Intrade

Jan Janca (b. 1933) — Intrade (2017) for organ

Polish-German organist and composer Jan Janca (b. 1933) was born in Gdańsk and began lessons with his father, organist Anton Janca.

After graduation from the conservatory in Gdańsk, he studied from 1950 to 1955 at the Academy of Music in Krakow. Janca defected to (West) Germany during a concert trip in 1957, and from 1958 to 1962 he studied composition at the conservatory in Stutgart with Johann Nepomuk David.

He also studied in Paris for several years a private student of Marcel Dupré. From 1962 to 1996, Janca taught at the theological college in Tübingen and was organist of the Johanneskirche.

After an increase in suffering from tinnitus beginning in the 1990s, Janca began to devote his efforts increasingly to composition instead of performance.

He has published numerous organ and choral compositions and has also written on the history of organ building in West Prussia (today part of Poland). (He has long used “Jan” as a stage name and for all of his publications; his actual first name is “Harald.”)

Text from the Internet and a former performance by Carson Cooman)