On the Attribution and Dating of the Edition of Władysław Żeleński’s ‘25 Preludes’, Op. 38

Jakub Woszczalski

AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2621-0994

Michał Lewicki

Jagiellonian Library, Kraków (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9201-1553

Abstract

The set of 25 Preludes, Op. 38 by Władysław Żeleński (1837–1921) counts among the most important Polish works for organ or harmonium. The composer conceived of it as a handbook of both instrumental performance and composition. The collection was thus designed for domestic music-making (on a harmonium) as well as liturgical use (some of the preludes are based on Polish church melodies). Żeleński’s preface states that one of the aims was to improve the standards of musical culture among both performers and audiences. There are also reasons to believe that the composer viewed the Op. 38 Preludes as a synthesis of his style. The collection continues to be used as one of the main organ-playing handbooks in Poland.

Reiterated in the musicological literature (incl. Revd Edward Hinz’s Zarys Historii Muzyki Kościelnej [A brief history of church music], Encyklopedia Muzyczna PWM [PWM music encyclopaedia] and Sutkowski Edition’s History of Music in Poland) is the view that several of the preludes from opus 38 were written by other composers, or that works by other composers were added to the set as a supplement.

As this article demonstrates, the questioning of Żeleński’s authorship of the 25 Preludes is groundless and clearly results from a mistake made by musicologist Jerzy Gołos, author of the first monograph of Polish organs and organ music (published in 1972). The likely reason for his erroneous attribution of several of Żeleński’s preludes is discussed here, along with the question of the erroneous dating in the literature of the first edition of Żeleński’s Op. 38, published by Kruziński & Lewi. On the basis of censors’ notes found in some editions of the Preludes, as well as press materials from the second half of the nineteenth century, it is shown that successive editions of the Preludes were issued by Gebethner & Wolff between 1897–98 and 1947 under one and the same plate number (G. 1913 W), which in turn has been misinterpreted by some authors as the date of the second edition.

Keywords:

Władysław Żeleński, 25 Preludes Op. 38, organ, harmonium