CASSEL, Mana-Zucca

American composer, pianist, singer, and actress, born in New York City to a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants. Her birth name is variously recorded as Gussie, Gizella, or Augusta Zuckermann; she later adopted the professional name Mana-Zucca. A child prodigy, she studied piano with Alexander Lambert and composition with Herman Spielter, and later received instruction from Ferruccio Busoni and Leopold Godowsky in Europe. Her first published composition, Moment Musicale for violin and piano, was written when she was seven. A remarkably prolific composer, she produced several hundred published works, including two operas, Hypatia and The Queue of Ki-Lu; orchestral and choral music; chamber works; a ballet; a Piano Concerto, Op. 49; a Violin Concerto, Op. 224; and numerous piano pieces and songs. Her piano collection My Musical Calendar contains 366 short pieces. Her best-known song, I Love Life (1923), sets a text by her husband, Irwin M. Cassel. After settling in Miami, she hosted influential musical gatherings at her home, Mazica Hall, and became an important figure in the city’s cultural life. The University of Miami awarded her an honorary doctorate in music in 1974.