Gaude Mater Polonia (Teofil Klonowski)

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• CPDL #1194: Encore

Editor: Roland Huc (added 2000-07-28).   Score information: 36 kbytes   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Gaude Mater Polonia
Composer: Anonymous

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB

Genre: Sacred, Motet

Language: Latin
Instruments: a cappella
Published:

Description: Gaude, Mater Polonia - the most popular medieval Polish hymn - is a fragment of the rhymed breviary office written by Wincenty of Kielce on the occasion of St. Stanislaus beatification (1253). Its text praises St. Stanislaus, a bishop whose 1072 death was the result of a confrontation with the King, Boleslaus the Bold (Bolesław Smialy). (The parallels with the fate of St. Thomas Beckett are rather obvious.) That is why Gaude, Mater Polonia, although the name of the country appears in its title, asserts the primacy of religious authority over royal power.

This hymn was very popular and can be found in the diocesan manuscripts and prints Poland-wide. As the only medieval Polish hymn in Latin it was included in Polish hymn-books in the 17th century. The oldest known record of the melody, deliberately taken from another hymn Gaude, mater ecclesia, is found in the Kielce antiphonary (1372).

In the 19th century, Teofil Klonowski elaborated a four-part song which played the role of the national anthem for many decades and may be currently found in the repertoire of all Polish choirs at home and abroad.

External websites:

Original text and translations

Latin text

Gaude, mater Polonia,
prole fecunda nobili.
Summi Regis magnalia
laude frequenta vigili.
Amen

Polish translation

O ciesz się, Matko-Polsko,
w sławne Potomstwo płodna!
Króla królów I najwyższego Pana wielkość
Uwielbiaj chwałą przynależną.

English translation

Rejoice, oh Mother Poland
Rich with noble offspring,
The great works of the greatest King
Praise with a frequent vigil.