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| Skirmish between Polish insurgents and Russian forces at Warsaw. |
FEATURED COMPOSER
Michal Kleofas Ojinsky (1765-1833)
Pozegnanie Ojczyzny / Farewell to My Homeland (1831)
State Academic Symphonic Orchestra of Ukraine
Conducted by Serhiy Lykhomanenko (Ukraine)
Duration: 4.14 minutes
Fri, 23 October 2020, 2.30 p.m.-3 p.m.
Siesta Time: Western Classical Music
AIR FM Goa, 105.4 Mhz
https://onlineradiofm.in/goa/panaji/fm-rainbow
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The polonaise by Ojinsky is all of three minutes but that’s all it takes to prove his genius. Aptly called ‘Farewell to My Homeland’ the elegiac composition celebrates his homeland Poland.
It commemorates the November uprising of 1830-31
by Polish cadets in Warsaw against Russians in occupied Poland. The polonaise
was published all over Europe.
The polonaise in A minor – a key described as
‘deliciously melancholic’ - is Ojinsky’s most famous work. It has been arranged
for numerous instruments like piano, violin, flute, classical guitar and as an
ensemble piece for violin, piano and cello. It is most often rendered as an
orchestral piece.
The polonaise has been described as ‘a romantic
piano miniature.’ It is a slow dance of Polish origin.
Ojinsky wrote over 20 polonaises for piano solo
– a form very dear to his compatriot Chopin. He also wrote mazurkas, military
music and an opera.
Ojinsky also had an illustrious career as a diplomat. He was an advisor to Poland’s last king, Stanislaw August Poniatowski. He died in Florence where he spent the last ten years of his life.
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Notes by AIR RJ Dr. Brian Mendonca; pic courtesy wikipedia; painting by Wojciech Kossack, 1898.
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