Hejnał mariacki
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Hejnał mariacki (
listen) is a traditional Polish tune closely tied to the history and traditions of the city of Kraków. It is played by a trumpeter four times consecutively each hour on the highest tower of St. Mary's Church in Kraków.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins
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The tune dates probably from the Middle Ages. It was played by the city guards at dawn and dusk to announce, respectively, the opening and closing of the city gates. The word hejnał comes from the Hungarian hajnal, "dawn." The tune once was also used to warn of fires and other dangers.
According to Polish tradition, in 1257, during the Mongol invasion, Tatar warriors were approaching the city. A guard sounded the alarm by playing the hejnał, and the city gates were closed before the Tatars could take the city by surprise. The bugler, however, was shot in the throat and did not complete the tune. That is why it now ends abruptly before completion. (The tune's complete version is actually unknown.)
[edit] Later usage
The tune was played in its shortened, more dramatic version ever since. Since February 13, 1838, it was also played at noon. The exact time was measured by the Kraków Astronomical Observatory. In the 1920s the signal from the Kraków Observatory was broadcasted over the Polish Radio and served for regulation of watches throughout the country. Ever since, noon is announced by a series of six short beeps and one long beep at the end. After that the melody of the hejnał is broadcast. Even though the time signal is currently broadcasted from Warsaw, it is still followed by the sound of the hejnał from Kraków. Because of that, it is one of the best-known Polish melodies.
As such, the hejnał accompanied many important moments in Polish history. For instance, during World War II, on May 18, 1944, a bugler from the 2nd Polish Corps played the tune to announce the Polish victory in the Battle of Monte Cassino. On June 11, 2000, the melody was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, after it was played by almost 2000 trumpeters from all over the world. Among them were military orchestras from Poland, UK, Belgium and Spain, as well as civilians. The youngest of the buglers was barely 8 years old and the oldest 79.
Since late 19th century the hejnał is performed by professional firefighters, who were also using the church tower as a lookout post. The melody is played four times an hour in four different directions: towards the Wawel Castle (southwards, for the King), towards the City Hall (westwards, for the Mayor), towards Barbican (northwards, for the guests) and towards the Little Marketplace square (eastwards, for the Firefighters HQ). Currently there are at least four different buglers serving at the tower. Since the trumpeter has to climb 239 steps, the rotation of trumpeters is quite fast. An exception from that rule is the famous Kołton family, which has been playing the hejnał for three generations now. In October of 2004 Jan Kołton retired after 33 years of service at the tower. His father had been a hejnał bugler for 35 years previously, and the tradition is currently continued by his son.
