Mana-Zucca

At the age of seven she began to study piano with the eminent Polish pianist and pedagogue Alexander Lambert, who taught at the New York College of Music.

As Mana-Zucca approached her early teens, she sailed to Europe with her elder sister Beatrice, better known as Bess.

Mana-Zucca's debut in Berlin, at the Bechstein Saal, was highly acclaimed and opened doors for other engagements throughout Europe.

She received private instruction from Leopold Godowsky and also attended master classes that he conducted for selected students.

Her lively descriptions of Teresa Carreño, Ferruccio Busoni, Leopold Godowsky, and the composition teacher Max Vogrich were published in American music magazines.

In England and later in the United States, she was accepted as a singer in several musical comedies, including The Count of Luxembourg, The Rose Maid and The Geisha.

A new phase in Mana-Zucca's life began when she accepted the marriage proposal of Irwin M. Cassel, a gentleman she had known since her youth.

Cassel supported her musical career and even wrote the lyrics to the then-famous song "I Love Life" (1923), which was performed by celebrated singers such as John Charles Thomas and Lawrence Tibbett.

Ultimately, and especially after the birth of her only child, a son named Marwin (a portmanteau of Mana and Irwin) in 1925, Miami became her permanent residence.

Her papers, including copies of her compositions, are in the Mana-Zucca Collection in the Green Library at Florida International University.