The book focuses on the Jesuits’ positive understanding of the role of music culture, which is evident in both theory and artistic practice related to pastoral care and education. It contributed to an unprecedented flourishing of many different disciplines of art, including music, viewed as a universal tool for social action and communication.
This book studies the Jesuit culture in Silesia and Kłodzko (Glatz) County by focusing on its musical works and traditions. The strategies adopted by the Jesuits achieved notable results in the artistic traditions they cultivated, first of all a creative redefinition of musical culture itself, at various levels of its organization. While allowing music to exert influence on human activity, the Jesuits had to accept that its impact would depend on the peculiarities of local possibilities and conditions. This is why they analysed the qualities of music and its culture-forming potential in such detail and precisely defined its norms and modes of functioning. The impact of music can be observed in the transformations that the cultivation of musical culture brought about in the model of the Order itself, as well as in individuals, communities, and the time and space that defined them.
Tomasz Jez
County Cult Culture Education Golab History of Jesuits Jesuits Kłodzko Maciej Music Music culture Musical Silesia Silesia Social studies