Ernő Dohnányi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The native form of this personal name is Dohnányi Ernő. This article uses the Western name order.
Ernő Dohnányi

Ernő Dohnányi (pronounced [ˈɛrnøː ˈdohnaːɲi]) (July 27, 1877 – February 9, 1960) was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used a German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions. The "von" suggests nobility, and, according to the biography by his 3rd wife, his family was ennobled in 1697 and given a "seal," which she describes in some detail.[1]

Contents

Biography [edit]

Dohnányi was born in Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (today Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). He first studied music with his father, a professor of mathematics and amateur cellist then, starting at age 8 with Carl Forstner, organist at the local Cathedral. In 1894 he entered the Budapest Academy of Music, studying piano with István Thomán and composition with Hans von Koessler (a cousin of Max Reger). Béla Bartók was one of his classmates there. Dohnányi's first published composition, his Piano Quintet in C minor, earned the approval of Johannes Brahms, who promoted the work in Vienna.

After a few lessons with Eugen d'Albert, Dohnányi made his debut in Berlin in 1897 and was at once recognized as an artist of high attainments. Similar success in Vienna followed, and he then toured Europe with the greatest success. He made his London debut at a Richter concert in Queen's Hall, where he gave a memorable performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. As a conductor, Dohnányi pioneered the performance of Bartók's more accessible music to boost its popularity.

During the following season, he visited the United States and established his reputation playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 for his American debut with the St. Louis Symphony. Unlike most famous pianists of the time, Dohnányi did not limit himself to solo recitals and concertos, but also played chamber music.

In 1901 he completed his Symphony No. 1, his first foray into orchestral work. Although he was heavily influenced by his established contemporaries, most notably Brahms, he demonstrates considerable skill for symphonic forms.

He married Elisabeth (Elsa) Kunwald (who was also a pianist), and in 1902 their son, Hans von Dohnányi, was born. Hans would later distinguish himself as a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance in Germany and was a friend and collaborator of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (his brother-in-law). Hans, ultimately executed during the final stages of the Second World War, was father of the well-known orchestral conductor, Christoph von Dohnányi. Dohnányi and Elsa Kunwald also had a daughter, Greta.

On Joseph Joachim's invitation, Dohnányi taught at the Hochschule in Berlin from 1905 to 1915. Returning to Budapest, Dohnányi organized over a hundred concerts there each year. In 1919, he was appointed director of the Budapest Academy, but was replaced the same year for purely political reasons by the short-lived Communist Government of Béla Kun. In 1920, with Admiral Horthy becoming Regent of Hungary, Dohnányi was named music director of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and promoted the music of Béla Bartók, [2] Zoltán Kodály, Leo Weiner and other contemporary Hungarian composers. That same 1920 season, Dohnányi played the complete piano works of Beethoven and recorded several of his works on the AMPICO reproducing piano. He was also a great teacher. His pupils include Andor Földes, Ervin Nyiregyházi, Géza Anda, Annie Fischer, Edward Kilenyi, Bálint Vázsonyi, Sir Georg Solti, Istvan Kantor, Joseph Running, György/Georges Cziffra, Frank Cooper and Ľudovít Rajter, conductor, Dohnányi’s Godson.

Before World War I Dohnányi met and fell in love with a German actress (also described as a singer[3] and ballerina[4]), Elza Galafrés, who was married to the great Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman. They could not marry as their respective spouses refused to divorce them. They nevertheless had a son, Matthew, in January 1917. Both later gained the divorces they sought, and they were married in June 1919. Dohnányi also adopted Johannes, her son by Huberman. [5][6]

In 1937 he met Ilona Zachár, who was married with two children. By this time he had separated from his second wife Elza Galafrés. He and Ilona travelled throughout Europe as husband and wife, but were not legally married until they had settled in the United States. After Dohnányi’s death, a campaign to disprove his reputation as a Nazi sympathizer was initiated by his widow, Ilona, in her biography [7] and continued by Peter Halász, who in his article, “Persecuted Musicians in Hungary between 1919-1945” [8] portrays Dohnányi as a “victim” of Nazism, and by James Grymes, who in his book [9] called Dohnányi “a forgotten hero of the Holocaust resistance”.

In 1934 Dohnányi was once again appointed Director of the Budapest Academy, a post he held until 1943, though in 1941 he threatened to resign to protest having to fire his favorite Jewish pupil, Gyorgy Farago. At the same time he did nothing to save his one time friend and colleague, Leo Weiner, from losing his job and later did nothing to keep him from starving in the Budapest ghetto. It was Ede Zathureczky, eventually Dohnányi’s successor as Director, who managed to smuggle Weiner out of the ghetto and harbor him in the Academy. [10] In 1943 Dohnányi refused to allow even the 6% quota (Numerus Clausus) of Jews still permitted by the anti-Jewish laws to enter the Master Class of the Academy. In his zeal to keep it entirely Jew-free, at the audition for acceptance Dohnányi called loudly for “Numerus Nullus!” in the presence of the violin faculty and the entire class of aspirants. [11] At that point Zathureczky appealed to Jeno Szinyei-Merse, Hungary’s moderate Minister of Culture, who took his side. Then, as Dohnányi still refused to respect the Numerus Clausus, Mr. Szinyei-Merse made him resign and appointed Zathureczky [12] Director of the Academy.[13]

Dohnányi did not, as stated by his apologists, disband the Budapest Philharmonic in 1941, but continued to lead it — while its purged Jewish members formed their own orchestra at the OMIKE [14] — until 1944, when it dispersed due to the siege of the city by the Soviet forces. The program of a concert on December 10, 1943, featuring Károly Váczy in Béla Csizik’s Piano Concerto with Dohnányi conducting the Philharmonic, illustrates the continued functioning of the orchestra well after 1941. [15] Of interest is also the advertisement of its next concert on January 7, 1944 with Karl Boehm conducting.

In 1943 Dohnanyi was the virtual czar of music in Hungary. In addition to conducting the Budapest Philharmonic, as music director of the Budapest Radio Dohnányi also conducted the Radio Symphony orchestra and played many piano concertos, including all twenty-seven by Mozart. At the Great Hall of the Academy, he performed all of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. [16] Asserting that [17] "Dohnányi went through a trying de-nazification investigation" after the war, must be mistaken: Such a process could only be held in one's own country and Dohnányi left Hungary at the end of 1944, never to return. According to his loyal pupil Mr. Váczy in the above mentioned article [18] "If only I had known (in December 1944) that Dohnányi had packed his bags and left Budapest...!" The article also quotes Váczy saying: "Many people think that it was Dohnányi's right wing third wife, Ilona Zachár, who talked Dohnányi into leaving the country beginning in November 1944" . Ede Zathureczky, Dohnányi’s successor as Director of the Academy (1943-1956) testifying at his own de-nazification hearing, [19] stated that Dohnányi, convinced that Hitler would win the war with his secret miracle weapons, tried to convince him to take the valuable documents and instruments of the Academy and leave the country with him. Zathureczky refused, and stated [20] that Dohnányi and his wife left Budapest in December 1944 with the last Waffen SS unit, just as the Soviet Army was closing the circle around the city. The Dohnányis spent some time in Austria, then traveled to Argentina, (postwar haven of collaborators) to Mexico and finally to the United States, where he married Ms. Zachár in 1949.

Dohnányi was not able to revive his career as a concert pianist, but continued to compose and became interested in American folk music. His last orchestral work (excepting his 1957 revision of the Symphony No. 2), American Rhapsody (1953), was written for the sesquicentennial of Ohio University and included folk material, for example, Turkey in the straw, On Top of Old Smokey and I am a poor wayfaring stranger.

He and his third wife became American citizens in 1955.

From 1949 on Dohnányi taught for ten years at the Florida State University School of Music in Tallahassee. In 1946, [21] he was initiated as an honorary member of the Epsilon Iota Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity at the Florida State University.

Dohnányi's gravesite at Roselawn Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

His last public performance, on January 30, 1960, was at Florida State University, conducting the university orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with his doctoral student, Edward R. Thaden, as soloist. Following this performance, Dohnányi traveled to New York City to record some Beethoven piano sonatas, as well as other works, on stereo LP discs for Everest Records. He had previously recorded a Mozart concerto, his own Variations on a Nursery Tune, the second movement of his Ruralia Hungarica (Gypsy Andante), and a few solo works (but no Beethoven sonatas) on 78 rpm; [22] and various other works, including Beethoven's Tempest Sonata, on early mono LP discs.

He died 10 days later, on February 9, 1960, of pneumonia in New York City. He was buried in Tallahassee, Florida.

The BBC issued an LP recording taken from one of his last concerts, with sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert, now considered one of the glories of the heritage of Romantic pianism.

His 3 volumes of Daily Finger Exercises for the Advanced Pianist were published by Mills Music in 1962.

The Warren D. Allen Music Library at Florida State University's College of Music holds a large archive of Dohnányi's papers, manuscripts, and related materials.

Influence and legacy [edit]

The Hungarian government posthumously awarded him its highest civilian honor, the Kossuth Prize, in 1990.[23]

An International Ernst von Dohnányi Festival was held at Florida State University in 2002.

Compositions [edit]

Dohnányi's compositional style was personal. Although he used influences from Hungarian folk music, he is not considered a nationalist composer like Béla Bartók or Zoltán Kodály. Dohnányi's approach is deeply rooted in the strongest traditions of European classical music and particularly bears the imprint of Johannes Brahms.

Stage [edit]

  • Der Schleier der Pierrette (The Veil of Pierrette), Mime in three parts (Libretto after Arthur Schnitzler), Op. 18 (1909)
  • Tante Simona (Aunt Simona), Comic Opera in one act (Libretto by Victor Heindl), Op. 20 (1912)
  • A vajda tornya (The Tower of the Voivod), Romantic Opera in three acts (Libretto by Viktor Lányi, after Hans Heinz Ewers and Marc Henry), Op. 30 (1922)
  • A tenor (The Tenor), Comic Opera in three acts (Libretto by Ernő Góth and Carl Sternheim, after Bürger Schippel by Carl Sternheim), Op. 34 (1927)

Choral [edit]

  • Szegedi mise (Szeged Mass), Op. 35 (1930)
  • Cantus vitae, Symphonic Cantata, Op. 38 (1941)
  • Stabat mater, Op. 46 (1953)

Orchestral [edit]

Solo instrument and orchestra [edit]

  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 5 (1898) (the opening theme was inspired by Brahms's Symphony No. 1)
  • Konzertstück (Concertpiece) in D major for cello and orchestra, Op. 12 (1904)
  • Variations on a Nursery Tune (Variationen über ein Kinderlied) for piano and orchestra, Op. 25 (1914)
  • Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 27 (1915)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 42 (1947)
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 43 (1950)
  • Concertino for harp and chamber orchestra, Op. 45 (1952)

Chamber and instrumental [edit]

  • Piano Quartet in F♯ minor, (1894)
  • Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1 (1895)
  • String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 7 (1899)
  • Sonata in B♭ major for cello and piano, Op. 8 (1899)
  • Serenade in C major for string trio, Op. 10 (1902)
  • String Quartet No. 2 in D♭ major, Op. 15 (1906)
  • Sonata in C♯ minor for violin and piano, Op. 21 (1912)
  • Piano Quintet No. 2 in E♭ minor, Op. 26 (1914)
  • String Quartet No. 3 in A minor, Op. 33 (1926)
  • Sextet in C for piano, strings and winds, Op. 37 (1935)
  • Aria for flute and piano, Op 48, No. 1 (1958)
  • Passacaglia for solo flute, Op. 48, No. 2 (1959)

Piano [edit]

  • Four Pieces, Op. 2 (1897, pub. 1905)
  • Waltzes for four hands, Op. 3 (1897)
  • Variations and Fugue on a Theme of E[mma].G[ruber]., Op. 4 (1897)
  • Gavotte and Musette (WoO, 1898)
  • Albumblatt (WoO, 1899)
  • Passacaglia in E♭ minor, Op. 6 (1899)
  • Four Rhapsodies, Op. 11 (1903)
  • Winterreigen, Op. 13 (1905)
  • Humoresque in the form of a Suite, Op. 17 (1907)
  • Three Pieces, Op. 23 (1912)
  • Fugue for left hand (WoO, 1913)
  • Suite in the Old Style, Op. 24 (1913)
  • Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28 (1916)
  • Variations on a Hungarian Folksong, Op. 29 (1917)
  • Pastorale on a Hungarian Christmas Song (WoO, 1920)
  • Ruralia Hungarica, Op. 32a (1923)
  • Waltz Suite, for two pianos, Op. 39a (1945),
  • Limping Waltz for solo piano, Op. 39b (1947)
  • Six Pieces, Op. 41 (1945)
  • Three Singular Pieces, Op. 44 (1951)

References [edit]

  1. ^ [von Dohnányi, Ilona. Ernst von Dohnányi: A Song of Life. Edited by James A. Grymes. Indiana University Press, 2002. Page 2. See also http://www.zti.hu/dohnanyi/en/docs/2002_abstracts.htm showing as item #7 an abstract of a history of the Dohnanyi family.
  2. ^ citation needed
  3. ^ huberman.info
  4. ^ Dr David Wright, Ernst von Dohnanyi
  5. ^ name=anb>ed. Mark Carnes, American National Biography, Supplement 2
  6. ^ Janes A Grymes, Perspectives on Dohnanyi
  7. ^ Ilona von Dohnányi,ed. by James A. Grymes, “Dohnányi : A Song of Life”, (Indiana University Press, 2002
  8. ^ Oesterreichische Musik Zeitung, Wien, 2007
  9. ^ James A. Grymes, “Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi” Scarecrow Press, 2005
  10. ^ Weiner's testimony at Zathureczky's de-nazification trial
  11. ^ Gabriel Banat was next in line to be admitted: Gabriel Banat, Memoirs, Ch. 12 pp 134-135
  12. ^ Bartók's sonata partner for 14 years
  13. ^ 1943-1956
  14. ^ The National Humgarian Israelite Cultural Organization
  15. ^ Reproduced as an illustration in the journal, “Muzsika”, April 2002, in an article by Márton Devich, entitled “Pódium és katedra”: Conversation with Károly Váczy.
  16. ^ Witness of an incident at one of them: Banat, Memoirs ch. 11 p. 119
  17. ^ In the notes to the ASO Concert, "Hungary Torn," on 5/2/13
  18. ^ “Muzsika” of April 2002, by Márton Devich, entitled “Pódium és katedra” : Conversation with Károly Váczy, p 2-3
  19. ^ Gabriel Banat, Memoirs Ch. 20, pp 204-205
  20. ^ at his de-nazification hearing
  21. ^ date in error, citation needed
  22. ^ citation needed
  23. ^ Grymes, James A, ed. (2005) Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi, xiv. Scarecrow Press, accessed 7 March, 2012.
  24. ^ Grymes, James A. (1999). "Ernő Dohnányi's Revision of His Symphony in E major, Op. 40". Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (Budapest, Hungary: Academiae Scientiarum Hungarica) 40 (1/3): 71–84. doi:10.2307/902553. JSTOR 902553. 

Sources [edit]

  • Ilona von Dohnányi and James A, Grymes, eds., Ernst von Dohnányi: A Song of Life (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), ISBN 0-253-34103-5
  • William Lines Hubbard et al., eds., The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, vol. 1 (London: Irving Squire, 1908), 183-4, available online

This article is based on a text from The Etude, prior to 1923, that is in the public domain.

External links [edit]

Videos [edit]

Authority control
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernő_Dohnányi&oldid=555655610"