InfoPersons, originating from Poland
Michał Kleofas Ogiński
Born: September 25, 1765 in Guzów, Żyrardów County (near Warsaw)Died: October 15, 1833 in Florence, Italy
He was a Polish composer,diplomat and politician, Lithuanian Grand Treasurer, and Russian senator.
Ogiński served as an adviser to King Stanisław August Poniatowski and supported him during the Great Sejm of 1788–1792. After 1790, he was dispatched to The Hague as a diplomatic representative of Poland in the Netherlands and was Polish agent in Constantinople and Paris.
During the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, Ogiński commanded his own unit. After the insurrection was suppressed, he emigrated to France, where he sought Napoleon's support for the Polish cause. At that time he saw the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw by the Emperor as a stepping stone to eventual full independence for Poland. He dedicated his only opera, Zelis et Valcour, to Napoleon. In 1810, Ogiński withdrew from political activity in exile and, disappointed with Napoleon, returned to Vilnius. Adam Jerzy Czartoryski introduced him to Tsar Alexander I, who made Ogiński a Russian Senator. Ogiński tried in vain to convince the Tsar to rebuild the Polish State. He moved abroad in 1815 and died in 1833 in Florence.
As a composer, he is best known for his polonaise Pożegnanie Ojczyzny (Farewell to the Homeland), written on the occasion of his emigration to western Europe after the failure of the Kościuszko Uprising.
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Polonica stamps:
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Belarus 1995, 11 I |
Djibouti 2015, IX |
Lithuania 2015, 26 IX |
