The figure and achievements of Prince Poniatowski are slowly brought back to the common conscience. The truth about this aristocrat-composer, similarly to the truth about any historical figure, is definitely complex. We rediscover it slowly and gradually, mainly based on the documents left by him and created in his circle as well as the recollections of people with whom he lived. Only the contact with the testimonies of forgotten facts and events, written on yellowish paper, gives us a chance to touch the knowledge that would be untraceable in any other way: the knowledge of his dreams and disappointments, successes and failures. Our considerations about the Parisian stage of prince Poniatowski’s activity still remain a shy ‘peep through a keyhole.’ However, we are convinced that without ‘peeping’ we would not even dream about the day when the seemingly close door to the still unknown details of this fascinating biography will become widely open.

Fragment of the introduction, Grzegorz Zieziula