Józef Michał Poniatowski

Józef Michał Xawery Franciszek Jan Poniatowski , Prince of Monte Rotondo (also Joseph or Giuseppe Luci Poniatowski ; born February 21, 1816 in Rome , † July 4, 1873 in London ) was a Polish composer, singer (tenor) and diplomat.

General Józef Antoni Fürst Poniatowski's nephew studied at the Piarist College in Florence before taking music lessons with Padre C. Zanetti and Fernando Cevecchini . He then began a career as an opera singer and composer. His first opera, Giovanni da Procida , premiered in Florence in 1838. Other operas followed such as Don Desiderio (1840), Ruy Blas (1843), Bonifazio dei Geremei (1843), I Lambartazzi and Esmeralda (1847).

In 1848 Poniatowski received the Tuscan citizenship from Leopold II and, together with his brother Karol Poniatowski, the title "Prince of Monte Rotondo". He was twice a member of the House of Representatives and in 1849 became General Plenipotentiary of Tuscany in Paris, later also in London and Brussels. In 1853 he left the diplomatic service and settled in Paris. The following year he received French citizenship. In the same year Napoleon III appointed him . to the senator. Poniatowski performed his operas Pierre de Médicis (1860) and Au travers de mur (1861) in Paris and in 1860 took over the direction of the Italian Opera. In 1862 he was on a diplomatic mission in China and Japan.

After the fall of Napoleon III. In 1870 he left France and I settled in Chislehurst , England . He performed his Mass in F major here as a conductor and staged his opera Gelmina at the Royal Opera House in 1872 . He died in the summer of 1873 while preparing for a trip to the United States.

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• Polish Biographical Dictionary - Józef Michał Poniatowski
• Józef Michał Poniatowski at Operissimo