Joaquim Rubió i Ors

Joaquim Rubió i Ors

Joaquim Rubió i Ors (born July 31, 1818 in Barcelona , † April 7, 1899 ibid) was a Catalan poet and playwright, historian and practical cultural curator. Rubió was President of the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres of Barcelona and Rector of the University of Barcelona . He was one of the leading figures of the Catalan Renaixença , the movement in the 19th century that restored the Catalan language and culture. Rubió achieved great literary success under the pseudonym Lo Gaiter del Llobregat (in older editions Lo Gayter del Llobregat , the bagpiper of the Llobregat).

Life path

Rubió's father worked as a printer and, in old age, as a bookseller. Rubió himself first entered the seminary and studied philosophy there. He also took physics and French courses at the School of the Chamber of Commerce (Junta de Comerç). In 1833 he then began studying theology. However, since he did not feel called to the priesthood, he soon gave up this study. The family's economic situation, however, prevented them from studying in Cervera , where the University of Barcelona had moved to after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1717. In Barcelona itself there were no university institutions in the early 1830s. That is why, like his older brother Josep, he initially took up the father's profession. In October 1835, in the El Catalan magazine, he called for the University of Barcelona to be reopened. When the city council of Barcelona set up a law course in December 1835, Rubió immediately enrolled for it. He also took courses in political economy at the Chamber of Commerce with the Catalan economist Eudald Jaumeandreu i Triter . In 1836 he passed public exams for these courses. Rubió took courses to improve his knowledge of Latin and literature at the Collegium Carreras in Barcelona. This school was later integrated into the re-established University of Barcelona. In October 1838 he took his bachelor's degree in law from the University of Barcelona.

In the same year he published his first literary work. In addition to two literary translations, he had written the legend Mano roja ( The Red Hand ), which was created under the influence of Manuel Milà i Fontanals . The literary role models for Rubió were the Spanish-speaking authors Ángel de Saavedra (known as Duque de Rivas), José Zorrilla y Moral , José de Espronceda , Eugenio de Ochoa and Juan Arolas ; Joan Cortada i Sala has to be mentioned above all as a Catalan-speaking author model . Rubió published articles on folk customs in El Diari de Barcelona under the pseudonym "Aben Abulema" . On February 6, 1839 he published here under the pseudonym "Lo Gaiter de Llobregat" (The bagpiper of the Llobregat) behind an article by Joan Cortada; Until November 9, 1840 he published a total of 19 Poesias Catalanas (Catalan poems) under the said pseudonym , which should make him known. In 1841 these appeared in book form under the real name of the author. The book edition showed changes in the order of the seals compared to the newspaper publications. The newspaper editions opened with the poetic portrayal of the Gaiter, the bagpiper, who linked the pseudonym author to the poetic chants and the Llobregat River . In contrast, the book edition from 1841 begins with the patriotic poem Mos cantars (Our songs). In the foreword to the book publication, Rubió accuses his contemporaries that they no longer respected the (Catalan) language of the troubadours, in fact they no longer even knew it. The whole foreword is shaped by Rubió's enthusiasm for the discovery of the troubadour poetry, which he met through his new friends Manuel Milà and Pau Piferrer . In this foreword Rubió also announced that his gaita, the bagpipe, will only fall silent once you have heard the mood of a Catalan lyre. He further qualifies this Catalan poetry as songs that were composed under the influence of Josep Pau Ballot i Torres . In contrast to this, with regard to the Mos cantars ( Our Songs ) , he speaks of Melós llemosí in the succession of Bonaventure Carles Aribau . The message of this preface can be understood against the following background. On the occasion of the visit of the two Spanish queens Maria Christina and Isabella II to Barcelona in 1840, numerous Catalan poets had written poems in the royal poetry albums. But only two of these poets, Miquel Anton Martí and Joaquim Rubió themselves, had chosen the Catalan language for their poem. Joan Cortada called a competition for Catalan poetry in the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres of Barcelona, ​​which Rubió won with his Catalan poem Roudor de Llobregat in honor of the knight Bernat de Roudor .

Rubió was a member of the scientific-literary society Sociedad Filomática of Barcelona. In 1845 he published El libro de las niñas (The Book of Girls) with great success . He also sought success as a playwright, writing dramas in verse. Due to the publication of the plays El rector de Vallfogona (The Chief Priest of Vallfogona) and Pere Serafí , he received the title of Poet of the Theater in 1840 . As such, he felt obliged to write odes to the two Spanish queens Maria Christina and Isabella II. As a playwright, he later published the plays Gutenberg (1880) and Luter (1888, Luther). In 1845 he received a diploma in humanities from the University of Barcelona. In the same year he also completed his doctorate. He became head of the 1st Humanities Section at the University of Barcelona. In 1847 he became professor of literature and history at the University of Valladolid. In 1852 he published a study program for Spanish and world literature. In 1854 he married his cousin Elisea Lluch with the special permission of the Pope. In 1858, at his own request, he moved from Valladolid as a professor to the vacant chair for universal history at the University of Barcelona. In 1858 Rubió published a second, corrected and expanded version of the collection of poems Lo Gaiter del Llobregat . He dedicated himself to the new challenge at the University of Barcelona with full devotion and great perseverance. In 1873 and 1875 he published his own Historia Universal . He also translated some of Victor Hugo's poems from French into Catalan.

In 1859 Rubió was one of the strongest supporters for the re-establishment of the medieval poetry competition Jocs Florals in Barcelona. In this context, he was awarded the title "Mestre en Gai Saber" (master of poetry) in 1863. With these new Jocs Florals , Rubió himself gained first recognition as a prose writer. Rubió was president of these Jocs Florals from 1890 until his death . At the Acadèmia, he published Breve reseña del actual renacimiento de la lengua y literatura catalana (1877, Reports on the Renaissance of the Catalan Language and Culture), the first academic account of the Catalan Renaixença. Rubió also became president of the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres in Barcelona. In 1896 he became vice rector and in 1899, shortly before his death, rector of the University of Barcelona.

The work of Joaquim Rubió i Ors includes theological literature, literary-critical and historical essays on the one hand and lyrical and dramatic poetry on the other. Stylistically, it can be classified in the transition from the Catalan Romanticism to the Catalan Renaixença. Above all, the collection of poems in the Gaiter del Llobregat set standards in thematic, metrical and linguistic terms for Catalan poetry of the second half of the 19th century. These Poesias Catalanas functioned as the lyrical manifesto of the Catalan Renaixença. In all of his fields of activity - as a historian, as a poet and as a practical cultural curator - Rubió stood up for the revival, the Renaixença of the Catalan language and culture. He was one of the leading figures in this cultural movement.

literature

• Rubió i Ors, Joaquim. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana , Volume 20, 2nd edition, Barcelona 1988, 3rd reprint 1992, ISBN 84-7739-021-5 , page 58 f.
• Óscar Adell Ralfas: Rubió i Ors, Joaquim , in: Diccionario biográfico español , Madrid 2009–2013, online version

Web links

Commons : Joaquim Rubió i Ors  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Joaquim Rubió i Ors. On: enciclopedia.cat