He liked women rather round, but not too plump. Bulky, obese ladies were completely unappealing to him. As a consummate seducer, he preferred experienced married women who could offer much more in bed than innocent ladies. Alexander Fredro knew how to have fun. Eventually, however, he was also hit by Cupid's arrow ...
The future author of Zemsta was born on June 20, 1793 in Surochów near Jarosław, in a wealthy noble family, as the son of Jacek Fredro and Marianna née Dembińska. (...) The father of the comedy writer was a wealthy man, he included:Rudki, Beńkowa Wisznia, Nowosiółek, Rabba and Cisna (...).
However, the future comedy writer did not spend time in the family estate, helping his father with the farm, but he stayed in Lviv, where he and his brothers lived the life of a seducer and seducer, enjoying great popularity among local ladies. Especially those unpredictable and bored with an unsuccessful marriage, usually imposed by the family (...).
Round rump and cheerfully swinging breasts
The young Fredro brothers, Aleksander and Seweryn, felt like fish in water in this dancing, amused city, especially since both were illuminated by the fame of the officers fighting for the freedom of their homeland under the command of Emperor Napoleon and the unforgettable Prince Pepi. And it was this fame that melted the hearts of virgins and married women, and as Nakwaska writes:"Many marital fidelity and maiden virtue fell victim to patriotic fervor" (...).
It must be admitted that Fredro was very discreet, researchers have not yet managed to establish with whom in those carefree Lviv times he had an affair (...). We know, however, that he liked women who were rather round, but not very plump. Bulky, obese ladies did not attract him at all, although appreciated, as he wrote, "round buttocks", firm thighs and breasts, not necessarily perfect, but "joyfully rocking".
In his youth, Fredro was a consummate seducer
He did not like, for example, the inhabitants of Vienna, whom he described in one of the letters as "crooked-dirty-smelly-thick-flat grenade launchers". He liked blondes rather than brunettes. In the fair sex, he also appreciated coquetry, cheerful disposition and intelligence, as well as good taste and not too exaggerated following the requirements of fashion.
As an experienced seducer, he preferred experienced married women, who could offer much more in bed, over innocent ladies, he wrote not for nothing that:"The fortieth year usually closes the door to madness for men and opens the door to women" (...).
Ears crackling poetry
Evidence from the era shows that the Fredro brothers shone in Lviv salons, setting the tone for the social life of that time, even becoming a kind of celebrity at the time. "(...) We had to hide from them, because they would have taken them off the altar, and they would also write such poems that even the older ones had their ears crackling," recalls Kaczkowski.
Those works, which made "ears crackling", were written by two Fredro brothers - Henryk and Aleksander (...). Many obscene works were written during the years of Lviv frolics such as The Art of Capture from 1817, i.e. from the period of an affair with Mrs. (...) The Piczomira queen of Branlomania:a tragedy in three acts is also in a similar vein which is by no means a piece suitable for school reading (...).
The text is an excerpt from the latest book by Iwona Kienzler "Życie i romanse Polish aristocrats", which has just been published by Bellona.
But these pornographic works were not the only works written by the erstwhile Prince Józef lancers. In 1817, his comedy Intriguingly was premiered in Lviv. , later transformed into a musical slap Fri New Don Quixote, or one hundred madness , to which music was composed by Stanisław Moniuszko (…).
However, the news about his son's literary successes did not make Jacek Fredro much happy, who heard the news about the evil deeds of his descendants in Lviv. Mr. Fredro decided to put an end to Aleksander and Seweryn's excesses, turning them back to the right path. (...) He ordered Aleksander to live in Jatwięgi, adjacent to Beńkowa Wisznia, and sent Seweryn to Beńkowa Wisznia.
At that time, however, Alexander was no longer interested in seducing ladies, maids and servants, as a beautiful blonde stole his heart. The problem, however, was that the beloved Fredro was married.
The surprising effects of a certain bet
At the end of 1818 Fredro's friends made a bet with him that he would not be able to get a certain married beauty and spice up her old husband's horns. (...) Zofia Skarbkowa, because this is what we are talking about, seemed to be an easy prey - although she was married for only a year, it was common knowledge that her marriage was extremely unsuccessful (...).
"Scattering for Mammon", as well as Skarbek's incurable tendency to meet pretty female actresses, made the enterprising count neglect his wife, devoting little time to her. To make matters worse, Stanisław avoided Zofia's bed with a wide berth, which was explained by her brother with the poor health of his brother-in-law . Oddly enough, his allegedly ill health did not prevent him from seducing the actresses.
Portrait of Zofia née Jabłonowska Fredro from 1824
As you can guess, Lviv was full of bachelors willing to make beautiful Mrs. Skarbek's lonely moments, but she was not eager to romance, although she had a large group of admirers. (...) Today, she would probably also be considered attractive, but beauty was not Ms. Skarbek's only asset:the woman was extremely intelligent, she enchanted her surroundings by telling various anecdotes, not avoiding moderately playful (...).
And what did Fredro look like, who bet he would seduce a pretty married woman within six months? Ludwik Jabłonowski in his memoirs did not present, unfortunately, a flattering image of Zofia's admirer:
Medium height, but neatly built, with features similar to Dębiński, Fredro was slightly pockmarked and bile on his face, showing a tendency to hypochondria . His eye was gray, so yellow in the white, his eyesight was inexpressive, his hair was reddish, short-cropped, his smile was bad, the position was rather smooth.
He revealed with each move that he still has power in mind, that - as the French says - he is posing. His joke was often biting, sometimes annoying to the other, more of a way of saying than the content of making you laugh, with a look, a smile and a movement of your hand strongly accentuated.
(...) Initially, Fredro was fascinated by Zofia only as a woman, as he suspected, an easy object of his love conquests. Under the terms of the institution, the writer was supposed to seduce her within six months, but the beautiful married woman turned out to be an impregnable fortress, and the consummate seducer fell into his own trap because he fell in love with a beautiful married woman.
The amorous torments of a comedy writer
At first, Fredro did not even dare to dream that Skarbek would ever reciprocate his feelings. With time, however, it turned out that Zofia, reluctant to extramarital affairs, also loves him and is ready to leave her husband, with whom she had nothing to do with, to spend the rest of her life with Aleksander.
Easier said than done - although obtaining a marriage annulment for wealthy aristocrats was not a difficult matter, the entire Jabłonowski family was against it (...).
The couple, meeting in Lubień, had to play their friends in front of the Jabłonowski family. They innocently filtered with each other at the card table, playing, among others, "the slipper", a game that Fredro called invaluable for lovers. After winning cards, Zofia had one of the coins turned into a copper ring and engraved inside it with the motto of her love:Not here - there, which was to mean that if she could not connect with her beloved in this world, she would do it in the afterlife ( …).
Illustration for "The Art of Capturing" by Aleksander Fredro
According to one of the poet's brothers, Maksymilian, at the turn of 1819 and 1820 Alexander fell into depression, he even wrote to his friend that he was plagued by suicidal thoughts. Only in 1825, on the initiative of Zofia, who managed to overcome the family's opposition, efforts were made to annul the Skarbek's marriage. In accordance with the legislation in force in the Austrian partition, the matter fell within the competence of the secular authorities, so there was no application to the Vatican, but the trial lasted a record long time, until 1828.
(...) The prolonged divorce formalities made Aleksander depressed again. Work and writing turned out to be the salvation for the suffering man. (...) It was when he waited for Zofia to take steps to annul her marriage, and then to settle the divorce formalities, that his plays: Husband and Wife , written in 1822, Foreigner from 1824, and finally Ladies and Hussars , completed in 1825 (…).
And they lived happily ever after
Finally, in love, Fredro lived to see the annulment of Zofia's marriage. The imperial decree proclaimed:"The Most Holy Royal Majesty by the highest decree of September 23, 1828 [...], in the case of Zofia and count. Skarbek, [...], [marriage] contracted in the parish church in Krościenko on On August 23, 1814, solemnly blessed, it was declared invalid [...]. Lviv, October 27, 1828 […] ”.
The reason for the invalidity of the sacrament was ... insufficient number of pre-wedding announcements of Zofia Jabłonowska and Stanisław Skarbek (...).
The text is an excerpt from the latest book by Iwona Kienzler "Życie i romanse Polish aristocrats", which has just been published by Bellona.
Aleksander, having received the sentence, felt as if he had grown wings - proposed to his beloved, for whom he had been waiting for ten years (from the date of the bet) and has been accepted. The preparations for the ceremony took an expressive pace and the couple reached the wedding carpet on November 9, 1828 (...).
As you know, the prose of life often destroys romantic love and the longed-for wedding can be the end of a great feeling, but in the case of Fredro it did not happen - the couple lived in harmony and happiness for forty-eight years, until Alexander's death in 1876.
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Source:
The text is an excerpt from the latest book by Iwona Kienzler "Życie i romanse Polish aristocrats", which has just been published by Bellona.