Polish Christmas Carols for mixed choir (1934

Polish Christmas Carols for mixed choir (1934–1936)

Vocal-instrumental and Vocal Works, Arrangements and Transcriptions, Work without Opus Number

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication: "Orchestra" 1934 No. 12; 1935 No. 12; 1936 No. 12

Radio premiere [piano version]: Warsaw, 25 December 1934, Lucyna Robowska – piano (Dzień Dobry 1934, no. 355)

Works: Amid the Night’s Silence, To Bethlehem They Came A-Running, Tonight in Bethlehem

The arrangements of ‘Wśród nocnej ciszy’ [Amid the Night’s Silence], ‘Przybieżeli do Betlejem’ [To Bethlehem They Came A-Running], and ‘Dzisiaj w Betlejem’ [Tonight in Bethlehem]

'Tonight in Bethlehem' , Orkiestra 1936, no. nr 12

were printed in full in the journal Orkiestra (12 (1934), 12 (1935), 12 (1936)). On 25 December 1934, Polish Radio in Warsaw broadcast a concert titled ‘Christmas in Music’, whose programme included Koffler’s transcription of ‘Wśród nocnej ciszy’ (Gazeta Kaszubska, 23 Dec. 1934), performed by Lucyna Robowska, a pianist who often played works by less famous composers, primarily women.

Opening measures of the carol God Is Being Born [Bóg się rodzi] arranged by Koffler, Orkiestra, no. 12, 1930

Fragmentary four-part settings of carols were printed by Koffler in his journal as early as in 1930, when he included the music for the first few bars of ‘Bóg się rodzi’ [God Is Being Born], followed in December 1931 by the first four bars of ‘Wśród nocnej ciszy’ (a slightly different setting than the one printed in 1934).