priests. His mother, Karolina von Wajtowa, was the daughter of a Czech officer stationed at the Przemysl garrison. The languages spoken in his home were Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

After completing studies at Przemysl's gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 he studied theology in Lviv

Lviv

Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

's seminary. During this time, he came to recognize the deeper "beauty of Ukrainian poetry and prose" and became heavily involved in Ukrainian literature and music. In 1863, he married Jozefa Wankowicz, a member of a Polish noble family. By 1865, Vakhnianyn organized the first Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...

 concert in western Ukrainian lands. Moving to Vienna where he studied philosophy at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

, he organized the first Ukrainian student organization there and became its first head.

Vakhnianyn returned to Lviv in 1868 and helped to organize the Prosvita Society

Prosvita

Prosvita is a society created in the nineteenth century in Ukrainian Galicia for preserving and developing Ukrainian culture and education among population....

, an organization dedicated to educational and cultural work among the Ukrainian people that helped lead to a national awakening among them, becoming its first head. He was also heavily involved in the creation of Ukrainian-language textbooks in the Austrian school system.

Between 1867 and 1870 Vakhnianyn edited the journal "Pravda", in 1870 he was a coeditor of the journal "Dilo", the main journal of the Ukrainophile movement in western Ukraine, and from 1870-1878 he edited Prosvita's journal.

In 1890 he helped initiate the "New Era" movement, dedicated to forging a rapproachment between Poles and Ukrainians in east Galicia. After most of the other Ukrainophiles broke with the Poles in 1894, Vakhnianyn continued to seek compromise with them, and along with Oleksander Barvinsky

Oleksander Barvinsky

Oleksander Barvinsky was an important western Ukrainian cultural figure and politician, a founder of the Christian Social Party in western Ukraine. He also was a member of the Austrian parliament, chaired the Shevchenko Scientific Society and held the post of secretary of education and religious...

 was one of the founders of the "Catholic Ruthenian-Social Union"

Christian Social Movement in Ukraine

The Christian Social Movement in Ukraine was a political movement that existed in Western Ukraine from the end of the 19th century until the 1930s.-Ideals:...

, based on the all-Austrian Christian social movement.

Between 1894 and 1900 Vakhnianyn was a member of the Austrian parliament. In 1903 he founded the Higher Musical Institute in Lviv, currently the Lviv Conservatory, and became its first director. Under the penname Natal Vakhnianyn, he composed the opera Kupala (written between 1870-1892, premiered at the Kharkiv

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

 Opera House in 1929), music to Taras Shevchenko's drama Nazar Stodolia, and various literary works.

Anatole Vakhnianyn died February 11, 1908 and was buried in Lychakivskiy Cemetery

Lychakivskiy Cemetery

-History:Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the city's inteligentsia, middle and upper classes. Initially the cemetery was located on several hills in the borough of Lychakiv, following the imperial Austro-Hungarian edict ordering that all...

. Those eulogizing him after his death included Ivan Franko

Ivan Franko

Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....

 and Mykola Lysenko

Mykola Lysenko

Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.- Biography :Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovich Lysenko . From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and...

.