Tytus Sylwester Woyciechowski (31 December 1808 – 23 March 1879) was a Polish political activist,

agriculturalist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

, and patron of art. He was an early friend — and possible lover — of the Polish composer

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

. The spelling of Woyciechowski's surname is an archaic version of the more common " Wojciechowski", with a "y" instead of a "j".

Life

Woyciechowski was born in

Lemberg Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, Galicia (now Lviv, Ukraine).

Relationship with Chopin

In his youth Woyciechowski was a fellow student of Chopin's at the

Warsaw Lyceum The Warsaw Lyceum (; ) was a secondary school that existed in Warsaw, under the Kingdom of Prussia and under the Kingdom of Poland, from 1804 to its closing in 1831 by Imperial Russia following the Polish November 1830 Uprising. History The War ...

, boarding with the Chopin family. He went on to study law at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

. Chopin dedicated to him his Op. 2 '' Variations on "Là ci darem la mano"''. Woyciechowski wrote on the front page of the Variations "J'accepte avec plaisir" ("I accept with pleasure"). In October 1829 Chopin sent him the Waltz Op. 70,3 together with a letter. In July 1830 Chopin visited Woyciechowski at his estate in Poturzyn, which Woyciechowski had inherited from his mother.Woyciechowski (a) Chopin recalled this visit in a letter: Many biographers believe that Woyciechowski acted as a confidant for Chopin during an alleged infatuation with the singer

Konstancja Gładkowska Konstancja Gładkowska (1810–1889) was a Polish soprano. Frédéric Chopin at age 19, while studying at the Warsaw School of Music (now the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw), fell in love with Gładkowska. She admired many early work ...

. Woyciechowski is shown in Chopin's letters to him to be amongst the composer's favorite friends, or perhaps a lover: Woyciechowski accompanied Chopin in his 1830 journey to Austria but, on learning of the November 1830 Uprising, returned to Warsaw to take part in the fighting. He became a second lieutenant and was awarded the highest Polish military decoration, the

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', ) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was established in 1792 by the last King of Poland Stanislaus II of Poland, ...

. While the two never met thereafter, they continued to correspond.

Later life

In 1838, Woyciechowski married Countess Aloysia Poletylo, by whom he had four children – their second son being named Fryderyk, after Chopin. Woyciechowski dedicated himself to agriculture, pioneered the introduction of

crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the pro ...

in Poland, and in 1847 founded one of the first sugar factories in the country. In 1861–62 he was an active member of the White Party, which took part in the failed January 1863 Uprising. He died in Poturzyn, now Poland. The Woyciechowski collection of Chopin memorabilia was destroyed by fire in 1914: It contained a piano made by the Buchholtz company, on which Chopin played and composed, copies of his compositions (the piano Variations à quatre mains ending in a

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

, written on 17 pages, and a contredanse), Chopin's letters to Tytus Woyciechowski and a pen in the shape of a column, with a head and base in gold and a core in coloured

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

. The base, decorated with the

initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

s T.W., served at the same time as a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

. A card with Chopin's dedication lay in a special case. The family manor house at Poturzyn was destroyed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Notes

Sources

"Tytus Woyciechowski" (a)
on Chopin Institute website (in Polish), accessed 12.2.2014
"Tytus Woyciechowski" (b)
on Chopin Kalejdoskop website, accessed 12.2.2014. * Walker, Alan (2018). ''Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times''. London: Faber and Faber. * Zamoyski, Adam (2010). ''Chopin, Prince of the Romantics'', London: HarperPress. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Woyciechowski, Tytus 1808 births 1879 deaths Businesspeople from Lviv Polish agriculturalists Frédéric Chopin 19th-century Polish politicians