Editing Music of Poland (section)

==Classical music==
===Medieval and Renaissance===
[[File:Marcin Leopolita (cropped).jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Marcin Leopolita]], c. 1570]]

The origin of Polish music can be traced as far back as the 13th century, from which manuscripts have been found in [[Stary Sącz]], containing [[polyphony|polyphonic]] compositions related to the Parisian [[Notre Dame School]]. Other early compositions, such as the melody of ''[[Bogurodzica]]'', may also date back to this period. The first known notable composer, [[Mikołaj z Radomia]] (Nicholas of Radom), lived in the 15th century.

During the 16th century, mostly two musical ensembles – both based in [[Kraków]] and belonging to the [[King of Poland|King]] and the [[Archbishop]] of [[Wawel]] – led the rapid innovation of Polish music. Composers writing during this period include [[Wacław z Szamotuł]], [[Mikołaj Zieleński]], [[Nicolaus Cracoviensis]], [[Marcin Leopolita]] and [[Mikołaj Gomółka]], who composed "Melodies to Polish Psalter". [[Diomedes Cato]], a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków from about the age of five, became one of the most famous lutenists at the court of [[Sigismund III]], and not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe, but blended them with native folk music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.semper.pl/muzyczne_dwory_summary.pdf |title=The Music Courts of the Polish Vasas |work=semper.pl |page=244 |access-date=13 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5h7rxPZrB?url=http://www.semper.pl/muzyczne_dwory_summary.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2009 }}</ref>

[[File:Strona tytułowa Melodii na Psalterz polski Mikołaja Gomółki.jpg|thumb|left|Cover page of the ''"Melodies for the Polish Psalter"'' composed by [[Mikołaj Gomółka]], 1580]]

===Baroque===

During the 17th century, Polish composers from this period focused on [[baroque]] religious music, concertos for voices, instruments, and [[basso continuo]], a tradition that continued into the 18th century. The most renowned composer of this period is [[Adam Jarzębski]], known for his instrumental works such as ''Chromatica'', ''Tamburetta'', ''Sentinella'', ''Bentrovata'', and ''Nova Casa''. Other composers include [[Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki]], [[Franciszek Lilius]], [[Bartłomiej Pękiel]], [[Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński]] and [[Marcin Mielczewski]]. Also, in the last years of the 16th century and the first part of the 17th century, a number of Italian musicians were guests at the royal courts of Sigismund III and [[Ladislaus IV of Poland|Władysław IV]]. These included [[Luca Marenzio]], [[Giovanni Francesco Anerio]], and [[Marco Scacchi]].

In addition, a tradition of operatic production began in Warsaw in 1628, with a performance of ''Galatea'' (composer uncertain), the first Italian opera produced outside Italy. Shortly after this performance, the court produced [[Francesca Caccini]]'s opera ''[[La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina]]'', which she had written for Prince [[Władysław IV|Władysław]] three years earlier when he was in Italy. Another first, this is the earliest surviving opera written by a woman. When Władysław was king (as Władysław IV) he oversaw the production of at least ten operas during the late 1630s and 1640s, making Warsaw a center of the art. The composers of these operas are not known: they may have been Poles working under Marco Scacchi in the royal chapel, or they may have been among the Italians imported by Władysław.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wilanow-palac.pl/muzyka_barokowa_w_rzeczypospolitej.html |title=Muzyka barokowa w Rzeczypospolitej |access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>

Composers of the latter part of the 18th century included [[Maciej Radziwill]], whose style has been characterized as being in the [[galant music|galant]] style.

===Classical===
[[Feliks Janiewicz]], [[Karol Kurpiński]], [[Jan Stefani]], [[Wojciech Żywny]] and [[Franciszek Ścigalski]] were Polish composers writing in the [[Classical period (music)|classical period style]] characteristic in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The first national opera, ''[[:pl:Krakowiacy i Górale|Krakowiacy i Górale]]'' written by [[Wojciech Bogusławski]] and [[Jan Stefani]] premiered on 1 March 1794.

===Romantic===
[[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 043.jpg|thumb|[[Frédéric Chopin]] by [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], 1838]]

At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like the [[Polonaise (dance)|Polonaise]] and [[Mazurka]] — perhaps the first distinctively Polish [[art music]]. Polonaises for piano were and remain popular, such as those by [[Jacek Szczurowski]], [[Michał Kleofas Ogiński]], [[Juliusz Zarębski]], [[Henryk Wieniawski]], [[Józef Elsner]], and, most famously, [[Frédéric Chopin]]. Chopin remains very well known, and is regarded for composing a wide variety of works, including [[mazurka]]s, [[nocturne]]s, [[waltz]]es and concertos, and using traditional Polish elements in his pieces. The same period saw [[Stanislaw Moniuszko|Stanisław Moniuszko]], the leading individual in the successful development of [[Polish opera]], still renowned for operas like ''[[Halka]]'' and ''[[The Haunted Manor]]''.

In the 19th century the most popular composers were [[Maria Agata Szymanowska]], [[Franciszek Lessel]], and [[Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński]]. Important opera composers were [[Karol Kurpiński]] and [[Stanisław Moniuszko]]. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the most prominent composers were [[Władysław Żeleński (musician)|Władysław Żeleński]] and [[Mieczysław Karłowicz]]. [[Karol Szymanowski]] gained prominence prior to World War II. [[Józef Koffler]] was the first Polish [[Twelve-tone technique|twelve-tone composer]] (dodecaphonist).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.muzykotekaszkolna.pl/wiedza/kompozytorzy/koffler-jozef-1896-1944/ |title=Koffler Józef (1896–1944) |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515154653/http://www.muzykotekaszkolna.pl/wiedza/kompozytorzy/koffler-jozef-1896-1944/ |archive-date=15 May 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Contemporary===
[[File:Wojciech Kilar 2.jpg|thumb|[[Wojciech Kilar]], classical and film music composer, 2006]]
Between the wars, a group of new and emerging composers formed the Association of Young Polish Musicians; which included future luminaries [[Grażyna Bacewicz]], [[Zygmunt Mycielski]], [[Michał Spisak]] and [[Tadeusz Szeligowski]].<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Purdue University Press|year=2013|title=Composing the Party Line: Music and Politics in Early Cold War Poland and East Germany|author=David G. Tompkins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJtPDwAAQBAJ |pages=123– |isbn=9781557536471}};<br />"50 lat Związku Kompozytorów Polskich" [Fifty Years of the Polish Composers' Association] by {{ill|Ludwik Erhardt|pl}}, Warsaw: Związek Kompozytorów Polskich (1995) {{OCLC|271705498}};<br />[https://web.archive.org/web/20100105104856/http://www.wtm.org.pl/historiaw.htm "Timeline of Warsaw Music Society 1871–2008"], Warszawskie Towarzystwo Muszycne (in Polish)</ref>

Following [[World War II]] and the country [[Polish People's Republic|becoming a communist system]], some composers, such as [[Roman Palester]] and [[Andrzej Panufnik]], fled the country and remained in exile. In the early 1960s, a number of Polish composers formed the [[Polish School (music)|Polish Composers' School]], characterized by the use of [[sonorism]] and [[dodecaphonism]]. The style emerged from the [[Polish October|political crisis in 1956]], following Stalin's death. In the same year the [[Warsaw Autumn]] music festival was inaugurated, both closely connected.<ref name="culture">{{cite web |author=Andrzej Chłopecki |url=https://culture.pl/en/article/contemporary-polish-composers-of-classical-music |title=CONTEMPORARY POLISH MUSIC |work=Culture.pl |publisher=[[Adam Mickiewicz Institute]] |date=20 October 2002 |language=pl |access-date=4 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910233733/http://www.culture.pl/web/english/resources-music-full-page/-/eo_event_asset_publisher/eAN5/content/contemporary-polish-composers-of-classical-music |archive-date=10 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to conductor [[Antoni Wit]] composers were given artistic freedom because the Polish regime wasn't as harsh as other Eastern European dictatorships and music wasn't considered ideologically relevant unlike literature, theater or cinema.<ref>[http://scherzo.es/hemeroteca/2015-07-309.pdf Antoni Wit: "Creo que cada vez lo hago un poco mejor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115075835/http://scherzo.es/hemeroteca/2015-07-309.pdf |date=15 January 2019 }}. Scherzo, August–September 2015</ref> Composers from the "Polish School" included [[Tadeusz Baird]], [[Bogusław Schaeffer]], [[Włodzimierz Kotoński]], [[Witold Szalonek]], [[Krzysztof Penderecki]], [[Witold Lutosławski]], [[Wojciech Kilar]], [[Kazimierz Serocki]], [[Tomasz Sikorski]], [[Zygmunt Krauze]] and [[Henryk Górecki|Henryk Mikołaj Górecki]].<ref name="culture" />

More modern classical and jazz composers include [[Krzysztof Meyer]], [[Jan A.P. Kaczmarek]], [[Paweł Szymański]], [[Krzesimir Dębski]], [[Hanna Kulenty]], [[Eugeniusz Knapik]], [[Paweł Łukaszewski]], [[Paweł Mykietyn]], [[Maciej Zieliński]], [[Marcel Chyrzyński]], [[Marta Ptaszynska]] and [[Agata Zubel]].

===Recordings===
The [[Polskie Nagrania Muza]] was the state recording company, from 1956. Following the fall of communism it was bought by Warner Music Poland. It dealt with the wide range of music tastes, folk, popular, classical and children's music.