The history of the organs in the Cistercian Abbey in Kraków-Mogiła has not been studied so far. The article elaborates this topic based on the results of an archival query. Most of the sources are   preserved in the Cistercian Archive in Mogiła. Examining them, the author discusses the history of instruments in the monastic church and in the former St Bartholomew church. On the basis of the sources, it was stated that at least in the 18th century the monastery church was equipped with two pipe organs. This fact has not been pointed out so far by researchers. The following article is supplemented by archival photographs.

The Archive of St Joseph’s Convent in Kraków contains a collection of musical manuscripts, which have not been studied before. Among books of liturgical use, such as graduals and antiphonaries, there are also small cantionales, full of canto fratto repertoire. The majority of these sources originate from the Convent of Bernardine Nuns in Kraków; however, there are also at least two manuscripts from the Convent in Wilno. The aim of this paper is to present canto fratto repertoire of Benedicamus Domino found in the 18th and 19th century liturgical manuscripts from the Convent of Bernardine Nuns in Kraków. The author indicates sources of studied melodies based on the wide range of liturgical manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries—especially from convents of Bernardine Nuns in Poland, as well as from the Convent of Benedictine Friars in Staniątki—and compares it to the dispersal of canto fratto settings of ordinarium missae. Finally, the paper presents complete index of Benedicamus Domino melodies in the annex.

Infant prodigies were a common phenomenon in the 19th century. They astonished the audience not only through their impressive abilities, but also the innocent beauty and the youthful grace. The perfect example of this is Apolinary Kątski (1826–1879), a violin virtuoso and a composer, known mainly as the founder of the Institute of Music in Warsaw, who, since he was three, was recognizable in concert halls all over Europe.
According to the author, the early stage of the violinist’s activity requires more attention. The presented article sketches the path of young Apolinary’s life from the moment of his first performance in 1829 to May 1838, when he was granted with the famous recommendation of Niccolò Paganini. It introduced him to numerous concert halls of Europe and positively influenced his further artistic activity. The hereby presented paper makes an attempt to find out the date and place of birth of Kątski in the context of the rich musical activity of his family members. It also shows the first artistic tours of the young virtuoso against the background of his artistically talented siblings: a violinist Karol, pianists Stanisław and Antoni, and a singer Eugenia. The crucial moment are reflections on the stay of the family in Paris and their first performances in the musical centre of Europe as well as contacts of the young violinist with Niccolò Paganini.
The studies on the correspondence of the father of the virtuoso, Grzegorz Kątski, and research on the foreign newspapers let the author reconstruct the life of Apolinary Kątski in the very first stage of his musical activity and place him in the context of infant prodigies of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The main aim of this paper is to examine the discourse on Frédéric Chopin that took place in Poland in 1949, when the 100th anniversary of his birth coincided with the culmination of the socialist realist propaganda in the field of Polish culture. The discourse, initiated and moderated under effective surveillance of the Polish People’s Republic’s government, was filled with communist ideology. The authorities aimed at creating a sense of communion in the Polish nation, therefore they undertook numerous actions in the area of cultivating memory of Chopin and reception of his works. The composer was used as a banner under which the culture of socialist realism was to be consolidated. Chopin was presented by the narrators in the socialist realist context in various dimensions.
“Deep humanism”, “truth”, “optimism”, “sincerity” and “democratic features” of Chopin’s music were the crucial notions used by them. Chopin was depicted, among others, as a revolutionist and a prophet of triumph of communism. The oeuvre of Chopin was said to bring together “fraternal countries and nations”, Polish People’s Republic and Soviet Union, while being simultaneously a crucial element of class conflict. The authorities had a tendency to overemphasize folk roots of his compositions, thus among musical genres composed by Chopin the importance of Mazurka was exaggerated. Other genres without such strong folk connotations, as sonatas, ballades and scherzos, were marginalized in the discourse.

Piotr Hertel (1936–2010)—a composer of film, theatrical and stage music (among others the hit Parasolka to words of Janusz Słowikowski). He is the author of music for numerous cartoons made in the animation studio Se-Ma-For in Łódź, including soundtracks for  egendary TV series Miś Uszatek and Plastusiowy pamiętnik. The aim of the article is to characterize music composed by Hertel for the above-mentioned as well as several other movies in the context of his views on the role of music in cartoons and his compositional technique. The broader knowledge on this topic was gained thanks to the interview made with the members of Hertel’s family: his wife Jadwiga and son Michał.

In his projects, Alexander Chen (b. 1981) unites experiences as a programmer, designer, violist and indie rock musician. His Baroque.me is a virtual, audiovisual interpretation of canonical Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Like most of Chen’s projects, it is based on the code which he wrote in 2011. The fruit of the code is – in his own words – “a virtual string instrument”, “an interactive plucked instru-ment” or “an impossible harp” that is out of classification in terms of traditional typology of musical instru-ments. Grounded in mathematical fundamentals of musical string, it presents them in an attractive manner and unveils hidden geometrical beauty of well-known items.
Baroque.me could seem to be too traditional, nostalgic and naive, lacking in deeply critical approach towards postmodern society and deeply attached to premodern understanding of beauty. Its user-friendly interface, ap-pearance typical for contemporary websites and elements of gaming suggest that Chen’s work is made just for entertainment. However, it is exquisitely interesting as an example of contemporary phenomenon, which Paul Elie called “reinventing Bach”. Baroque.me merges various layers of Bach reception: romantic, modern, and finally postmodern, which connects intimacy, entertainment and – characteristic for Bach himself – fascination of science and new technology. Two possible modes of contact with the Chen’s work, that is passive contempla-tion of the old masterpiece and/or (inter)active disruption of its harmony, can be associated with the ethos of the net artist who uses new technology to entertain people and provide intellectual reflection at the same time.