Is there a link to the book WiesOrganista or a pdf you can send me or point me in the right direction?

Since my pastor has the Type A personality and needs everything 'yesterday' so to speak, I hope to find something soon

Angelgirl,

I've sent you a private response to your email, but I thought my response would be good for forum.

I've been at my current parish (a Polish "personal" parish by canonical definition) for 4 years now, and being able to accompany the hymns, songs, etc., for the Polish language events has always been a challenge. There are no standards for the tunes (be it the rhythms or pitches of the melody, the application of repeats or even the texts themselves) and from what I have learned and gathered in my discussions and study, there is no consensus even as to what harmonization to use. Most true "Polish village organists" play from a melody book and improvise the harmonization based on a very unique approach to tonal harmony. Even when I am able to use a full accompaniment (from a 3-volume set entitled Chorał Opolski, which was left in the loft by a predecessor) I still find that I have to modify rhythms, melodies and repeats based on our local custom. Sometimes the melody is entirely different. Another difficulty is that some books, such as the Śpiewnik Stulecia, contain a melody and one harmony line, and nothing else. While this is helpful in establishing the tonality of a hymn (is it in major or the relative minor?) it does little to aid in developing a proper hymn-style accompaniment as the voice leading for the harmony part is often what belongs in a different voice so as to avoid parallels, something to be avoided and impossible to prevent when trying to read from one of these melody/harmony editions. Also, if the people (especially the choir) are accustomed to singing "in harmony" (which usually means the altos sing in parallel thirds below the melody), any accompaniment book that departs from this practice will result in horrifying clashes in harmony and dagger-like stares from the choir.

I should point out that the head of the liturgical office for the Polish American Liturgical Center at Orchard Lake, who edited the Śpiewnik Stulecia as well as the semi-annual polyglot missal, Pan z Wami, is our priest for the Polish language Masses. Also, some of you may have come across the name of Tadeusz Petrykowski in some of these books. He was the organist at the church I currently serve for about 20 years, and came from Poland. Many of the hymns of our parish were sung to his arrangements, and don't conform to many of the melodies, etc., in other sources.

The short answer is, there is no such thing as a standard "accompaniment book" for Polish hymns, at least not in the way most organists understand the term.

I truly enjoy the seasonal hymns best (Adwent, Pastoralki i kolędy, Wielki Post, Wielkanoc), as well as the hymns for Gorzkie Żale and the "national hymn" Boże coś Polskę. The harmonizations I have available in the books I use are really very good which makes playing them not nearly as much of a chore as when I have to make one up on the fly, and it allows me to be consistent in my accompanying.

As a non-Pole, playing for a Pole-Am church has its challenges. And, I've served this parish longer than any other in my career, which is saying something. These folk are honest, hard-working, do nothing by halves, let you know what they're thinking, are lavish in their praise, endless in their capacity to forgive and overlook faults and are generous beyond words.

The same cannot be said for the many suburban parishes I've served, and one day I intend to tell my story in every last gory detail and name names (including an auxiliary bishop).

I have their book, John. It's quite good, though the accompaniment consists of guitar chords.

I've done a bit of digging, and the 3-volume set I have was produced by the Catholic University in Lublin, Poland. It has a copyright of 1985, but I don't know if we're bound by it in the U.S.

After the Easter holidays I will see if I can find out about its availability and price, since I work for the Polish Seminary at Orchard Lake, and there are some faculty who came to us from Lublin.

In the meantime, if there are some select hymn titles you'd like to see, I can always make copies and send them to you as samples.

I contacted Assumption Parish and found out that the hymnal is no longer available. The secretary says she has had a good number of requests, but the family responsible for the project has lost its father and grandfather and no longer wishes to continue the project. :(