Oskar Kolberg’s Volume on “Łużyce” [Lusatia]

Oskar Kolberg never visited Lusatia, and did not come in direct contact with the Sorbs. Still, hoping to carry out his original project of a collection of melodies from all Slavic nations, Kolberg could not ignore Lusatian songs and dances. The volume Materiały do etnografii Słowian Zachodnich i Południowych, Part 1: Łużyce is made up of three sections. The first one contains Kolberg’s translations to the Polish language and excerpts from Jan Arnošt Smoler’s monumental work Volkslieder der Sorben in der Ober- und Niederlausitz / Pěsnički hornich a delnich Łužiskich Serbow. The second part includes Sorbian materials from the collection of Andrzej Kucharski, who in the years 1826–1827 studied the history, literature and language of Lusatians. The third part contains Kolberg’s own rather scarce lexical and bibliographical notes. The aim of this article is to take note of a not-sowell- known volume of Kolberg’s folk-musical collection and to discuss the meaning of this publication nowadays.