Michał Kleofas Ogiński

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Michał Kleofas Ogiński (Lithuanian: Mykolas Kleopas Oginskis) (Guzów, near Warsaw, October 7, 1765 - October 10, 1833, Florence, Italy) was a Polish-Lithuanian and later Russian statesman, insurrectionary and composer, best known for his polonaise, Pożegnanie Ojczyzny (English: Farewell to the Fatherland).

1 Life
2 Chronology
3 Works
4 External links

[edit] Life

Ogiński was an ambassador, composer, Paymaster General of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His father, Andrzej, was governor of Trakai; his mother, Paulina, was a daughter of the magnate, Szembek. Ogiński was born in Guzów, near Warsaw. Taught at home, he excelled especially at music and foreign languages.

[edit] Chronology

1786 - Sejm deputy.
1788 - Commissioner of the Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1789 - Sword-bearer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1789 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands.
1791 - Returned to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to decide a point of his family lands since Russia had occupied some of them.
1793 - Deputy to the Grodno Sejm.
1793-94 - Paymaster General of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1794 - Took part in the Kościuszko Uprising.
- Donated 188,000 złotys, was in command of 480 riflemen.
- Twice attempted to enter Minsk Province to raise Belarusians against Russian occupation.
- Also struggled against Prussian intervention.

When the Russians occupied Vilnius, he moved to Warsaw. The Russians outlawed him and seized all his lands. Thereafter he lived in exile successively in Vienna, Venice and Paris.

1802 - Thanks to the good offices of Duke Czartoryski, Ogiński was allowed to return to his country.

He swore allegiance to Tsar Alexander I of Russia and settled in Zalesie village, Oszmiany region, in present-day Belarus. At the new place of living Ogiński built a new palace, an English-style park, a greenhouse, a zoopark and collected a lot of books for his library.

1807 - Ogiński met Napoleon in Italy.
1810 - Ogiński moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. There he met the Russian Emperor, who gave Ogiński the rank of Senator and Privy Councilor. Also he was conferred decorations upon St Vladimir and Alexander Nevski.

May, 1811 - Ogiński introduced to the Emperor Alexander I of Russia his project of restoring independence of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But the Emperor refused.

1817 - Oginski moved to Vilnius and published 2 albums of his own compositions.
1823 - Ogiński moved to Florence, Italy where lived till the death.

[edit] Works

Being a well-known musician and a composer, Ogiński was fond of Italian and French Opera, played violin and clavichord.

He started composing marches and military songs in 1790's and become popular among rebels in 1794. Some historians consider Oginski composed music for the song Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła (Poland has not yet perished), which became the Polish National Hymn later.

Living in Zalesie, present-day Zaleśsie (Belarus), and later Helenów (Poland), Ogiński devoted himself to music composing. During that period he composed music for the polonaise Pożegnanie Ojczyzny (Farewell to the Homeland).

Also he composed a lot of piano pieces, polonaises, mazurkas, marches, romances and waltzes. Popular works and compositions: