‘Lulajże, Jezuniu’: Chopin’s favourite carol
Polish Christmas carols were a source of inspiration for the greatest artists. One of them, ‘Lulajże, Jezuniu’ (Sleep, Infant Jesus), was used by Fryderyk Chopin. At the age of 21, the brilliant composer had to leave Poland forever. He left in November, so he was travelling on Christmas Eve – on 24 December 1830, while in Vienna, he went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral. According to experts on his life and work, he began to recall Christmas in his native Żelazowa Wola and this holiday’s traditions and carols that were close to his heart. At that time, a preliminary version of the Scherzo in B-flat Minor, op. 20, was created, which he completed after arriving in Paris. He used the melody line of his favourite carol, ‘Lulajże, Jezuniu’.
Jose Carreras also took a liking to this song, which resembled a lullaby in content and mood – he included its Italian translation, ‘Dormi o Bambino’, in his repertoire and also sang it in Polish. It appeared among other songs during The Three Tenors concerts.
‘Oj maluśki, maluśki’: an apocryphal Christmas carol
Among the many different types of Christmas carols in Poland, pastorals are particularly popular. They are, of course, about the birth of Christ, but the images appearing in them have nothing to do with biblical events. In this they resemble the Apocrypha – books that were not included in the canon of the Old and New Testaments and sometimes contain completely surprising content. For example, the so-called Gospel of Judas, dating from the 3rd century, states that Judas Iscariot was the only disciple to whom Jesus taught astronomy.
Pastorals are very regionally diverse and appear in numerous original performances. One of the most famous is the song ‘Oj maluśki, maluśki’ (Oh, Little One, Little On) – one of its versions contains a story about how Baby Jesus sat on the stove just after birth and lit up a lulka (pipe). This free interpretation of the biblical message can be explained by the highlander origin of the pastoral – it was created in Podhale, and highlanders have been smoking lulki, or pipes, for centuries. This pastoral appears for the first time in the 18th-century manuscripts of the Kraków Franciscan nuns, and currently the most frequently performed text comes from Kolędy, czyli zbiór pieśni na Boże Narodzenie dla wygody i nabożeństwa Ich Mość P.P. Franciszkanek klasztoru św. Jędrzeja (Christmas Carols, or a Collection of Christmas Songs for the Comfort and Devotion of the Gentle Franciscan Sisters of St. Andrew’s Convent), dated 1808.