This article explores the newly discovered account books of the Lviv Uniate Musical Chapel of the Bishop Leon Szeptycki. The main stay of this musical chapel was the architectural complex of the Cathedral of St George in Lviv. Today, two account books are stored in the department of old books and manuscripts of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv in the archives of the Lviv bishops; they cover the years 1760–1779. In the first two parts of the article, the author investigates the issues of the founding of the musical chapel and its place of activity. In the third part, there is a list of musicians who were members of this chapel over the years. In addition to the names and surnames, their positions, years of employment, musical instruments which they played and details of their biography are indicated. In the next part, there is a list of pupils of the chapel. It appears that the total number of pupils ranged from 2 to 14. Adult musicians and pupils played various instruments: harpsichord (“klawicymbaly”), clavichord (“klawikort”), organ, violin, alto, viola da gamba (“kwartviola”), cello (“basetla”), oboe, bassoon, trumpet and horn; there were singers as well. In the fifth part, the author specifies in what way the Lviv Uniate musical chapel was financed. In the next part, both the church and the secular musical repertoire of the musical chapel are described. In 6 this section, also information from the Warsaw periodicals are used. In the seventh part, the collaboration of the Uniate music chapel with other chapels and monastic orders, Jesuits, Dominicans and Conventual Franciscans is explored. In the last part, the author examines the information about the human settlements that are found on the pages of the account books.

Bruno Stein’s organ music in the context of pedagogical and musical activity

The purpose of this article is to present the life and organ work of Bruno Stein. The preparation for teaching was very important in Prussia, as it somehow traced a path of development for young people not only willing to be teachers but also musicians in the future. Bruno Stein, when composing organ preludes, recognised this situation and simultaneously became a model teacher as well as a composer of reliable and solid artistic achievements. The crucial element constituting the core of this article is the analysis of the selected preludes for organ. Having taken these compositions into account, one can observe the artistic means that were used by the composer, explore their style and purpose. Apart from organ works, Bruno Stein composed many other vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental pieces.

Alois Hába’s Microtonal Systems and Their Practical Use in Selected String Quartets

Alois Hába (1893–1973) was one of the most important composers developing the microtonal music in the early 20th century. The list of his works contains many pieces that were composed in quarter-, 1/5- and 1/6-tone systems. In 1927 he published the book titled Neue Harmonielehre, in which he described the innovative harmonic systems using 1/3, 1/4, 1/6 and 1/12 part of tone.

The article briefly presents Hába’s life and work and focuses on the composer’s harmonic ideas from Neue Harmonielehre. The theory of microtonality is confronted with the compositional technique through the analysis of four Hába’s string quartets: 2nd Op. 7, 11th Op. 87, 14th Op. 94 and 16th Op. 98. The analysis focuses on the aspects of microtonality: notation, vertical and horizontal us of new microtonal intervals and texture.

“Life-writing” in Aleksander Nowak's operas: Sudden Rain and Space Opera

“Life-writing”, manifesting itself in the extremely personal character of the composition, is one of the most important features of Aleksander Nowak's work, which clearly distinguish him from other composers. “Life-writing” conceals such creative inspirations as the methods and means of composing. Nowak very often draws topics or sound material of the composition from his own life experiences. At the same time, he hopes to achieve a certain type of energy or emotions, which will then to evoke the feelings that are similar to those accompanying the writing of the piece. The issue of conveying in the work any or more specific, though significant, emotions is therefore a first-rate issue. For this reason, in his works the musical tradition is often combined with the popular and well-known music. A specific representation of the idea of “life-writing” are Nowak's operas: Sudden Rain for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and chamber orchestra and two-act Space Opera for soprano, mezzo-soprano, countertenor, baritone, bass, mixed choir and symphonic orchestra.

Reflection on the lyrics of the sung poetry in its vocal-instrumental layer on the example of selected Pod Budą’s works

The subject of this article is the analysis of the selected songs – classified as ballads – of the band Pod Budą from Kraków, which purpose is to prove the thesis that the most important song codes in sung poetry are located in lyrics. This thesis is argued by the fact that vocal-instrumental parts of the work underline the importance of lyrics through suitably shaped components of a musical work. Lyrics in sung poetry emphasize therefore: agogic and melodic accents when singing in both high and low volume, and in the instrumental part, apart from the specific dynamics, also tempo. Certain musical technique also helps to trigger the imagination of the recipient as, while listening to the song, the audience can see what the vocalist sings about, that is the space and the situations in which a character of the song is located.