Karol Hubert Rostworowski
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Karol Hubert Rostworowski (3 November 1877 – 4 February 1938) was a Polish
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
, poet and musician, born to a family of local gentry. He is remembered for his opposition to totalitarianism and for fatalistic works inspired by Catholic morality. Rostworowski was born in Rybna in southern
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. He studied agriculture in Halle, but abandoned it in 1900. He began studying piano and composition at the
Leipzig Conservatory The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig () is a public university in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatorium der Musik (Conservatory of Music), it is the oldest music ...
in 1901, and moved to Berlin to study philosophy six years later. He returned to Poland in 1908 and settled in Czarkowy on the Nida. During World War I he moved to Kraków and became a member of
National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National democratic state, a state formation conceived by the Soviet concept of national democracy * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National De ...
, publishing in ''Głos Narodu'' beginning in 1920. In 1933 he was chosen to join the
Polish Academy of Literature The Polish Academy of Literature () was one of the most important state institutions of literary life in the Second Polish Republic, operating between 1933 and 1939 with the headquarters in Warsaw. It was founded by the decree of the Council of ...
, but resigned his membership in 1937 in protest against the change of government. Between 1934 and 1937 he had served as a councillor in the Kraków municipal government on the platform of the
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
. He died 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 ...
.


Artistic career

Rostworowski had his first published work, a collection of decadent poems called ''Tandeta'', released in 1901 (or 1911, sources vary). In 1907–1909 he published a four-volume series: ''Pre memoria'', ''Maya'', ''Ante lucis ortum'', and ''Saeculum solutum''. He published his first dramas between 1908 and 1911, including ''Żeglarze'' (Sailors, 1908), ''Pod górę'' (Uphill, 1910), and ''Echo'' (1911). He became famous locally for his play ''Judasz z Kariothu'' (
Judas Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of ...
of
Kerioth Kerioth (, ''Qǝrīyyōṯ'') is the name of two cities mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The spelling Kirioth appears in the King James Version of Amos 2:2. The name means "cities," and is the plural of the Biblical Hebrew קריה. # A town in t ...
, 1913), based on the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
and staged with the actor
Ludwik Solski Ludwik Solski (20 January 1855 - 19 December 1954), born Ludwik Napoleon Karol Sosnowski, was a Polish stage actor and theatre director. From his stage debut in 1876 until his death (his last performance took place six months after his 99th birth ...
in the title role. His next widely discussed historical play, about the nature of tyranny, was ''Kajus Cezar Kaligula'' (1917), also with Solski. In 1920 he published ''Miłosierdzie'' (Mercy), and in 1922 the drama ''Straszne dzieci'' (Hollow Children), followed by ''Zmartwychwstanie'' (Resurrection, 1923) and ''Antychryst'' (1925), but these were not as highly regarded as his first plays. He spoke out against totalitarianism in ''Czerwony marsz'' (Red March, 1930), a
morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
on guillotines and rolling heads based on the French Revolution and the Terror.


''Niespodzianka''

Rostworowski received rave reviews for his tragedy ''Niespodzianka'' (Surprise, 1928–1929), about parents murdering for money their own son, who had emigrated to America and returned to visit them. The work was staged at the
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre Juliusz Słowacki Theatre () is a 19th-century Eclectic-style theatre and opera house located in the Old Town of Kraków, Poland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erected in 1893, it was modeled after some of the best European Baroque and Ecle ...
in 1929, and in 1932 won the national book prize. ''Niespodzianka'' was regarded as Rostworowski's most notable achievement by the Polish Nobel laureate
Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...
. The novel tells an old story, first recorded around the 17th century. A peasant family in financial despair is visited by a well-dressed man asking for lodgings. They kill him in his sleep to steal his belongings, but subsequently discover that he was their own son. Both parents suffer psychologically, and the money is given to their younger son to pay for his education. The story was staged by director Jan Świderski in
Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
in 1987. Rostworowski died in 1938 in Kraków, and was buried at the Salwator estate cemetery. His strong Catholic ethics and a firm stance against totalitarianism caused his work to be disregarded in
communist Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...
and nearly forgotten. He was survived by three sons, Jan Rostworowski (poet, 1919–1975), Marek (art historian and minister of culture, 1921-1996) and Emanuel (also an historian, and editor-in-chief of the
Polish Biographical Dictionary ''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 ...
).słownik biograficzny'' (Polish Biographical Dictionary) official website.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rostworowski, Karol Hubert 1877 births 1938 deaths 20th-century Polish poets Members of the Polish Academy of Literature 20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Polish male dramatists and playwrights People from Kraków County National Party (Poland) politicians Polish musicians University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni Polish male poets Karol Robert Burials at Salwator Cemetery