the Polonaise and Mazurka — perhaps the first distinctively Polish art music. Polonaises for piano were and remain popular, such as those by Michał Kleofas Ogiński, Karol Kurpiński, Juliusz Zarębski, Henryk Wieniawski, Józef Elsner, and, most famously, Frédéric Chopin. Chopin remains very well known, and is regarded for composing a wide variety of works, including mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes and concertos, and using traditional Polish elements in his pieces. The same period saw Stanisław Moniuszko, the leading individual in the successful development of Polish opera, still renowned for operas like ''Halka'' and ''The Haunted Manor''. The first national opera, '' Krakowiacy i Górale'' written by Wojciech Bogusławski and Jan Stefani premiered on 1 March 1794. In the 19th century the most popular composers were Maria Agata Szymanowska, Franciszek Lessel, and Ignacy Dobrzyński. Important opera composers were Karol Kurpiński and Stanisław Moniuszko. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the most prominent composers were Władysław Żeleński and Mieczysław Karłowicz. Karol Szymanowski gained prominence prior to World War II. Józef Koffler was the first Polish twelve-tone composer (dodecaphonist).

Contemporary

Between the wars, a group of new and emerging composers formed the Association of Young Polish Musicians; which included future luminaries Grażyna Bacewicz, Zygmunt Mycielski, Michał Spisak and Tadeusz Szeligowski.

Following World War II and the country becoming a communist system, some composers, such as Roman Palester and Andrzej Panufnik, fled the country and remained in exile. In the early 1960s, a number of Polish composers formed the Polish Composers' School, characterized by the use of sonorism and dodecaphonism. The style emerged from the political crisis in 1956, following Stalin's death. In the same year the Warsaw Autumn music festival was inaugurated, both closely connected. According to conductor Antoni Wit composers were given artistic freedom because the Polish regime wasn't as harsh as other Eastern European dictatorships and music wasn't considered ideologically relevant unlike literature, theater or cinema. Composers from the "Polish School" included Tadeusz Baird, Bogusław Schaeffer, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Witold Szalonek, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar, Kazimierz Serocki, Tomasz Sikorski, Zygmunt Krauze and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.

More modern classical and jazz composers include Krzysztof Meyer, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Paweł Szymański, Krzesimir Dębski, Hanna Kulenty, Eugeniusz Knapik, Paweł Łukaszewski, Paweł Mykietyn, Maciej Zieliński, Marcel Chyrzyński, Marta Ptaszynska, Agata Zubel and Maciej Bałenkowski.

Recordings

The Polskie Nagrania Muza was the state recording company, from 1956. Following the fall of communism it was bought by Warner Music Poland. It dealt with the wide range of music tastes, folk, popular, classical and children's music.

Traditional folk music

Polish folk music was collected in the 19th century by Oskar Kolberg

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