Jan Nepomucen (de) Bobrowicz (12 May 1805 – 2 November 1881) was a Polish virtuoso

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, composer, music editor, and publisher.

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

called him "the Chopin of guitar".

Life

Bobrowicz was born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. He studied the guitar in Vienna with Mauro Giuliani during 1816–1819. After a short career as a solo performer on the guitar, he worked as a secretary in the senate of Kraków. From 1832, he worked as an

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

for the music-publishing firm of

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. Later he ran his own publishing business. As an editor he was responsible for probably hundreds of titles, published mainly in Polish. The venture which brought him probably the most fame was the 4th–10th editions of the original classical genealogical and heraldic reference, ''Herbarz Polski'' (The Polish Armorial), by heraldist and author Kasper Niesiecki (1682–1744). They appeared under Breitkopf & Härtel's imprint between 1839 and 1846. As a composer, Bobrowicz wrote about 40 compositions for the guitar. Many of them are in the form of theme and variations.Krzysztof Komarnicki
Form-integrating Elements in the Variation Cycles by Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz.
''Guitar and Lute''. Stylistically, he belongs to the Romantic era – one of the few substantial guitar composers of the time, comparable to Johann Kaspar Mertz. Bobrowicz died in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

aged 76.

Selected works

* ''Grandes variations sur un duo de l'opéra 'Don Juan, Op. 6 * ''Air d'Ukraine varié'', Op. 7 * ''Variations brillantes sur un thème original'', Op. 10 * ''Six Valses et polonaise'', Op. 11 (as Op. 11b version for flute and guitar) * ''L'Impromptu variations'', Op. 12 * ''Introduction, variations et polonoise sur un thème original des Tiroliens'', Op. 13 * ''Variations sur la cavatine favorite de l'opéra 'Zelmira', de Rossini'', Op. 16 * ''Distractions-rondeau brillant et facile'', Op. 17 * ''Variations sur une valse favorite'', Op. 18 * ''Quatre Marches'', Op. 19 * ''Introduction et variations sur l'air polonais 'Ja ciebie nie zapomnę, Op. 20 * ''Souvenir de F. Hérold. Grand potpourri sur des motifs de l'opéra 'Zampa, ou La Fiancée de marbre, Op. 21 * ''Première grande polonaise'', Op. 24 * ''Drei Märsche'', Op. 25 * ''Variations de bravoure sur un thème de Caraffa, 'Oh! cara memoria, Op. 28 * ''Variations et polonaise sur un duo de l'opéra 'I Montecchi e Capuleti, Op. 30

Editions

Robert Coldwell (ed.): ''J. N. Bobrowicz, Selected Works'', 2 vols (Dallas: Digital Guitar Archive, 2005 & 2008). Vol. 1 contains a detailed biography in English and Polish by Krzysztof Komarnicki.

Bibliography

* H. Batorowska: ''Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz: polski wydawca i księgarz w Saksonii w czasach Wielkiej Emigracji'' (Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz: Polish Publisher and Bookseller in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

during the

Great Emigration The Great Emigration () was the emigration of thousands of Poles and Lithuanians, particularly from the political and cultural élites, from 1831 to 1870, after the failure of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and of other uprisings such as ...

) (Kraków, 1992). * S. P. Koczorowski: "Bobrowicz, Jan Nepomucen", in ''

Polski Słownik Biograficzny ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigner ...

'' (Polish Biographical Dictionary), vol. 2 (Kraków, 1936), pp. 157–158. * Z. Walczy: "Bobrowicz, Jan Nepomucen", in ''Słownik pracowników książki polskiej'' (Dictionary of Polish Book People), edited by J. Treichel (Warsaw, 1972), pp. 73–74. * Jan Oberbeck: ''Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz. Chopin gitary'' (Bielsko Biała, n. d. 005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobrowicz, Jan Nepomucen de 1805 births 1881 deaths 19th-century Polish classical composers 19th-century Polish male musicians Composers for the classical guitar Polish classical guitarists Polish male classical composers Polish male guitarists Polish Romantic composers 19th-century guitarists