Four Pieces. No. 1 Prelude

Janusz de Kopczyński (c.1831-c.1883)

Very little information is available about the Polish composer Janusz de Kopczinski. Even his dates of birth and death are not certain. French sources state he was born in 1831 but the Polish National Library lists him as being born in 1838. As for his death, the Polish National Library notes it was after 1882, perhaps 1883. What little we know comes from two 19th century French dictionaries: Les musiciens polonais et slaves, anciens et modernes (1857); and Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (1884). The entries on Kopczynski are quite brief. They tell us that he was born on the estate of his family near Horokhiv in western Ukraine. From his surname, we can deduce that he was part of the Polish nobility. He studied piano with Ignacy Platon Kozlowski, a student of John Field, in the Podolian town of Vinnytsia. Some time in the 1850s, he subsequently traveled to Paris where he studied piano and composition with the piano virtuoso Charles Valentin Alkan. It is reported that he became a very accomplished pianist. While in Paris, he wrote several works for piano in the then popular style brillant that achieved some degree of popularity. Virtually nothing is known of his later life.
He wrote 6 Etudes for the piano, 3 Romances, Mazurkas and other pieces.
He also wrote a String Quartet on Russian Themes.
(from http://w.editionsilvertrust.com/kopczynski-qt1.htm)