The Choir of Warsaw Archikatedra
God is Born
The Most Beautiful Polish Carols

Label: Polskie Nagrania (1965)
Catalogue No: PNCD-323
Format: CD

The most popular Polish language carols and pastorals sung with orchestra by the Choir of the Warsaw Cathedral.

Tracks:

1. Let's All Go to the Stable (Pojdzmy wszyscy do stajenki)
2. In the Night Stillness (Wsrod Nocnej Ciszy)
3. They Came Running to Bethlehem (Przybeizali do Betlejem)
4. Hey Shepherds! Go to Shed (Do szopy, hej pasterze)
5. Look, Brethren (Bracia, patrzcie jeno)
6. When Chris is Born (Gdy sie Chrystus Rodzi)
7. Silent Night (Cicha Noc)
8. Today at Bethlehem (Dzisiaj w Betlejem)
9. Hush, Little Jesus (Lulajze Jezuniu)
10. The Angel Said unto the Shepherds (Aniol pastrzom mowil)
11. Happy News (Wesola nowina)
12. Triumphs of the Heavenly King (Tryumfy Krola niebieskiego)
13. The Star of Bethlehem (O gwiazdo Betlejemska)
14. Dear Shepard (Drodzy pasterze)
15. Lying in the Crib (W zlobie lezy)
16. Since our Lord was Born (Z narodzenia Pana)
17. Wise Men of the World (Z narodzenia Pana)
18. There was no Room for You (Nie bylo miejsca dla Ciebie)
19. God is Born (Bog sie rodzi)

Performed by:

The Choir of Warsaw Cathedral, Rev. Andrzej Filaber, conductor

Recorded:

at the Warsaw Cathedral, 1995

About:

Polish Christmas carols are almost all anonymous, having been composed by the people. Their origins date from the fourteen century, many from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. W Zlobie Lezy, credited with originating in the fourteenth century, is considered the first Polonaise.

The Polish carol has an essentially folk song character, which makes it specifically national. The melodies are characteristically Polish - gay, tender, even humorous - typical of the Polish peasant or mountaineer. There is a native unconscious poetry about all of them. The Infant Jesus, poor and homeless, born in a stable surrounded by the familiar domestic animals, appeals to the heart and the imagination of all peoples.

Polish Christmas carols may be divided into three kinds - religious, legendary, and imaginative. The religious, among the most beautiful and profound in feeling of all Polish hymns, owe their origin to monks in cloisters. The legendary, based on the books of the Apocrypha, contain many legends and details for which strict historical truth cannot be assumed. Hence the Church did not accept them, but they appealed to the people who loved to sing of the many wonders, the adoring shepherds and the speaking animals. The third, or imaginative, owe their origin to people of humble birth, who in relating the story of the Nativity used familiar surroundings taken from their own homes. Thus Bethlehem became a Polish village and Jesus was born in Poland. These carols often contain merry dance rhythms like the Krakowiak and the Mazurka and are called "Shepherd's Carols".

by Cecily Kowalewska Helgesen from Treasured Polish Songs.