Fredro, Ian

Born in a family of Galician landowners Fredro . Received a semi-Polish, semi-French home education. The son of Count Jacek Fredro (1770-1828), the great crown subordinate of Galicia and Lodomeria. After the death of his mother Marianna (nee Dembinsky) during a fire in a family estate in Benkova Vishn (1806), he moved to Lviv with his father and brother.

In his youth, for a long time he was at the court of the princes of Czartoryski in Pulawy . In 1806 he entered the 2nd Warsaw Infantry Regiment and soon became an adjutant captain of the General Staff of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw. A few months later he moved to the cavalry, in the 2nd Lancers Regiment. Member of the Napoleonic campaign of 1812-1814.

After Poland joined Russia, he switched to Russian service and rose to the rank of Brigadier General. Having switched to the civil service, he was the marshal of the Warsaw court, was dedicated to high degrees of Freemasonry , and in 1830 - curator of the University of Warsaw . After the Polish uprising of 1830, he retired and lived in Weimar . In 1832, he returned to Petersburg for a while and was appointed court marshal of the court.

Last years he lived abroad: he lived with his family in Dresden, Weimar, Nice and Paris . According to M. D. Buturlin , “Count Fredro was a fine fellow and a prominent man, but without a fortune. He took a considerable rather dowry for his wife, since the insolvency of her father was discovered after his death. Having finally relocated to France, he lived there all and died ” ^[1] . He was buried in Paris at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery ^[2] .

Author of dramatic works, poetry, memoirs. He translated the works of J. Racine from French (“Andromache”, “Britannic”, “Fedra”). In the years 1815-1819. He published critical articles (under the pseudonym H.) in the newspapers Gazeta Warszawska, Gazeta Korespondenta Warszawskiego and Gazeta Korespondenta Zagranicznego. Participated in the literary life of Warsaw. He wrote three forgotten tragedies written in a false-classical spirit: Dido, Harald and Wanda. For the latter, he chose a theme from Polish antiquity, but processed it according to French models.

Wife (from 01.22.1819) - Countess Praskovya Nikolaevna Golovina (1790-30.10.1869), the eldest daughter of Count N. N. Golovin from his marriage with Princess V. N. Golitsyna . Together with her sister Elizabeth, she was raised by her mother surrounded by Jesuits and French emigrants, and secretly converted to Catholicism. In 1810 she was granted the maids of honor, but had no success in society. According to Countess Golovina, the appearance of her eldest daughter “did not represent anything attractive: she was neither beauty nor grace and could not inspire any dangerous feeling” ^[3] , but she was “a wonderful woman with an early-ripened mind, pious and educated ". She left behind her yet unreleased, but interesting notes, which admitted that she didn’t really like Count Fredro and if it weren’t for the question of religion and the desire to profess the Catholic faith, she would never have agreed to this marriage, and not to any other. It took time for her to get used to her husband and to love him with all her heart ^[4] . She was buried next to her husband in Paris. Two sons were born in the marriage:

• Felix Maximilian (1820–1874), after the death of his father, made a living in Paris by drawing for illustrated editions, for which he had great talent. Very pleasant in society (“completely comme il faut”), he was able to please Princess V. S. Golitsyna (childhood friend of Countess P. N. Fredro), and was brought by her to Petersburg, where he went uphill. First he was added to the court of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna , later he served as state secretary. In the 1840-1850s, an indispensable participant in all the musical and literary evenings of St. Petersburg. He was friends with A. G. Rubinstein , who dedicated him a musical picture for the Don Quixote orchestra, and I. S. Turgenev . After 1863 he lived in Weimar and Paris, where he was a regular participant in musical evenings in the house of Polina Viardot .
• Jozef Dobislav (1825-17.05.1870), accepted French citizenship and became a Catholic priest. He died in Paris and is buried next to his parents.

• Knight's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari (1807)
• Order of St. Stanislav (Poland) (1830)
• Commander of the Legion of Honor

• "Słownik Encyklopedyczny Historia" Wydawnictwo Europa. Autorzy: Jerzy Maroń, Jacek Piotrowski, Marek Czapliński, Stanisław Rosik, Zbigniew Fras. ISBN 83-85336-95-8 . 1999.
• “Jan Maksymilian Fredro”, [w:] “Pisarze polskiego oświecenia”, t. 3, pod red. T. Kostkiewiczowej i Z. Golińskiego, Wyd. Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 1996, s. 845–859

• Fredro, Jan-Maximilian // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Fredro Jan Maksymilian (Polish)
• Fredro Jan Maksymilian (Polish)