Józef Michał Poniatowski


Józef Michał Poniatowski was a Polish szlachcic, a composer and an operatic tenor. He was the nephew of the Polish general Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski. He was created the 1st Conte di Monte Rotondo on November 20, 1847, and the first Principe di Monte Rotondo on November 19, 1850 by Grand Duke of Tuscany Lepold II.

Background

Jozef Michal Poniatowski was born Giuseppe Michele Saverio Francesco Giovanni Luci in Rome, the son of Stanisław Poniatowski and Cassandra Luci. He was legitimated as a son of Stanisław Poniatowski in 1847, and he became a naturalized Tuscan.

Personal life

He studied music under Ceccherini at Florence. He wrote numerous operas for Italian and French theatres. Poniatowski was sent to Paris as plenipotentiary by Grand Duke Leopold II. Napoleon III made him in 1854 a senator and a naturalized French citizen.
He married Matilda Perotti in 1834 at Florence. They had one son, Stanislaus August Friedrich Józef Telemach, who married Louise Le Hon.
Poniatowski died and was buried in Chislehurst, Kent in 1873.