Michał Ogiński

Please add an image!
Birth Date:
25.09.1765
Death date:
15.10.1833
Length of life:
68
Days since birth:
94411
Years since birth:
258
Days since death:
69554
Years since death:
190
Person's maiden name:
Michał Kleofas Ogiński
Extra names:
Mihals Oginskis, Kleofas, Michał Kleofas Ogiński, Mykolas Kleopas Oginskis, Міхал Клеафас Агінскі, Michal Oginski
Categories:
Aristocrat, Composer, Diplomat, Knyaz (Prince, Duke), Musician, Politician
Nationality:
 lithuanian, pole
Cemetery:
Set cemetery

Michał Kleofas Ogiński was a Lithuanian- Polish composer, diplomat and politician, Lithuanian Grand Treasurer and Russian senator.

Ogiński was born in Guzów, Żyrardów County (near Warsaw) in the Polish Kingdom (part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). His father Andrius was Lithuanian nobleman and governor of Trakai, in Lithuania; his mother, Paula Paulina Szembek (1740–1797), was a daughter of the Polish magnate Marek Szembek, whose ancestors were Austrians, and Yadviga Rudnicka, who was of polonised Lithuanian descent (the family name's root is of Lithuanian origin and the suffix indicates polonisation of her family name).

Taught at home, young Ogiński excelled especially at music and foreign languages. He studied under Józef Kozłowski, and later took violin lessons from Giovanni Battista Viotti and Pierre Baillot.

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. In 1793, he was nominated to the office of the Treasurer in Lithuania.

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, and dedicated his only opera, Zelis et Valcour, to Napoleon. In 1810, Ogiński withdrew from political activity in exile and, disappointed with Napoleon, returned to Vilna. 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. His polonaises influenced an entire generation of Polish composers, including Maria Szymanowska, Franciszek Lessel, and Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński.

  • 1786 – Polish Sejm deputy.
  • 1789 – Sword-bearer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
  • 1790/1791 – Envoy 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 Hrodna Sejm.
  • 1793–94 – Deputy Treasurer in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
  • 1794 – Participant in the Kościuszko Uprising.
    • Donated 188,000 złotys, was in command of 480 riflemen.

 

    • Twice attempted to enter Minsk Governorate 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,[clarification needed] Oginski returned to Lithuania.

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

  • 1807 – Oginski met Napoleon in Italy.
  • 1810 – Oginski moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. There he met the Russian Emperor, who gave Oginski the rank of Senator and Privy Councilor. Also he was conferred decorations upon St Vladimir and Alexander Nevski.
  • May 1811 – Oginski introduced to the Emperor Alexander I of Russia his project of restoring independence of his fatherland. But the Emperor refused.
  • 1823 – Oginski moved to Florence, Italy where lived till the death.

Works

Oginski was fond of Italian and French opera, played violin, clavichord and balalaika. He started composing marches and military songs in 1790s and became popular among the rebels in 1794.

He composed some 20 polonaises, various piano pieces, mazurkas, marches, romances and waltzes. In 1794 he wrote a polonaise Farewell to the Homeland (Pożegnanie ojczyzny).

Some of his other popular works and compositions include:

  • Opera 'Zelis et Valcour, ou 'Bonaparte au Caire' (1799).
  • Treatise 'Letters about music' (1828).
  • 'Memoirs on Poland and the Poles, 1788–1815' ('Memoires sur la Pologne et les Polonais, depute 1788 jusqu'a la fin de 1815'), published in Paris.

Source: wikipedia.org, news.lv

No places

    loading...

        Relations

        Relation nameRelation typeBirth DateDeath dateDescription
        1Emilia  PlaterEmilia PlaterDistant relative, Idea mate13.11.180623.12.1831
        2Leons PlātersLeons PlātersDistant relative15.02.183609.06.1863

        15.06.1794 | Koscjuško sacelšanās pret Krievijas okupāciju. Krakova padodas prūšiem bez pretošanās

        Submit memories

        11.08.1794 | 1794. gada poļu - lietuviešu sacelšanās dalībnieki M. Oginska vadībā sasniedz Daugavpili

        Submit memories

        04.11.1794 | Genocide against non-russians in Europe. 23,000 poles killed at Warsaw by Russian invaders

        Massacre of Praga was an event during the Kościuszko Uprising in Poland in 1794. On November 4th the Russian forces under General Alexander Suvorov assaulted Praga, the easternmost borough of Warsaw and after four hours of heavy hand to hand fighting broke through Polish defences. Praga was subsequently looted and burnt by Russian soldiers who also killed approximately 20 000 - 23 000 of its inhabitants including women and infants. Even animals were not spared. The following day Warsaw surrendered.

        Submit memories

        Tags