Michał Kleofas Ogiński

Michael Cleophas Oginski (Polish: Michał Kleofas Ogiński; Lithuanian: Mykolas Oginskis Cleopas; born September 25, 1765 in Guzów, County Żyrardów, † October 15, 1833 in Florence) was Count of Oginski and nephew of Michael Casimir Oginski.

Oginski was a Polish composer, Member of the Reichstag and envoy extraordinary in the Netherlands.

In 1793 he was Lord Treasurer, from which position he but already in 1794 with the uprising led by Kosciuszko resigned to become chief of a vehicle equipped at his own expense fighter regiment. After the unfortunate outcome of the battle fled Oginski, but returned in 1802 with the permission of the Emperor Alexander I. to his estate Zalesie at Vilna.

After the peace of Tilsit he went with his family to France and Italy, returned in 1810 as a senator of the Russian Empire and privy to Poland, but went back to Italy in 1815.

Music

Michael Cleophas Oginski also provided compositions by Polish national songs and dances. His Mémoires sur la Pologne et les Polonais depuis 1788-1815 (par. 1826, 2 vols, German, Bellevue 1845) contain interesting information about the time from 1794 to 1798.

A known composition Oginskis is the Polonaise Pożegnanie Ojczyzny ( "Farewell to the Fatherland" ), written in 1794 during the uprising of Kosciuszko when he left Poland - Lithuania.

Chronicle

Raised in a wealthy aristocratic family

All land holdings and entire ownership in the previous Poland - Lithuania have been confiscated by the Russian Empire and Prussia because of his participation in the uprising.

He married there, his wife was Marija Nagurskaja.