05 November

As it turned out, on 5 November 1871 Moniuszko conducted his last concert. This is what Aleksander Walicki, the author of the first book about the composer, wrote about the event:

'The audience was so small that Moniuszko contibuted a few dozen roubles out of his own pocket towards the cost of the concert. (…) Greatly hurt, he firmly stated that he would not give a concert in Warsaw ever again.'

If the account is true, the words proved prophetic. Moniuszko died on 4 June next year.