Zaleski, Wacław

Zaleski, Wacław, b 18 September 1799 in Olesko, Galicia, d 24 February 1849 in Vienna. Polish folklorist and writer. A graduate of Lviv University, he served in the civil service, taught mathematics, wrote verses and plays, and collected folklore. His Pieśni polskie i ruskie ludu galicyjskiego (Polish and Ruthenian Songs of the Galician People, 1833), published under the pseudonym Wacław z Oleska, was one of the first collections of Ukrainian folk songs. It contains an instrumental score by Karol Lipiński. The work was regarded highly, and it encouraged the development of Ukrainian ethnography. Later it was criticized for its use of Latin alphabet for Ukrainian transcription. Zaleski also translated Ukrainian folk oral literature into German (1861).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]