The Department of Religious Monody and Polyphony was founded in 1968 as a unit separated from the Department of Gregorian Chant. The research conducted in the Department concerns religious musical culture of different epochs in its various manifestations, especially polyphonic works (vocal and vocal-instrumental ones), centres of the Polish musical culture (both diocesan and monastic) and musical treatises. Among the more specific issues are: monophonic and polyphonic church song, manuscript and printed liturgical and musical sources in the context of musical tradition, the performance of polyphony, early Latin polyphony, compositional techniques, musical rhetoric, spiritual and semantic dimension of the textual layer in the vocal-instrumental works, hermeneutic analysis of selected musical phenomena, contemporary Polish music on Marian themes, Polish tradition in the works of émigré composers et al.

The Department’s scientific output includes hymnological works, monographic studies on both music theory and specific genres: motets, hymns, songs, psalms, passions and the music for Christmas, as well as studies on old polyphonic music, religious works of Polish and European composers, history of Polish religious song from the 16th to the 20th century and Polish émigré composers of the 20th century. Depending on the subject matter, the results of the research are provided in historical, analytical or hermeneutical perspective.

The conducted research resulted in the establishment of The archive of religious works of Polish composers of the 20th and 21st century. The archive, which documents various genres of religious music, became one of the largest collections of contemporary masses in Poland.