Marcelina Czartoryska

Portrait by Jan Matejko, 1874

Chopin on His Deathbed, by Kwiatkowski, 1849, commissioned by Jane Stirling. Chopin sits in bed, in presence of (from left) Aleksander Jełowicki, Chopin's sister Ludwika, Princess Marcelina Czartoryska, Wojciech Grzymała, Kwiatkowski himself.

Princess Marcelina Czartoryska née Radziwiłł (18 May 1817, in Podłużne − 5 June 1894, in Kraków) was a prominent Polish aristocrat and pianist.

She was taught by Carl Czerny in Vienna as well as Frederic Chopin in Paris. Born into the mighty family of Polish magnates, the Radziwiłłs, in 1840 she married Aleksander Czartoryski, an aristocrate from a family of no lesser notability. As a pianist she gave concerts across the Europe, often together with prominent musicians such as Ferenc Liszt, Pauline Viardot and Henri Vieuxtemps. In Paris she became a notable guest in the palace Hôtel Lambert, bought by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, a close relative of her husband Aleksander. She was present on the deathbed of Frederich Chopin, her teacher and friend, in 1849.

From 1870 she lived in Kraków, where she gave mainly private concerts and, thanks to her artistic connections, contributed to founding a Conservatory in 1888. She died in 1894 and was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery.

Bibliography

• Stanisław Dybowski, Słownik pianistów polskich ("Dictionary of Polish Pianists"), Przedsiębiorstwo Muzyczne "Selene", Warszawa 2003.

Persondata
Name	Czartoryska, Marcelina
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Short description
Date of birth	1817
Place of birth
Date of death	1894
Place of death