JELOWICKA, Janina

Janina Jełowicka née Czetwertyńska was a Polish national activist, composer and singer. She early displayed musical talent and a disposition marked by romantic idealism. Her parents took their fourteen-year-old daughter abroad; her teachers included G. Rossini in Florence, M. Giuliani, and G.J. Duprez in Paris, where she already enjoyed numerous successes, singing mezzo-soprano, often her own compositions.

She was a princess, and at one point she donated half of her fortune to emancipate the peasants, hoping to win them over to the upcoming uprising . She hoped to set an example for other landowners, but this proved unsuccessful.

In Kiev, her Songbook was published, dedicated to the "brotherly nobility," and containing numerous compositions, including those set to works by Mickiewicz ("The Hunter's Song ," "The Glove ," "The Dream") and Zaleski. She is also the creator of the comedy Wróżba z czy zygmunta Augusta" ("The Fortune Teller from the Time of Sigismund Augustus").