Delfina Potocka, ''née'' Komar (March 18072 April 1877), a
Polish countess, was a friend and
muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
to Polish expatriate artists
Frédéric Chopin and
Zygmunt Krasiński.
[''Encyklopedia Polski''. ''Encyklopedia powszechna PWN''.] She was noted for her beauty, intellect and artistic gifts.
In her youth she was a piano student of Chopin.
Life
Delfina Potocka was born in Murowane Kuryłowce,
Podolia (now
Murovani Kurylivtsi,
Murovani Kurylivtsi Raion,
Vinnytsia oblast, Ukraine) in March 1807. She was the daughter of Stanisław Komar and Honorata Orłowska. In 1825 she married Count Mieczysław Potocki (thereby becoming a countess), with whom she had two daughters. Unhappy in her married life, she eventually divorced Potocki.
After parting with her husband, Potocka went abroad, where she maintained close contacts with
Chopin and with the Polish
Romantic poet Count
Zygmunt Krasiński.
Chopin wrote to a friend in Paris in November 1831: "Yesterday I had dinner at the home of Mrs. Potocka, that pretty wife of Mieczysław". She studied piano with him, and their friendship continued throughout Chopin's life; two days before his death in 1849, at his request, she sang for him an aria from
Handel's ''
Dettingen Te Deum''. However, the supposed erotic correspondence between Chopin and Potocka ("
Fryderyk Chopin's Letters to Delfina Potocka"), which
Paulina Czernicka claimed to have discovered in Poland in the 1940s, has been proved a forgery.
Potocka met Krasiński in
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, Italy, on 24 December 1838 and soon became his beloved confidante, to whom he revealed his innermost thoughts, and for whom he wrote "''Sen Cezary''" ("Cezara's Dream", published 1840) and the
Messianic poem, "''Przedświt''" ("Predawn", published 1843). Potocka was the great love of Krasiński's life and fully reciprocated his feelings. Their romance lasted to 1846, after which she remained his friend and muse. (In July 1843, Krasiński had married Countess Eliza Branicka.) His letters to Delfina, written between 1839 and 1859, are considered a monument to romantic love.
Potocka's friendships with Chopin and Krasiński are recorded in works that the two artists created in her honor, including poems by Krasiński and Chopin's Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 — the "
Minute Waltz."
Chopin dedicated to her his
Piano Concerto in F minor op. 21, the
Prelude in A major op.28 n°7, and a ''
Mélodie'' on a poem by Krasiński.
"Mélodie (Krasinski)"
/ref>
Potocka died in Paris, France, on 2 April 1877 and is interred at Paris's Montmorency Cemetery.
See also
* List of szlachta
Notes
References
*"Potocka Delfina z Komarów," '' Encyklopedia Polski'', p. 534.
*"Potocka Delfina, z Komarów," ''Encyklopedia powszechna PWN'' (PWN Universal Encyclopedia), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, vol. 3, 1975, pp. 661–62.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potocka, Delfina
Polish socialites
Polish composers
Composers from the Russian Empire
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies people
1807 births
1877 deaths
Delfina
Pupils of Frédéric Chopin
19th-century composers
19th-century Polish musicians
19th-century Polish women composers
Zygmunt Krasiński