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 themselv ...

, composer, music editor, and publisher.

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

called him "the Chopin of guitar".

Life

Bobrowicz was born in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. He studied the guitar in Vienna with

Mauro Giuliani Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century. Biography Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center ...

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, photographic, 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, orga ...

for the music-publishing firm of

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, 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 Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

and author

Kasper Niesiecki Kasper Niesiecki (31 December 1682 – 9 July 1744), also known as Kacper Niesiecki, was a Polish heraldist, Jesuit, lexicographer, writer, theologian and preacher. Biography Niesiecki was born in Greater Poland to a burgher family. In 1699 he ...

(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 Joseph Kaspar Mertz (in hu, Mertz János Gáspár) (17 August 1806 – 14 October 1856) was an Austro-Hungarian guitarist and composer. Biography Caspar Joseph Mertz (baptised Casparus Josephus Mertz) was born in Pressburg, now Bratislava (S ...

. Bobrowicz died in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

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 (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

during the

Great Emigration The Great Emigration ( pl, Wielka Emigracja) 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 oth ...

) (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 foreigners ...

'' (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 ''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...

References

External links

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