Stanisław Moniuszko (5 May 1819 – 4 June 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor, and organist born in Ubiel, in present-day Belarus. He studied in Berlin with Carl Rungenhagen before settling in Vilnius as a church organist, and achieved lasting fame with his opera Halka, first staged in concert form in 1848 and fully in Warsaw in 1858. In 1858 he moved to Warsaw as conductor of the Warsaw Opera, where he composed further major operas including The Countess, Verbum nobile, and The Haunted Manor.

Widely regarded as the father of Polish national opera and the leading Polish Romantic composer between Chopin and Paderewski, Moniuszko also compiled over 200 art songs in his Śpiewnik domowy (“Songbook for Home Use”), including the popular “Prząśniczka,” which remain staples of the Polish vocal repertoire. His work laid the foundation for a distinctly Polish musical idiom in both opera and song.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Moniuszko