Nieszpory – wokalno-instrumentalna forma w polskiej muzyce religijnej XVIII wieku na przykładzie twórczości S. F. Lechleitnera

Abstract

Vespers, besides the mass, the litany and the passion represented the main part of the repertory of choirs and instrumental groups in Polish diocesian and monastic churches. In the XVIII century the following kinds of vespers were known and used in the liturgy: de Dominica, de Confessore, de Martyribus, Vespeae Angelorum, de Nativitate Domini, de Beata, Vesperae Apostolorum, de Corpore Christi. Depending on the holiday's rank, the composers used to compose the following kinds of vespers: solemniores, breviores, brevissimae, partiales. The vespers by Lechleitner under discussion which are kept in the library of the Seminary in Sandomierz, consist of polyphonic introductory verset, five psalms and a Magnificat. The psalm compositions were eleborated by means of two types: a polysegmented type, made up of short, contrastive segments, and of a polypartial type where the segments were as big as parts. The eleboratlons of the "Magnificat" refer to the polypartial construction of the psalms. The doxology in the psalms and in the "Magnificat" refer to the polypartial construction of the psalms. The doxology in the psalms and in the "Magnificat" was treated by the composer either mono-segmentally or bi-segmentally or even tri-segmentally. In two psalms ("Beatus vir" and "Laudate pueri") Lechleitner applied the rondo scheme. Moreover, in the psalms and in the "canticum Mariae" we also meet some autonomous forms: aria, arioso, duet, trio and fugue. The analysis of Lechleitner's vespers enables us to become acquainted with a very trustworthy and pretty rich stock-in-trade of a composer who is so far hardly known in the literature and in the repertory of contemporary church groups. The vespers themselves should be classified as Vesperae solemniores.