MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FRIENDS OF THIS CHANNEL!!!!! from GRZEGORZ

Hej w Dzień Narodzenia [Hey, On Christmas Day!] Kolęda (Polish Christmas Carol) - Eugeniusz Mossakowski, baryton Opery Warszawskiej, Syrena-Electro 1929 (Polish)

NOTE : The singing of Christmas carols (kolędy) is extremely popular in Poland, and the Poles possess an exceptionally vast songbook of ancient tunes traditionally sung this time of year. Carolling is typically reserved until Christmas Eve (Wigilia) and afterwards continues into the New Year until Three Kings Day on January 6th. Aside from the cavalcade of carols sung in church, carolling outside of church in many cases takes on the form of skits and dressing in costume shows called jasełka (Nativity plays) acted out by children or other community groups, often in school or sometimes door-to-door. From musical point of view, Polish carols are almost all anonymous, having been composed by the people. Their origins date from the 15th century, many from the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the oldest: W Zlobie Lezy (He's lying in a manger) credited in the 15th century, is considered the first Polonaise (today - a national Polish social dance). In general, Polish carols have folk song character, the melodies are lively or tender, often humorous - typical of the Polish peasant or mountaineer character. They usually contain folk dance rhythms like the Krakowiak , the Oberek or the Mazurka. There is a native unconscious poetry about all of them referring to the Infant Jesus, being so poor and homeless, born in a stable surrounded by the familiar domestic animals – the picture which appeals to the heart and the imagination of every Pole. Thus Bethlehem becomes a Polish village and Jesus is born in Poland. The carol presented here is “Hej w Dzień Narodzenia” and it appears for the first time in the Polish carols songbook of 1843. The music contains elements of the Mazurka dance, although it is sung by Mossakowski in a more solemn way.

Eugeniusz MOSSAKOWSKI (b. in Warsaw 1885 - d. in Warsaw 1958) was one of the prime names in history of the Warsaw Opera. Student of the European famous tenor Wacław Brzeziński, he was employed in the Grand Theatre of Warsaw in 1921 and until his death in 1858 he remained associated with that stage. In 1926 he starred in the world pra-premiere of Karol Szymanowski’s opera King Roger. During the late 1920s through 1930s Mossakowski recorded numerous sides with the operatic and popular song repertoire for Syrena-Electro, Parlophon and Odeon.

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