Polish organ tablatures include some of the earliest and most important tablature sources of instrumental music in Europe. Particularly well-known is the Jan z Lublina tablature, which dates from mid-16th century and contains some 250 pieces. Most Polish organ tablatures use the German form of notation. The genres vary from all kinds of liturgical music to dances and vocal intabulations. This article presents a partial list of Polish organ tablatures, in chronological order.
(Wrocław, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka I Q 438) A single leaf containing a Gloria fragment.[2] The piece is divided into three parts: Et in terra pax, Benedictimus te, and Glorificamus te. The omission of other movements is evidence for early alternatim practice. All of the music is in two voices, the lower voice outlining the chant (Gloria ad lib.I of the Vatican Edition), the upper voice based on octave doubling of the chant tones, interspersed with ornamental figures somewhat similar to those in Codex Faenza.[3]
This manuscript contains a hymn and "fragmentary Fundamentum"
Some pieces from this manuscript also appear in the Buxheim Organ Book. This manuscript also contains several clausulae.
Transcriptions of the above three sources can be found in the first volume of Corpus of Early Keyboard Music. In this volume, the library of these three manuscripts is listed as "Breslau, Staatsbibliothek".
Contains a large treatise on composition, modelled on Hans Buchner's Fundamentum, but surpassing it by greater number of explanations and musical examples. The treatise is followed by some 250 pieces, covering numerous genres from liturgical pieces to dances, intabulations of motets, and a number of untitled and/or undidentifiable works.[4]
Contains 101 pieces, most of which are intabulations of vocal works by well-known composers. Some compositions are also found in the Lublin tablature. Unique items include several preludes, liturgical pieces, and three settings of Polish church songs.[5]
Contains 75 liturgical pieces: 47 introits, 8 sequences, 12 pieces for the Mass ordinary (including a group of four, titled Missa solenne), and 8 Magnificat settings.[6]
Contains motet intabulations and fantasias.
Includes 23 pieces by Adam of Wągrowiec: fantasias, ricercares, and liturgical paraphrases.[7]
Contains 797 transcriptions of vocal works by various composers, and 91 keyboard compositions by Polish, Italian (Merula), German, Austrian, Netherlandish, Spanish and English (Morley, Philips) composers. Furthermore, the tablature also includes twelve organ chorales by Scheidemann, Tunder, and others, added in the 2nd half of the 17th century.