Michal Kleofas Oginski
Polonaise (Farewell to the Homeland)
in A Minor
Polonaise (Farewell to the Homeland)
Year: 1831
Period: Early Romantic
Piano score: PS Edition 
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Background
The polonaise in A minor, known as "Farewell to the Homeland" or "Les Adieux à la Patrie", is an extremely popular composition and widely recognizable in Poland. It has long been considered to be the work of Michal Kleofas Oginski.
Various myths surround this piece. One such myth is that it was written in 1794 as a result of the defeat of the Kosciuszko Uprising and the resulting emigration of Oginski. No sources confirm such a scenario. The name "Farewell to the Homeland" appears for the first time - in the Polish or French version - only in editions created around 1860, more than a quarter of a century after the supposed composer's death. There is no known autograph of the piece. Oginski's name appeared for the first time in the context of a polonaise in A minor in an arrangement by Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski published in Warsaw by Rudolf Friedlein around 1855. In the folloing, the work became popular in many new arrangements, all erroneously attributed to Oginski.
According to new research (2023) by musicologist Agnieszka Leszczynska, the earliest known version of this piece comes from the print Marche triomphale suivie d'un Polonaise nationale (ca. 1831) signed by Kasper Napoleon Wysocki. Dr. Leszczynska concludes that Wysocki should be considered the actual creator of this famous composition.
This piece is composed by Michal Kleofas Oginski and was composed in 1831. Title: Polonaise (Farewell to the Homeland), in A Minor . The difficulty level if graded by ABRSM would be approximately 5 and it belongs to the Early Romantic period.