Emanuel Kania was born on 26 March 1827 in Uszyce near Kluczbork, he died on 16 March 1887 in Warsaw. He was a pianist, composer and music critic. It was most probably his father that gave him his first piano lessons. In 1841, he was admitted to the St. Matthias Junior High School in Wrocław, where he studied piano with Karl Schnabel and organ with Franz Joseph Wolf. In the composer’s vocal works, in addition to solo songs with piano accompaniment, one can find many vocal pieces, mainly for a 4-part mixed choir.
The songs were published in the Warsaw music press during the composer’s lifetime, mainly in Gazeta Muzyczna i Teatralna, Echo Muzyczne i Teatralne... However, a number of Kania’s songs remains in incomplete manuscripts, and most of them are kept in the collections of the Jagiellonian Library. This album, featuring selected songs by Emanuel Kania, is the world phonographic premiere of this forgotten oeuvre. © DUX Records