Born: February 22, 1814, Przysucha, Russian partition of Poland
Died: June 3, 1890 in Krakow, Austro-Hungarian partition of Poland
Early days. Father- Juliusz Kolberg who immigrated from Prussia in 1798 was a professor of surveying and geodesy at Warsaw University, mother- Fryderyka Mercoeur. His family's acquaintances included prominent intellectuals: Samuel Linde, Mikołaj Chopin (father of Frederic Chopin), and Kazimierz Brodziński. He went to the Liceum Warszawskie (a high school) and then studied in the Trade Academy in Berlin. He also studied music under the guidance of Jozef Elsner.
Career. He is best known for his work titled Lud (re-published as Dzieła Wszystkie), a compilation of folk traditions from all the Polish regions. Between 1857–1890 he published 33 volumes and after his death a further 3 volumes were published. The compilation contains 12,000 folk songs, 1250 folk tales, 670 fairy tales, 2700 proverbs, 350 riddles, 15 folk spectacles and many other ethnographic documents. Kolberg also compiled some ethnographic information on neighboring regions. He worked also as a music teacher, accountant, bank clerk and in the headquarters of Warsaw-Vienna Railways(1845-1857). In 1871 he left Warsaw for financial reasons moving first to Mogilany near Krakow and then to Modlnica. In 1884 he moved to Krakow. In 1880 he co-organized an ethnographic exhibition in Kolomyja (then Austro-Hungarian partition of Poland presently Ukraine) in which participated the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph.
Honors and awards. 1873 he became a member of the Akademia Umiejetnosci (The Academy of Science and Letters), 1878 he received a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Paris, 1974 The Ministry of Culture and Art established Kolberg Prize, 1997 Oskar Kolberg Institute established, Kolberg’s Museum in Przysucha
Works
This article uses mostly material from the Wikipedia article "Oskar Kolberg" , English version.:
Wikipedia (includes a list of hist ethographic work and a lsit of his compositions)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
Other sources:
Wikipedia Polish version (with addiyional information regrding his works
Kolberg's Institute website (in Polish)
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