Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska

Polish pianist, born in 1834 in Warsaw, Poland, known mainly as the composer of the salon piece "A virgin's prayer" (French: "La prière d'une vierge").

First published in 1856 (as "Modlitwa dziewicy"), this piano composition got famous through the cabaret show "Revue et gazette musicale", was extremely popular at the end of the nineteenth century and has been transcribed for many different instrumentations. It is particularly popular in the Far East and both revered and reviled due to its charming simplicity.

Bądarzewska-Baranowska wrote some 35 salon pieces for piano and died on 29 September 1861 at the age of 27. Her marriage to Jan Baranowski produced five children in their nine years of marriage, and a crater on the planet Venus is named after her.