NINETEENTH CENTURY EVANGELICAL CANTIONALIS FROM GDANSK

The article provides information on 19th-century Protestant cantionals, held at the Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gdansk. Polish language editions of cantionals ceased to be published by the Gdansk printers at that time, when Gdansk was part of state of Prussia. The last Polish cantional published there dates from 1803. Subsequent German editions are described, as well as their authors, changes in the included repertoire, choice of texts, graphic appearance, and a musical 'supplement' to the fourth, 1841 edition: a collection of 136 choral melodies edited by the pastor of St Mary's Church, Theodor Friedrich Kniewel. This collection's significance and the place of the religious songs in the publishing houses of Gdansk are explained.