DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23229#0135
CHOPIN AMONG ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS
Osihski held a workshop class for students on Thursdays and a public
lecture on Saturday afternoons. Kazimierz Wtadystaw Wojcicki, a well-
known 19th century researcher of Warsaw culture and a graduate of War-
saw University, wrote about him:
Ludwik Osihski used to lecture at the University for two hours, tea-
ching the course of general literature. During those lectures, the court-
yard of the University was often full of carriages and other conveyances.
Osihski's excellent elocution attracted everyone so much that at the
appointed hour even the most ardent Romantics, like Antoni Edward
Odyniec, came running to the University. In the opposite corner of the
edifice, on the first floor, Kazimierz Brodzihski used to teach a course on
Polish literature. A small group of young men able to correctly evaluate
the full worth of each word uttered by the author of Wiestaw surrounded
the lectern in a tight band, intent on not missing anything of what the
beloved Professor was reading in his weak voice. Osihski's beautiful,
but essentially empty declamation was not in evidence here, but ex-
haustive knowledge of the topic and meticulous presentation more than
made up for its absence63.
Aleksander Jetowicki, like Wojcicki, attended both sets of lectures. He
expressed a rather acerbic opinion of Osihski and was full of admiration
for Brodzihski:
In that era [1824-25] the University of Warsaw had over 1200 students,
a large collection of books, rich chairs and many good teachers. The
lectures on Polish literature was the most brilliant of them all, and it was
taught by two teachers: the far-famed Osihski and the warm-hearted
Brodzihski. The first was a clear example of moth-eaten antiquation;
the latter was a shining example of progress. Brodzihski, then only a
rising star, was quiet, serene, affectionate, a soldier and a poet. Osihski,
a puffed-up jokester and vainglorious poetaster, with his exaggerated
reading trumpeted his own fame so much that one came to his lecture
for the first time as if to an oracle, as if to an audience with the giant of
sagacity. One went to a Brodzihski lecture as if to a familiar friend, and
one always left with an affectionate heart and a tear in the eye64.
Antoni Odyniec, in turn, wrote of the "magnetic charm" of Brodzihski's
words, and added: "Brodzihski's narrow, pale, calm face beautifully con-
trasted with the black toga and biretta [in those days professors would
lecture in such attire, see fig. 102], and the quiet, modest and gentle tone
of his voice no less contrasted with the doctoral solemnity of his robes"65.
With time, Brodzihski's lectures became immensely popular. Young
Chopin was one of his students in 182666. His contacts with this profes-
sor were facilitated by their being very close neighbours: they lived in the
same building, on the campus. The author of Wiesiaw fascinated Chopin
not only because he was a representative of Romanticism, but also be-
cause he was a scholar whose interests included music67. The issues and
themes from the realm of Polihymnia, the Muse of music, were present
also in his lectures: the professor-cum-poet was the author of such works
as Rozprawa o spiewach z muzyka i o zastosowaniu poezji do muzyki z
Osihski held a workshop class for students on Thursdays and a public
lecture on Saturday afternoons. Kazimierz Wtadystaw Wojcicki, a well-
known 19th century researcher of Warsaw culture and a graduate of War-
saw University, wrote about him:
Ludwik Osihski used to lecture at the University for two hours, tea-
ching the course of general literature. During those lectures, the court-
yard of the University was often full of carriages and other conveyances.
Osihski's excellent elocution attracted everyone so much that at the
appointed hour even the most ardent Romantics, like Antoni Edward
Odyniec, came running to the University. In the opposite corner of the
edifice, on the first floor, Kazimierz Brodzihski used to teach a course on
Polish literature. A small group of young men able to correctly evaluate
the full worth of each word uttered by the author of Wiestaw surrounded
the lectern in a tight band, intent on not missing anything of what the
beloved Professor was reading in his weak voice. Osihski's beautiful,
but essentially empty declamation was not in evidence here, but ex-
haustive knowledge of the topic and meticulous presentation more than
made up for its absence63.
Aleksander Jetowicki, like Wojcicki, attended both sets of lectures. He
expressed a rather acerbic opinion of Osihski and was full of admiration
for Brodzihski:
In that era [1824-25] the University of Warsaw had over 1200 students,
a large collection of books, rich chairs and many good teachers. The
lectures on Polish literature was the most brilliant of them all, and it was
taught by two teachers: the far-famed Osihski and the warm-hearted
Brodzihski. The first was a clear example of moth-eaten antiquation;
the latter was a shining example of progress. Brodzihski, then only a
rising star, was quiet, serene, affectionate, a soldier and a poet. Osihski,
a puffed-up jokester and vainglorious poetaster, with his exaggerated
reading trumpeted his own fame so much that one came to his lecture
for the first time as if to an oracle, as if to an audience with the giant of
sagacity. One went to a Brodzihski lecture as if to a familiar friend, and
one always left with an affectionate heart and a tear in the eye64.
Antoni Odyniec, in turn, wrote of the "magnetic charm" of Brodzihski's
words, and added: "Brodzihski's narrow, pale, calm face beautifully con-
trasted with the black toga and biretta [in those days professors would
lecture in such attire, see fig. 102], and the quiet, modest and gentle tone
of his voice no less contrasted with the doctoral solemnity of his robes"65.
With time, Brodzihski's lectures became immensely popular. Young
Chopin was one of his students in 182666. His contacts with this profes-
sor were facilitated by their being very close neighbours: they lived in the
same building, on the campus. The author of Wiesiaw fascinated Chopin
not only because he was a representative of Romanticism, but also be-
cause he was a scholar whose interests included music67. The issues and
themes from the realm of Polihymnia, the Muse of music, were present
also in his lectures: the professor-cum-poet was the author of such works
as Rozprawa o spiewach z muzyka i o zastosowaniu poezji do muzyki z