The Musical Culture of the Jesuits in Silesia and the Kłodzko County (1581–1776)

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PROLOGUS – Subject, scope and organisation of the book

Jesuit artistic practice occupies a special place among artistic phenomena in the Baroque era. The influence of the Society of Jesus on the post-Tridentine art is evident in the frequent association or even identification of that art with the activity of the Jesuits. The notion of “Jesuit style” has recently been discarded as methodologically imprecise¹, but this objection does not apply to the term “Jesuit art”, which describes the context, origins and circumstances in which the products of that art arose. The stimulating and culture-forming influence of the Jesuits on artistic traditions of that period can hardly be overestimated. The sheer verve and mastery of form evident in the architecture, painting and sculpture produced in Jesuit centres continue to command respect, not only of the average observer but also of historians of culture who have access to a much broader artistic heritage of Jesuit provenience, transmitted in literary, theatrical and musical sources.

Paradoxically, the great wealth of Jesuit rhetorical arts was, for a long time, only rarely explored by scholars; ideological prejudice led them to see art as conventional, academic, and devoid of original qualities. Publications by historians of literature, theatre and music² leave us in no doubt that these stereotypes do a disservice to Jesuit culture. Lack of objectivity has also impeded our understanding of modern European culture, one of the key components of which is the Jesuit tradition. Jesuit art of that period was inspired by humanist ideals and its disciplines drew on the universal language of rhetoric which was held to exercise influence over an audience³. In the Ignatian system of values⁴, all human activity should serve to glorify God, hence the Jesuit motto, ad maiorem Dei gloriam. Art ought to pursue this goal through the moulding of personality integral to which is the spiritual, intellectual and mental development that prepares individuals for mature participation in the socio-religious life of their communities⁵.

The Jesuits’ positive understanding of the role of art is evident both in the theory and in artistic practice related to pastoral care and education. This approach ← 1 | 2 → contributed to an unprecedented flourishing of many different disciplines of art, including music, which were viewed as universal tools for social action and communication6. The practice of music, which combines words and emotions into one coherent message, proved to be an important vehicle in the Jesuits’ civilizing undertaking. This was a project that called for a fundamental reform of religious life, which entailed the establishment of educational institutions. The same project was also responsible for the creation of new forms of social, political and religious self-identification, expressed in the language of art. The various manifestations of arts were meant to have an impact not only within the Jesuit environment – by shaping the identity of a given individual or milieu – but also in the outside world. The latter type of influence was related to the idea of propaganda fidei, which was especially important in areas affected by political and religious-confessional conflicts. Works of art created under such conditions naturally became a bone of contention in religious-political disputes, as well as a topic of aesthetic dispute in their own right.

The subject of this book is Jesuit culture in Silesia and Kłodzko (Glatz) County. Drawing from historical sources, I have chosen everyday phenomena that accompanied music-making in Jesuit circles. I consider musical works, the circumstances of their creation, the activities of institutions involved in organising music performances, as well as the problem of reception of this music by the audiences for which it was intended. By viewing the material in a broad context, I hope to highlight the ideational message⁷ of the topic as a whole, including its functioning and transmission of systems of signification, that is, the values passed down by tradition that both resulted from and shaped human behaviour⁸. The aim of this research is to reconstruct historical models of behaviour and thinking, as transmitted in Jesuit writings and encoded in the aesthetic-ideological content of musical works.

The geographical scope of this study is defined by the historical borders of Silesia: the duchies or Herzogtümer of Brzeg (Brieg), Cieszyn (Těšín, Teschen), Głogów (Glogau), Legnica (Liegnitz), Nysa (Neisse), Oleśnica (Oels), Opava and Krnov (Troppau and Jägerndorf), Opole and Racibórz (Oppeln und Ratibor), Pszczyna (Pless), Świdnica and Jawor (Schweidnitz und Jauer), Wołów (Wohlau), Wrocław (Breslau), Ziębice (Münsterberg) and Żagań (Sagan), as well as the Kłodzko County (Grafschaft Glatz). This entire area was part of the Jesuit ← 2 | 3 → Austrian province until 1623 and then part of the Czech province of the Society of Jesus for the next one hundred and thirty-three years. After annexation of Silesia and Kłodzko County by the Prussians, an independent Province of Silesia, subordinate to the German Assistancy, was formed out of this territory in 1754. The chronological scope of the present study has been determined by the period of Jesuit activity in the area defined above: from the arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries in Wrocław in 1581 until the implementation in Silesia of Pope Clement XIV’s decree, Dominus ac Redemptor (1776) that brought about the suppression of the Society of Jesus9.

Due to the international nature of the topic, geographical and temporal boundaries will sometimes stray from those defined above. Flexibility of approach with respect to geographical boundaries is justified by the fact that the musical culture of Silesia cannot be separated from the traditions cultivated throughout the Austrian, and then the Czech, Jesuit provinces. The dynamism and activity, and the tireless peregrinations so characteristic of the Jesuits, make it pointless trying to distinguish purely local phenomena in terms of musical culture within the above-defined boundaries. The system was made even more entropic through the free flow of ideas and cultural commodities between the various milieux within the Congregation, and across state borders too. These difficulties can be overcome, however, by taking cognisance of the historical context and locating the study of Jesuit artistic culture within the relevant organisational stratum, be it at the regional, provincial or assistancy level. This approach, with due adjustment of perspective for the level under discussion, draws the material into sharper focus and provides a more rounded and nuanced picture of the past.

If discussion of culture were restricted to music alone, this approach could lead to a skewed sense of history distorting the integrated nature of a tradition that finds expression in many interrelated artistic disciplines. It would also serve to isolate the music from its historical context and function. Taking account of the socio-religious context of musical performances, the study concerns itself not so much with the musical works, per se, as with the musical culture in its natural, social environment. This includes intellectual and spiritual traditions, as well as the liturgical aspects of musical performances which take place in a space that constitutes an integral part of church or city. With the aim of providing a synoptic perspective, the study takes a holistic view of artistic disciplines by drawing on the precepts of artes rhetoricae. ← 3 | 4 →

The book presents the current state of research on these subjects, describes the different collections of historical sources and proposes ways they may be used. The spatial-temporal framework defined above necessitates that a brief outline be given of the history of the Society of Jesus in Silesia and Kłodzko County. It was the fascinating history of that region, enmeshed in politico-religious conflicts that bring to mind the paradigm of the “clash of cultures”, which attracted me to this subject. The ideas that competed with one another in Silesian culture derived from Protestant and Catholic traditions; they were grounded in the humanist foundations common to modern Europe. What distinguished the two discourses from one another was both the external, syntactical level of the rhetoric and the artists’ choice of ideas and manner of presentation of their works of art.

To properly understand the place of music in Jesuit culture, one must look at the issue of music as a part of liturgy. Jesuit writings of the period contributed greatly to the debate about the place of music in European spirituality during the process of reform. Paradoxically, this debate highlighted many affinities between Catholic and Protestant authors. With the passing years, however, Catholic culture came to adopt a diametrically different style of church music, and this drew sharp criticism from Protestant writers. This intriguing transformation in the way of thinking about musical art led to the development in the early eighteenth century of a new social function for music.

The principal manifestations of Jesuit presence in musical culture were associated, first and foremost, with pastoral care, where music served to encourage the faithful to participate. In addition to attracting people, music also played an aesthetic role adding splendour to church ceremonies. It conveyed in emblematic fashion the contents and values represented by the religious and secular authorities. Jesuit pastoral care was addressed, inter alia, to sodalities that played a key role in the dissemination of secular songs. Those layman communities took part in musical and dramatic performances, and, in turn, stimulated artistic patronage. The topic of pastoral care also involves folk and overseas missions, undertaken, amongst others, by Silesian Jesuits.

Teaching was also understood to be a part of the pastoral care10. Schools founded by the Jesuits played a key role in the formation of a new order of culture. In the next chapter, we look at the models of education that were developed in educational institutions for both clergy and laymen. The focus is primarily on Jesuit convicti that were modelled on the Roman Collegium Germanicum. One of the artistic phenomena that combined didactic purpose with music was Jesuit ← 4 | 5 → school drama; it melded verbal persuasion, acting, sets, costumes and music into an organic whole.

The Jesuits’ direct involvement in musical practices is the subject of the following chapters of this book, which presents the results of studies dedicated to the reconstruction of the biographies of Jesuit praefecti musicae. I focus on the lives of those figures whose career involvement in music was more than average: those who became the leaders of music ensembles, composers or song writers. Attention is also devoted to the repertoire that has come down to us and that which is only known indirectly from other sources. As a consequence of the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the majority of Jesuit music collections were destroyed or otherwise lost. This repertoire has to be reconstructed on the basis of sources drawn from different provenances.

The final section of the book deals with the social functions of music in Jesuit circles. Since those functions were universal, the conclusions drawn are also relevant to a broader geographical canvas. By analysing the deep meanings of culture, its hierarchy of values and the models of behaviour expressed in art, I essay answers to questions concerning the role of music in social identification, affirmation and confrontation. Music was linked to the processes of confessionalisation and universalisation. It made reference to the good order of social relations and to approved models of behaviour. It made an impact by transforming time and social space. The study presented here of the transformation of the paradigm of modern culture leads to the hypothesis that those transformations prefigured to a certain extent the re-evaluations that took place in musical culture during the Age of Enlightenment.

The present book is the result of several years studying Jesuit writings and musical traditions in Silesia and Kłodzko County, conducted at the Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw. The Institute has steadfastly supported my archival, source-related and bibliographical research in archives and libraries in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Italy. I am indebted to the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), which financed my year at ARSI in 2007–2008 with funds from the “Kolumb” scholarship programme. I would like to express my gratitude to the curators of archives in Brno, Cracow, Prague, Rome, Vienna and Wrocław as well as to library personnel in Katowice, Kłodzko, Prague, Rome, Świdnica, Vienna, Warsaw, and Wrocław who afforded me expert advice and graciously made available to me all the material necessary for my work. I owe particularly warm thanks to the scholars who have guided my work: Anna Fechtnerová, Barbara Przybyszewska-Jarmińska, Janice B. Stockigt, Elżbieta Zwolińska, Sławomira Żerańska-Kominek, Alina Żórawska-Witkowska, ← 5 | 6 → Jan Linka, Vladimír Maňas, Remigiusz Pośpiech, Czesław Salamon, Jiří Sehnal and Ryszard Wieczorek. They inspired me to work on this subject and supported me in various stages of my work. My thanks to Weronika Sygowska-Pietrzyk and Paweł Pietrzyk from Wydawnictwo Naukowe “Sub Lupa” for overseeing the publication of the Polish-language edition of this book.

1 Cf. O’MalleyI; PfeifferJ (explanation of bibliographical symbols in Section 7.4).

2 CulleyJ; SzarotaJ; StarnawskiP.

3 BauerJ.

4 LoyolaE [1], p. 4.

5 SchnitzlerT, p. 283.

6 WittwerM, p. 77.

7 GoodenoughC, pp. 76–80.

8 KroeberI, p. 388.

9 HoffmannJB.

10 Cf. InglotZ, p. 86.

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1. TRADITIO – Sources and historical context

1.1. The current state of research

The literature that constitutes the point of departure for my study is extremely rich¹ and constantly expanding, which attests to the growing interest in the history of the Society of Jesus and its impact on the spiritual, intellectual and artistic culture of the period. Many publications have been devoted to Jesuit activity in the Mediterranean, and in Central European and overseas missions. These latter two areas of activity were linked after the Council of Trent by a common missionary practice that recognised the special status musical culture enjoyed as a vehicle for re-Catholicising and evangelising.

A prime source of information for the study of the past and impact of specific individuals, can be found in biographical guides such as Carlos Sommervogel’s encylopaedia², which encompasses the written historical heritage of the Jesuits. It has been supplemented by catalogues of the members of the Society of Jesus, listed according to the date of their taking vows and the date of their death³, and by lists of Jesuits active in specific provinces⁴ or centres⁵. In this category, one also finds publications dedicated to particular Jesuit milieux, catalogues of superiors⁶, of Jesuit writers⁷, scholars⁸ and missionaries⁹, of artists¹⁰, musicians and orchestral leaders in Jesuit collegia and convicti¹¹. Another point of departure for this research has been historical monographs dedicated to the activity of Jesuits in different European countries¹², particularly in Silesia¹³. In this latter category, ← 7 | 8 → mention should be made of the works of Johann Miller14 and Johann Schmidl¹⁵, which were written before the suppression of the Jesuits, and to the more recent books on this subject¹⁶ by Bernhard Duhr¹⁷. For the territory covered in this study, the publications of Hermann Hoffmann, author of about a dozen works on the history of Jesuit presence in the cities of Silesia¹⁸, as well as those by Zdzisław Lec, which sum up the present-day state of research on this subject¹⁹. The bibliography also includes historical studies dedicated to the complex national and confessional social mosaic of historical Silesia²⁰.

The essential material for the study of Jesuit music can be found in the legal and constitutional acts which governed the functioning of the Society of Jesus across the various domains of its mission²¹. Separate source groups can be identified for the various fields typical of Jesuit cultural activity: pastoral care, teaching and the arts. At the time, these fields were closely interrelated and gelled as a coherent structure in terms of social impact. For organisation reasons, however, in this study these three aspects of Jesuit activity are discussed in separate chapters under systematic categories that correspond to respective source groupings.

Jesuit pastoral activity was addressed to both individuals and social groups²². Jesuit formation took place in school sodalities and laymen’s fraternities²³. Existing studies concerning the functioning of these communities in Silesia²⁴, Bohemia, Moravia²⁵ and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth²⁶ have made it possible to pursue further research into theatrical²⁷ and musical²⁸ genres and into the forms that these groups cultivated. The best-known area of the brotherhoods’ activities were the songs they propagated and sang during congregational ← 8 | 9 → meetings and church celebrations29. Research into this area does not have to be conducted ab ovo, thanks to the numerous publications available on Czech, German, Silesian and Polish song repertoires³⁰.

Overseas missions were characterised by a specific type of Jesuit pastoral activity. In part this was a reflection of the Society’s universalist outlook and modus operandi; at the same time, however, the order strove to accommodate its practices to “the times, places and persons” in accordance with its Constitutions³¹. Music proved to be an effective medium of evangelisation and acculturation in Jesuit missions from Chile to the Philippines³². The efficacy of music was also understood by the Jesuits from Silesia and the Czech province who participated in overseas missions³³. Best documented of these is the mission in Paraguay that was led by the Silesian Jesuit, Florian Paucke³⁴. A number of missionaries from Silesia were also active at the courts of the Emperors of China³⁵.

Many publications have been devoted to the educational activities of the Jesuits³⁶. These include the famous Jesuit constitution Ratio studiorum³⁷ that defined the educational system. Of interest too are works dedicated to the Jesuit collegia in Silesia, and especially the one in Wrocław³⁸. Important for the present study are publications analysing the activities of the convicti³⁹, not only in Silesia and Kłodzko County⁴⁰, but also in the Roman Collegium Germanicum⁴¹ that provided a model for the structure of convicti. These institutions, crucial to the formation of a modern musical culture, have been the subject of studies by Czech⁴² and Polish scholars, notably Jerzy Kochanowicz⁴³. ← 9 | 10 →

Jesuit school drama is a fascinating area of research taken up by cultural historians44. It sustains undiminished fascination with the “multimedia” quality of its message that fuses the various rhetorical arts into a whole⁴⁵. The bibliography on the subject also takes account of publications on Jesuit drama in Italy⁴⁶, Poland⁴⁷ and the German-speaking countries⁴⁸, which boast the largest number of extant sources available for musicological study⁴⁹. Documentation work has already started with respect to Silesian sources of Jesuit drama⁵⁰; other studies have been concerned with the musical aspects of spectacles⁵¹. Jesuits were also active in other fields of artistic endeavour: architecture, sculpture and painting. Among the numerous text dedicated to Jesuit contributions in these areas, mention should be made of those that interpret the ideas behind Jesuit art, its rhetorical character and cultural function. These topics have already been studied with respect to the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth⁵², and Silesia⁵³. Studying the topics discussed by art historians can facilitate research into music and visual arts⁵⁴, since both conveyed a consistent message, fashioned by means of the same rhetorical tools.

The music practised in Jesuit circles has also been the subject of musicological studies by Max Wittwer⁵⁵ and by authors whose focus was on musical life at Jesuit centres in Rome⁵⁶. This tradition was soon being disseminated throughout Habsburg domains: Lower Austria and Carniola⁵⁷, Hungary⁵⁸ and the countries of the Bohemian Crown⁵⁹ which embraced the Silesian duchies⁶⁰. The dissemination ← 10 | 11 → of Jesuit music was facilitated by the pro-Roman policies of the Polish Vasa dynasty and by the Italianate character of their court orchestra61. For these reasons, Jesuits played a crucial role in the musical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth⁶² and rapidly gained recognition in the field of composition as well⁶³. A similar process was at work in the countries of the Bohemian Crown, where it yielded fruit in the form of a rich repertoire of songs and liturgical music⁶⁴. Monographs dedicated to composers active in different European centres⁶⁵ constitute another subgroup of sources important for the study of Jesuit culture⁶⁶.

1.2. Description of sources and their relevance to the subject

From the very beginning, the Society of Jesus took great care to record its own history and it created an unprecedented system to document it. The dictum: scriptis tradere et fideliter conservare⁶⁷ was put into practice, and, thanks to it, the study of Jesuit artistic traditions has been greatly facilitated. The principle of copying and archiving in three different places (place of origin, provincial capital, and Rome) contributed to the preservation of many archival sources. Many original collections of local Jesuit centres in Silesia have been dispersed and, as a consequence, any study of this subject has to also involve research at the ARSI in Rome, in addition to relevant sources currently found in Vienna, Prague and Wrocław.

Many important documents have been published as part of the series Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu. These include the writings of the first Jesuit generals⁶⁸, as well as critical editions of their letters⁶⁹. The vast majority of the collections, however, have not been published. Since music has a marked presence in virtually all aspects of the Society’s work, a comprehensive picture of Jesuit musical culture must draw on the greatest number of sources possible. ← 11 | 12 → Archival research is often facilitated by the existence of guides70 that systematically describe the various classes of Jesuit sources⁷¹.

1.2.1. Legal documents

The first group of sources are legal acts which determined the functioning of the Society’s institutions. They define the norms established by the General Congregations (Congregationes) of the Society of Jesus for each province. The regulations deal with music in the liturgy and the practice of individual Jesuit centres. Most significant are the earliest acts of the congregations for the Austrian⁷² and Czech⁷³ provinces, which record successive stages of the debate over Jesuit musical practices in Central European countries. They also contain specific rulings that distinguished local practice from universally accepted principles. For the sake of comparison, material from the same acts referring to the neighbouring provinces of the German Assistancy has also been employed.

The Jesuit General’s orders (Ordinationes Generalium), which define the ways in which the above-mentioned principles are to be implemented and interpreted in the individual centres, comprise a largely discrete subset of legal regulations. Letters addressed to rectors of the collegia include many comments on musical practices, as well as instructions obliging the provincial authorities to maintain a prescribed model of that practice⁷⁴. As a result of these directives, the musical practices of Jesuit houses were codified in the form of Consuetudines or books of customs for each province. In addition to books of this type for the Czech, High German and Polish provinces⁷⁵, of particular interest are the Consuetudines from Kłodzko⁷⁶. Visiting inspectors were put in charge of ensuring that internal discipline of house agreed with prescribed norms; the inspectors’ reports⁷⁷ also reflect ← 12 | 13 → on musical practices. The letters and regulations of the Society’s authorities78, as well as their letters from the corpus of Opera Nostrorum⁷⁹ are of less assistance in this area. There is also a separate group of documents relating to missions: applications for missionary posts⁸⁰, and the General’s replies to those applications⁸¹, as well as the documentation of the movement (transfer) of Jesuit missionaries⁸² and their letters from overseas⁸³.

1.2.2. Catalogues of individuals and personalia

A biographic database of Jesuit houses can be reconstructed on the basis of house catalogues, which are admirably systematic and comprehensive. The data contained in those catalogues make it possible to reconstruct the life of each and every Jesuit, from his novitiate to his death. Catalogues of novices for the Czech province, compiled mostly in Brno⁸⁴, list personal qualities, education, linguistic skills, and sometimes also musical qualifications. With the passage of time, candidates preparing to take their Jesuit vows found themselves being questioned ever more frequently about their musical skills.

The Jesuits also collected personal data on students educated in their collegia, convicti and seminaries. Some of those students later became members of the Society of Jesus themselves, and confirmed their previously recognised musical talents. The catalogues in question⁸⁵ make it possible to reconstruct the dynamics of the development of those institutions, and their geographical scope and influence. The documentation of vows taken by the professi (Professio quatuor votorum)⁸⁶, spiritual coadjutors (Coadiutores Spirituales) and temporal coadjutors (Coadiutores Temporales – many of whom were artists or organ builders)⁸⁷, ← 13 | 14 → as well as lists of Society members for each assistancy88, provides the researcher with information pertinent to the biographies of individual Jesuits.

An important source of information about the Jesuits are the so-called Catalogi triennales, compiled every three years, which contain anagraphic data for the given province organised according to centre or house⁸⁹. These catalogues supply three levels of information. The main part is the Catalogus primus, containing personal data, the date of entering the Jesuit order, of taking vows, and of roles held up to that point. The Catalogus secundus includes an assessment of the given member’s professional, intellectual, moral and psychological qualifications. The Catalogus tertius describes the property of the different religious houses. On the basis of this information, one can identify the involvement of specific Jesuits in musical practices.

The post of praefectus chori was customarily held for three years as part of a teacher’s placement at a college, though there were Jesuits who performed this function for a longer period. The latter is especially true of those Jesuits who demonstrated well-above-average musical ability, which was recorded in the Catalogus secundus in the form of comments such as scit musica, callet musicam, etc. Their musical qualifications and practical experience in this area (e.g. musicam vocalem et in fidibus), even when recognised by their superiors, did not necessarily result in appointments to musical posts. Such decisions were taken by superiors who not only assessed the person’s qualifications (talentum ad ministeria), but, most importantly, his personal qualities (ingenium, iudicium, prudentia, experientia rerum, naturalis complexio). In the Society of Jesus, administration of human potential was based on Aristotle’s theory of the temperaments, and musical functions were usually entrusted to Jesuits with a melancholic temperament.

The second type of personnel catalogues are the annual brief catalogues (Catalogus brevis, Catalogus annuus), which list members of a given religious house along with the roles assigned to each⁹⁰. These data make it possible to study the development of a given collegium as well as of the convictus founded for this collegium. The musical functions performed by Jesuits were not always recorded, since according to the constitution, professed Jesuits (professi quatuor votorum) were not permitted to be actively involved in musical activities⁹¹. This did not affect secular brethren and Jesuits who did not take final vows. Printed versions ← 14 | 15 → of these catalogues (published for the Czech province from 1710 onward)92 confirm, however, that the functions of praefectus musicae or praefectus chori were understood as performed conjointly (officia intelliguntur adiuncta) with the (usually listed) function of subregens of the convictus.

The last group of biographical data consists of documents prepared after a Jesuit’s death: chronological lists of the deceased together with lists of members who were dismissed from, or who chose to leave the Society⁹³, in addition to obituaries⁹⁴. These latter eulogies take the form customary for that period and tell us more about their authors’ world outlook and values than specific facts about the life of the deceased. Some of the obituaries, however, do include the less common information concerning the life and activity of a given Jesuit, his involvement in promoting new forms of piety or his active religious life. Some also mention the deceased’s work in the field of music. These records can be extremely valuable.

1.2.3. Historical sources

Another class of archival sources consists of various chronicles, the largest group of which are the so-called Litterae annuae⁹⁵ – reports that sum up the annual work of the given Jesuit house and its members, under the following rubrics: number of personnel, church feasts in the year; forms of pastoral activity; promotion of secular piety; work of sodalities and schools; and the economic position of the house. The chronicles also contain statistical data which enable one to infer the dynamics of development of specific institutions, such as the convicti. Even though the presentation is largely schematic and standardised, these documents are – from an historical point of view – quite informative⁹⁶. They provide insight into Jesuit practice, seen from the perspective of the order’s goals and values. From these reports one may also glean information about musical life in a given centre as it is associated with paraliturgical practice, theatrical spectacles, and music foundations.

For most Jesuit centres, more detailed chronicles (Historiae domus) describing the key events of the year have also been preserved. Such historiae exist for ← 15 | 16 → Cieszyn97, Głogów⁹⁸, Kłodzko⁹⁹, Legnica¹⁰⁰, Wrocław¹⁰¹ and Żagań¹⁰². They were usually compiled by an historian of the house, but sometimes also by rectors of Jesuit collegia¹⁰³ or the regentes of Jesuit seminaries¹⁰⁴. These sources much more frequently mention musical events, and provide detailed descriptions of some celebrations. Accounts of canonisation ceremonies abound in information about the accompanying music, and these were included as appendices in the Litterae annuae. The historical documents of Jesuit colleges are complemented by various types of archival material kept in the provincial capitals¹⁰⁵, as well as by documents collected by the provincial procurator who supervised the collegia under his jurisdiction¹⁰⁶.

Fundationes are documents of the legal and financial foundations of Jesuit institutions. They reflect the history of financial principles and record the changes in legal status of individual collegia and convicti. While the collegia records¹⁰⁷ are of limited relevance, quite important to this study are the foundational acts of the convicti, which regulated the work of those institutions in the Austrian province¹⁰⁸. They served as models for similar institutions founded in the territories of the Bohemian crown, where they played a major role in cultural development and religious practice. It was for this reason that the (practically tested) models for the functioning of those institutions included so many details¹⁰⁹. These models were implemented by means of instructions compiled for the convicti in Chomutov (Komotau), Olomouc (Olmütz), Opava, and Prague¹¹⁰. The same ← 16 | 17 → principles applied to the convicti set up in Silesia, as can be seen in acts that apply both to the whole province111 and to individual houses of Nysa, Wrocław and Kłodzko¹¹². In order to distinguish universal from local elements in those documents, they need to be compared with analogous acts for the foundation of convicti in Italy¹¹³ and France¹¹⁴, as well as the High German, Upper- and Lower-Rhine¹¹⁵, Polish and Lithuanian¹¹⁶ provinces of the Jesuit order.

The presence of the Jesuits in Silesia and Kłodzko County is also documented in real estate inventories, library collections, and the property of the collegia and churches. Unfortunately, this last type of sources has been preserved only fragmentarily, and only for the cities of Kłodzko and Wrocław¹¹⁷.

Archival documents concerning the financial situation of the Breslau collegium shortly before its dissolution¹¹⁸ add to our knowledge about institutions administered by the Jesuit order. Inventories of goods and chattels belonging to Silesian Jesuit houses (sheet music, and musical instruments used in musical performances at the convicti) have not been preserved. Some information can be gleaned, however, from the acts of the sodalities of Kłodzko¹¹⁹, Świdnica¹²⁰ and Wrocław¹²¹. The albums of both these fraternities contain lists of goods and chattels, such as religious books, songbooks and music prints.

1.2.4. Music-related sources

The vast majority of Jesuit musical repertoire perished during the suppression of the Society of Jesus in Silesia. It was preserved only in those places where the Jesuits administered the parish church, as in Kłodzko, where part of the historical collection has survived to our time¹²². A few musical sources have also been preserved in the collection of the Oppersdorff family of ← 17 | 18 → Głogówek (Oberglogau)123. Wherever churches functioned as administrative units of the Jesuit order, the books that belonged to those churches were sent after the suppression to secular libraries; the music in manuscript was lost. One exception is the music collection of the Jesuits from Otyń (Wartenberg), which was rediscovered in Poznań¹²⁴. Libraries, however, existed in all collegia, churches and convicti. They were supported by various foundations and maintained by librarians whose names have been preserved to our time¹²⁵.

While a full reconstruction of Jesuit musical sources is no longer possible today, traces of the tradition can be found in libraries belonging to geographically-related centres and in the collections of other religious orders, into which copies of original manuscripts found their way. My guidebook to researching these sources was the list of approximately 170 Jesuit musicians active in the area, compiled on the basis of biographical studies. This list facilitated locating and identifying more than seventy compositions of Jesuits active in Silesia. In the collections of Kłodzko and Březnice (Bresnitz)¹²⁶, also of Jesuit provenance, there are virtually no works by Jesuit authors, nor has it been possible to find original Jesuit material in collections from Braniewo (Braunsberg)¹²⁷, Święta Lipka (Heiligelinde)¹²⁸ and Trnava (Tyrnau)¹²⁹, which show affinities only with respect to repertoire commonly copied in other circles as well¹³⁰. Original Jesuit repertoire has been preserved, however, in Jesuit collections from Brno¹³¹, Český Krumlov (Böhmisch Krumau)¹³², and Uherské Hradiště (Ungarisch Hradisch)¹³³. In other Silesian collections investigated traces of Jesuit repertoire were found in the inventories of Wrocław’s Cathedral of St John the Baptist¹³⁴ and in the collection of the Library of the University of Warsaw¹³⁵, where the large collection of Wrocław’s former Königliches Akademisches Institut für Kirchenmusik is now kept. This latter collection brings together sources of music from different religious orders that were dissolved in ← 18 | 19 → Silesia – mostly Cistercian but also music of Jesuit provenance. This collection also includes music from Benedictine, and Franciscan Observant and Conventual sources, in addition to those of the Knights Hospitallers of Saint John, the Canons Regular, the Capuchins, the Poor Clares, the Knights Crosier of the Red Star, and the Premonstratensians. All these works of different origins demonstrate some similarities with respect to type of repertoire, as also do the Cistercian collections of Krzeszów (Grüssau)136 and those of the Knights of the Cross from Nysa¹³⁷. That Jesuit repertoire also crossed confessional boundaries can been observed in copies found in Protestant church collections in Wrocław¹³⁸ and Legnica¹³⁹. A specific subset of musical sources comprises compositions adopted in Jesuit circles and copied by Jesuit copyists; to these compositions can be added contrafacta of operatic arias inspired by Jesuit religious texts¹⁴⁰.

The repertoire preserved throughout territory of the Jesuit Czech province demonstrates the supra-regional significance of the Silesian Jesuits’ musical traditions. The same repertoire can also be found in the collections of geographically not-so-distant churches in Cracow¹⁴¹, Prague¹⁴², Kroměříž (Kremsier)¹⁴³, Kežmarok (Käsmark), Spišské Podhradie (Kirchdrauf)¹⁴⁴, and Grodzisk Wielkopolski¹⁴⁵; it found its way into these collection thanks to the Cistercians. It was the religious orders that played the key role in disseminating the repertoire¹⁴⁶, as can be seen clearly in the collections of the Benedictines from Broumov (Braunau) and Břevnov (Breunau)¹⁴⁷, the Cistercians from Obra¹⁴⁸, the Hospitallers of Saint John of God from Kuks (Kukus)¹⁴⁹, the Cistercians of Osek (Ossegg)¹⁵⁰, the Premonstratensians of Strahov and Želiv (Seelau)¹⁵¹, and ← 19 | 20 → the Ursulines of Kutná Hora (Kuttenberg). No Jesuit sources were found during research in centres located north-east of Silesia: Gniezno Cathedral152, as well as monasteries of the Dominicans in Gidle¹⁵³, the Oratorians in Gostyń¹⁵⁴, and the Paulines of Jasna Góra¹⁵⁵.

1.2.5. Songbooks, liturgical books, theatrical materials

Another distinct group of sources is composed of songbooks transmitting vernacular repertoire. The close relationship between the songs from Jesuit Silesia and the repertoire of German-speaking areas is a consequence of the predominance of Germans in the population of Silesia during this period. It was only in Cieszyn, Opava, Opole and Tarnowskie Góry (Tarnowitz) that German dominance gave way to Polish, Moravian or Czech minorities. A neutral point of reference for Silesian Jesuit songs were local traditions, initially monopolised by the Reformation but already revived in Catholic circles by the early seventeenth century. Noteworthy in this context are the songs by Johannes Scheffler¹⁵⁶, Bartholomeus Christelius¹⁵⁷ and Veit Scheffer¹⁵⁸, as well as the local editions by Johann Schubart’s publishing house in Nysa¹⁵⁹, Johann Dilatus’ in Kłodzko¹⁶⁰, and the Jesuits’ printing houses in Opava¹⁶¹ and Wrocław¹⁶².

To meet the needs of fraternities in those places, prayer books modelled on the post-Tridentine Liturgy of the Hours were printed¹⁶³. While the original models were meant for the clergy, the Silesian editions were adapted for the needs of laymen. Surviving prayer books of this type¹⁶⁴ contain the so-called officium parvum, made up of a varied repertory of songs and hymns. The non-specific character of those publications can be seen in the homogeneity of the contents, ← 20 | 21 → present too in analogous German, Czech and Polish publications165. On the initiative of Jesuit sodalities, excerpts of the more dramatically represented teachings from the Catechism were also printed¹⁶⁶, as were, most importantly for our purposes, synopses of theatrical plays staged by students from the Jesuit gymnasia.

The latter sources, known as periochai (περιοχαί), comprise title, date and particulars of staging the play, plus a summary of the libretto. They make it possible to reconstruct the spectacles which also included purely musical components: choruses, interludes, dances, as well as instrumental music in the scenae mutae. From the territory of Silesia I have accumulated five hundred such summaries of spectacles staged by the collegia of Kłodzko, Głogów, Legnica, Nysa, Opava, Opole, Świdnica, Wrocław and Żagań¹⁶⁷. More information concerning this theatrical tradition can be found in copies of libretti from Kłodzko¹⁶⁸, Świdnica¹⁶⁹ and Wrocław¹⁷⁰. A comparative analysis of these sources for Jesuit school drama makes it possible occasionally to reconstruct the musical components, even when notated music is absent in the sources.

1.3. The Jesuits in Silesia and Kłodzko County – a historical overview

The Jesuits of Silesia and Kłodzko County took a pragmatic view of art; they viewed it not so much as a “Counter-Reformation propaganda weapon”¹⁷¹ as a tool in their order’s pastoral mission. And the principal mission of the Society of Jesus was “salvation and perfection of souls”¹⁷²; all other activities were secondary to this main goal. It is this historical perspective that informs the following study ← 21 | 22 → of the Jesuits and their musical culture. Social, political and religious considerations shaped that artistic scene. Art was meant to be efficacious. It was supposed to exert influence over those areas. The character of the Jesuits’ active engagement in the arts was underpinned by theoretical tenets. We now turn to a consideration of the historical circumstances surrounding the appearance of the Jesuits in various Silesian centres.

1.3.1. Beginnings of the Jesuit mission in Silesia

By the mid-sixteenth century, Silesia had already been infiltrated by the Reformation movement to the extent that the Bishop of Wrocław, Balthasar von Promnitz, and Ignatius Loyola¹⁷³ recognised the fact and voiced the need for the region to be re-Catholicised. Responding to this call, the first Silesians went to Rome to study in the Roman Collegium Germanicum¹⁷⁴; their stay there was the beginning of the process of Catholic revival in the region¹⁷⁵. Efforts to involve the Jesuits in the task were not immediately successful, despite requests directed to their General by the next Bishop of Wrocław, Kaspar von Logau. In the end, it was Martin Gerstmann who, having embraced the Tridentine reforms, took the decision to move the diocesan seminary to Nysa and in 1581, at his invitation, the first Jesuits arrived in Wrocław. Their mission soon bore fruit. The Jesuits preached sermons at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist and the Church of Saints James and Vincent in Wrocław; they heard confessions and observed the city’s bourgeois population with a view to assessing musical skills and talents¹⁷⁶. Gerstmann’s positive opinion meant that the mission was prolonged; it also resulted in invitation to the Jesuits from other Wrocław churches and from Głogów. All this notwithstanding, no permanent residency was established in Wrocław, for reason of a shortage of funds. On the other hand, the Protestant City Council effectively thwarted the bishop’s repeated attempts.

More reforms were introduced by Bishop Andreas Jerin, a Collegium Germanicum graduate and a natural supporter of the Society of Jesus. Influenced by his Roman preceptors, he brought new blood into the Wrocław cathedral chapter, ← 22 | 23 → implemented the post-Tridentine reforms, and made efforts to expand the Jesuit mission in Silesia177. Nonetheless, despite the funds he managed to raise for the establishment of a collegium in Wrocław, he did not receive permission from General Claudio Acquaviva to set up such a college, neither in Wrocław, Głogów, nor in Nysa¹⁷⁸. This did not stop the Jesuits from conducting their pastoral work, which was customarily associated with musical performances. In 1591 they started their first popular missions¹⁷⁹, a forty-hour church service in 1593¹⁸⁰, and, a year later, a pilgrimage to Trzebnica (Trebnitz)¹⁸¹. The worsening religious conflict in that town infiltrated the cathedral chapter and led to the interruption of the Jesuits’ mission in September 1595.

1.3.2. Kłodzko (Glatz)

Efforts at founding a Jesuit collegium in Kłodzko¹⁸² proved more effective, and it was that institution that in the early seventeenth century became the first bastion in the re-Catholicisation of Silesia¹⁸³. This strategically situated town acted as an intermediary in the exchange of cultural goods between Bohemia and Silesia. It was also crucial to the development of Jesuit artistic traditions in Silesia. The close ties that the Kłodzko County maintained with the Silesian duchies, confirmed by that county’s inclusion within the Silesian province of the Society of Jesus in 1754, accounts for its inclusion in this study which covers the artistic culture of both these areas.

As early as the 1550s, the Comptroller (Pfandinhaber) of Kłodzko county and the Catholic Duke of Bavaria, Ernst Wittelsbach¹⁸⁴, were seeking to have the Jesuits establish themselves in Kłodzko, but it did not come to pass until Christoph Kirmesser, the last Prior (praepositus) of the Canons Regular of St Augustine and the parish priest at the Church of the Assumption (taken away from the Protestants); in 1593, he put his parish under Jesuit administration¹⁸⁵. Thanks to skilful diplomatic manoeuvring in Rome, Clement VIII quickly agreed to assign ← 23 | 24 → the parish church of Kłodzko to the Jesuits. This transfer was officially confirmed on 9^th March 1595. On 20^th September 1597, the Jesuits opened their collegium in Kłodzko, which soon greeted its first students from Wrocław.

When the governor of Opava, Heinrich Log Freiherr von Logau und Olbersdorf, became the starost (Landeshauptmann) of Kłodzko County, the Jesuits led their first Corpus Christi procession through the streets of that town. They also organised weekly Sunday teaching of the Catechism186, which was accompanied by the singing of songs in German. Undaunted by acts of violence committed by representatives of the Protestant majority in Kłodzko¹⁸⁷, the Jesuits began to build a school. The convictus of St Aloysius Gonzaga, a foundation of Charles of Austria, Prince-Bishop of Wrocław (and Jesuit alumnus) opened its doors in 1614. It was intended as a boarding school for young men from neighbouring Silesia¹⁸⁸. The development of both institutions was interrupted in 1618 by the decree expelling the Jesuits from these territories under the Bohemian Crown. The Jesuits of Kłodzko fled to Nysa leaving their Kłodzko church and newly erected collegium at the mercy of soldiers. They destroyed nearly all the furnishings and Jesuit property, burnt the organ and the library, and profaned the church crypt¹⁸⁹.

When Kłodzko was recaptured by the Emperor’s army in 1622, starost Philipp Rudolph von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, re-Catholicised the county and dismissed the church and school’s Protestant administration¹⁹⁰. The Jesuits resumed their work in Kłodzko and became involved in the re-Catholicising campaign with obligatory sermons for Protestants and soldier-assisted confessions¹⁹¹. Their mission was interrupted by yet another upsurge in the Thirty Years’ War, and by the plague. In the 1640s, the house of third probation took place in this Jesuit house for the first time¹⁹²; that period also saw the building of a new altar¹⁹³ and organ in the church by Adam Tille¹⁹⁴. The Jesuits of Kłodzko also renewed their work ← 24 | 25 → in Bystrzyca Kłodzka (Habelschwerdt)195, Nowa Ruda (Neurode)¹⁹⁶ and Vidnava (Weidenau)¹⁹⁷ – with such intensity that the Silesian Protestants soon nicknamed the whole Kłodzko county, nidus papistarum¹⁹⁸. The construction of the new college building, designed by Carlo Lurago, began in 1654. The ceremony of consecrating the foundation stone was attended by Goswin Nickel, General of the Society of Jesus¹⁹⁹. Late in the same century, a convictus housing up to seventy students was erected after the design of Andrea Carove²⁰⁰. More architectural investment and interior design innovations in the church were connected with the employment of Christoph Tausch and Michael Klahr (der Ältere)²⁰¹; this was made possible thanks to funding from a foundation which maintained the college with income from the estate in Ścinawka Górka (Obersteine), as well as from the fish ponds and brewery in Szalejów (Oberschwedeldorf).

The flourishing of the Kłodzko collegium came to an end with the Prussian annexation and the war reparations imposed by Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué, Governor of Kłodzko. The Jesuit college in Kłodzko now became part of the Society’s Silesian province, but it never regained its former glory. After the Silesian wars that ravaged the Kłodzko County, it had regained the same number of students as it had had in the mid-seventeenth century. Clement XIV’s breve de suppressione ordinis Societatis Jesu, signed on 21^st July 1773, came into force here on 21^st February 1776, when the parish church was secularised, and the collegium became part of the Prussian Royal Institute for Education (Königlisches Schulen-Institut). The convictus, however, continued to operate for a few more years.

1.3.3. Nysa (Neisse)

Nysa²⁰² was a centre of particular importance to the Jesuit missions in Silesia. It was the place where the bishops of Wrocław resided and where the diocesan seminary had been operating since 1575. It had been the rector of that seminary, Friedrich Staphylus, who first requested the Jesuit order to send representatives to ← 25 | 26 → Silesia as members of the seminary’s personnel. This request had been supported by Bishop Andreas Jerin, who also sought support for this idea from Michele Lauretano, rector of the Collegium Germanicum203. The plans were carried through, however, by Bishop Charles of Austria, who invited two Jesuits to Kłodzko in December 1608 and who, despite a serious conflict with the City Council, set up a regular missionary station there and in Racibórz (Ratibor) in 1610²⁰⁴.

When the Bohemian Revolt of the estates broke out, Bishop Charles fled from Silesia, but he pledged that, should the Divine Providence permit him to return to Nysa, he would found a collegium and a Jesuit university there²⁰⁵. During the period of his absence from Silesia he spent some time in Warsaw and then in Innsbruck; these sojourns led to his reorganising his music ensemble²⁰⁶. He employed a number of eminent Italian musicians, such as Antonio Cifra of the Collegium Germanicum²⁰⁷. On his return to Nysa, the bishop kept his pledge and duly established the Collegium Carolinum²⁰⁸ in that town. Funding amounting to 91,000 Rhenish thalers made possible the establishment of a gymnasium, as well as more advanced courses in philosophy and theology – the germ of the future university. The bishop also donated to the Jesuits the former church and monastery of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre²⁰⁹ as well as houses bordering the Salzmarkt in Nysa. The latter site was then used to build the new seat of the Carolinum college.

Equally well disposed toward the Jesuits from Nysa was Prince-Bishop Charles Ferdinand Vasa. During the period of his minority, the diocese was administered on his behalf by the canons of Wrocław, who supported the Jesuit residences in nearby Albrechtice (Olbersdorf), Andělska Hora (Engelsberg), and Grodków (Grottkau)²¹⁰, and later, also in Dzierżoniów (Reichenbach), Świdnica and Ziębice (Münsterberg)²¹¹. The college personnel though mostly worked in Nysa. In the year 1627 the Carolinum already had 600 students in the secondary school alone²¹². The year 1630 saw the convictus of St Anna established thanks to the subvention from Anna Gebauer née Molhardt (a donation of 7,166 guilders). ← 26 | 27 → The college in Nysa developed dynamically up until the Thirty Years’ War, when the church, the monastery and the convictus were raided several times by plundering soldiers, and were devastated by fires and pestilence213.

After the death of King Władysław IV Vasa, the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz (Herzogtum Oppeln und Ratibor) that he had inherited as a fiefdom from his stepbrother Charles Ferdinand was bequested to the collegium in Nysa in accord with the terms of his last will. This conditional endowment of his fortune amounted to 315,301 Rhenish florins²¹⁴. The sum was eventually shared among several different churches in Poland²¹⁵. Still, thanks to the intervention of King John II Casimir Vasa, the college in Nysa received a bequest of 240,000 Rhenish guilders, which secured the future of this institution²¹⁶. The construction of the new building for the convictus of Saint Anna began in 1656. In 1669–1689 a new college seat was built after a design by Andrea de Quadro, and in 1688–1692 – a new Church of the Assumption. Nysa was developing quickly and by the late seventeenth – early eighteenth centuries it earned the nickname of “the Silesian Rome” – and not without good reasons.

Along with an architectural revival, the Jesuits of Nysa were intensively involved in pastoral work, and the Jesuit gymnasium was thriving, particularly after its new seat had been built in 1722–1725. The activity of Nysa as a Jesuit centre was weakened by the annexation of Silesia by Prussia. A regiment of the invading army was stationed in the Nysa collegium and its finances were ruined by reparations. The year 1755 saw a revival. The newly formed Silesian province needed a house of third probation; it was established in Nysa²¹⁷. The Jesuits from Nysa were also active in nearby Głubczyce (Leobschütz)²¹⁸ and Bodzanów (Langendorf)²¹⁹. The latter rural estate served the students of the Carolinum as the place of regular Sunday rest, and during the Silesian wars as a safe shelter.

The Jesuits also held a mission in Albrechtice²²⁰. This town between Nysa and Opava was originally the property of the protestant magnate, Johann Christoph von Wallenstein. He lost it in 1623 owing to his involvement in the ← 27 | 28 → Thirty Years’ War. The town passed into the hands of the Jesuits of Nysa221, who had organised a missionary station there. In 1650 they converted into a Jesuit residency subordinate to the collegium in Nysa. The parish Church of the Visitation²²² underwent reconciliation to the Catholic faith in the same year and it, too, was entrusted to the care of the Jesuit missionaries from Nysa. It was then that the rector of the Nysa collegium made a gift to Albrechtice of the grace-bestowing miraculous statue of Our Lady of Faith (Notre-Dame-de-Foy), which soon became the magnet for pilgrimages from local towns and villages²²³.

1.3.4. Głogów (Glogau)