The notions of melodeclamation and melorecitation are almost synonymous with the genre definition of a song understood as multi-code unity of textual and musical components, for which the appropriate existence form is an audio realisation. Meanwhile, a broader academic research on the phenomenon of melorecitation is lacking, aside from short dictionary descriptions as well as relatively recent connection with the performance style characteristic for rap music. It seems that only there the expression of recitation is treated as something inspiring in connection with the musical element, as in other styles and genres the recitation with music in the background has become synonymous with being kitschy, vocally unskilled and characteristic for school as well as amateur performances of poetry. However, the historical tradition of melodeclamation and the modern examples of introducing recitation and melorecitation to songs with high art aspirations encourage us to looks at such practices more closely. Melorecitation can become a more widely used artistic choice amongst the professional performers (actor song, poetry song) but also a unobvious experiment by the artists using other’s voices – of the poet reciting his own poems – in their own projects. 

The purpose of this article is to analyze the communicative situation in selected Jewish and Polish-Jewish lullabies from the turn of the 20th century. The main criterion for the selection is the person of the speaking subject – successively a man and a woman, while the most important contexts of their statements include the role of the father and mother in the Jewish family, the way of coping with traumatic experiences and the absence of the partner, the subjectivity of the rocking person, and the national identity of the authors of the lullabies. The conclusion to be drawn from the analysis of the works is a change in the view of the lullaby function, which from a piece of trivial content intended to put children to sleep becomes a work that serves adults, with a clear self-therapeutic emphasis. Beyond poetological tools for text analysis, the work also includes references to psychological and musicological concepts, justified by the specifics of the research undertaken.

Artykuł przypomina sylwetki i strategie pierwszych dziewiętnastowiecznych twórców nowoczesnej piosenki: Pierre’a-Jeana de Béranger i Sotera Antoniego Rozbickiego. Obaj, choć w innych warunkach politycznych i innych kontekstach kultury (francuskiej i polskiej), tworzyli utwory dla społeczności miejskiej czasu przemian modernizacyjnych. Społeczne funkcjonowanie tych piosenek i ich losy to ważne lustro procesów związanych z nowoczesnością: z kształtowaniem się nowych typów odbiorców, a także z ustalaniem się statusu autora i wykonawcy własnych piosenek jako niezależnego obserwatora i komentatora rzeczywistości.

The article aims at describing the notion of “programme” in the Jacek Kaczmarski’s oeuvre as accurately as possible. The conclusions of Krzysztof Nowak and the category of cyclicality were mentioned in the introduction. Then the author describes forms similar to a programme – amongst others, album and song cycle. Moreover, the author points to the clear distinctiveness of the “programme” in its strict literary sense from the cycles created by the artist. In the next part of the article, the characteristics of said form, such as presence of atypical paratexts or the form fluidity depending on the medium, were characterised. The aforementioned description becomes the starting point for formulating a definition of a literary-musical programme in its narrow meaning and looking closely at the changes that happen in the next cycles of Kaczmarski, as well as the tendencies that accompany them. The observed regularities and the knowledge of the creation contexts of each cycle allow the author to divide the programmes into three groups. The main conclusions resulting from the article are concisely presented in the summary

The article discusses Agnieszka Osiecka’s poem Toast, found in manuscript only after the poet’s death. The author begins by looking at the strategies of functioning in the reality of communist Poland employed by the author of Biała bluzka (White Blouse). In particular, however, he draws attention to Osiecka’s reaction to the declaration of martial law as the main reason for her confronting the poem form. In the rest of the argument, the author interprets Toast, defining it – adopting the term proposed by Jacek Łukasiewicz – as a multi-voice, medium- sized poem with a lyrical dominance. He also looks at the linguistic side of the work, paying particular attention to the typical as well as different patterns used by the poet for the language of martial law poetry. In concluding, the author draws attention to the role that the very attempt to write the poem played in Osiecka’s correction of her creative technique so that the language of her songs was in line with the new socio-political reality of the 1980s.

The article interprets the oeuvre of Agnieszka Osiecka in the context of communist aesthetics and the feminist theory. Analyzed were the songs Damą być (To Be a Lady), Nie ma jak pompa (There Is Nothing Like Splendour) oraz Sztuczny miód (Artificial Honey). The author recognises them as songs of emancipatory character. Research tools constructed by Bohdan Dziemidok were introduced and combined with the theses developed by Henri Bergson, while being focused on the communal dimension of laughter. Amongst all the feminist theoreticians, Hélène Cixous proved to be most inspiring. With their help the constructing methods used by the poet that support the emancipatory efforts of women fighting for their decision-making rights and independence during communist times were characterised. The analysis is supplemented by interpreting the performances of Osiecka’s songs as well as alluding to the theory from the area of song studies. 

The article aims to examine the role of sung poetry in the film Autumn Girl (Bo we mnie jest seks, 2021), inspired by the life of Kalina Jędrusik. Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, the director, incorporates the genre of musical, featuring songs which Jędrusik performed throughout her career – mostly written by Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski from the renowned Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret (Kabaret Starszych Panów). The movie is loosely based on historical facts: it is a rather feminist deconstruction of Jędrusik’s pop-cultural persona and the 1960s in Poland. I analyse how new contexts help to reinterpret classical sung poetry. Songs serve as character exposition, reinforce the feminist reading of the movie and enrich the original lyrics with new meanings. Additionally, to contextualise the issue, I discuss the tradition of Polish musicals and the Elderly Gentlemen’s Cabaret.

(Rev. Piotr Bogalecki, Wiersze-partytury w poezji polskiej neoawangardy. Białoszewski – Czycz – Drahan – Grześczak – Partum – Wirpsza, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2020, pp. 500)