Abstract:
The ethnographic and folklore materials collected and published by Oskar
Kolberg contain a substantial portion of folk songs. Publication of such extensive
collections required the introduction of a deliberate system of organizing texts.
In this chapter I show that the way of structuring the folk songs proposed by
Kolberg – even though it was imperfect – to a large extent determined the later
editorial and publishing concepts and practices. It is also present in contemporary
works, including a multi-volume publication Polska pieśń i muzyka ludowa.
Źródła i materiały called New Kolberg. In the last part of the text I point at new
possibilities for ordering folklore materials associated with the development
of digital technologies and computer databases that allow to overcome the
shortcomings of the scheme popularized by Oskar Kolberg.
