Ernst von Dohnányi

Ernst von Dohnányi

Ernst von Dohnányi [ ˈdohnaːɲi ] (also Dohnányi Ernő ; born July 27, 1877 in Pressburg , Austria-Hungary , † February 9, 1960 in New York City ) was a Hungarian pianist and composer .

Life

Ernst von Dohnányi came from a musical family and received his first music lessons from his father Friedrich Dohnányi ( Hungarian : Dohnányi Frigyes, 1843–1909), a professor of mathematics and amateur cellist. He was considered a child prodigy and emerged as a composer and pianist at an early age. He received his further training at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest , where he studied piano and composition with the organist of the Bratislava Cathedral, Carl Forstner . In 1894 he was accepted into the piano class of István Thomán and the composition class of Hans von Koessler , which Béla Bartók also attended at the same time . Also in 1895 Dohnányi made the acquaintance of Johannes Brahms , who exuberantly praised his piano quintet in C minor, Op. 1. In 1897 he finished his studies in Budapest and, after brief further instruction from Eugen d'Albert, made his debut in Berlin . In the following years he celebrated international success both as a composer and as a pianist. From 1905 he taught at the Berlin University of Music , where he was appointed professor in 1908.

In 1915 he returned to Hungary because of the First World War , where he taught at the Budapest Franz Liszt Music Academy from 1916 . In 1918 he became chief conductor and president of the Philharmonic Society of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra , which he remained until 1944. In 1919 he had to resign from his teaching post under pressure from the Horthy regime. In the 1920s he made connections to the USA on many concert tours. In 1928 he was able to resume teaching at the Budapest Music Academy; six years later he was appointed director, an office he had already held in 1918/1919.

Even after Hitler came to power, he did not break off relations with Germany and Austria . Despite this, Dohnányi had to resign from the position of director of the Budapest Academy of Music in 1941 under National Socialist pressure . In 1943 he founded the Budapest Symphony Orchestra . His relationship with National Socialism remained ambivalent: on the one hand, he ensured that the Jewish members of the Philharmonie could be kept until 1944 (i.e. until the orchestra was dissolved), on the other hand, in November 1944, during the Battle of Budapest , he sat down with the Nazi German Empire belonging to Austria . Although this decision was probably not to be understood politically, it was not forgiven him in communist Hungary until the 1970s - in 1945 he was even declared a war criminal.

After moving to Argentina in 1948 , he went to the USA a year later, where he worked as a professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee . From 1953 he began to give concerts again and remained active until his death.

family

Dohnányi's first marriage was to the Austrian-Jewish pianist Elisabeth Kunwald . This marriage resulted in two children, Hans (1902–1945) and Grete (1903–1971), who later both married into the Bonhoeffer family: Grete married their eldest son Karl Friedrich and Hans their daughter Christine . From 1919 to 1949 Dohnányi was married to the actress Elsa Marguérite Galafrés ; from 1949 until his death with Ilona Zachár .

His nephew Antal Doráti was a conductor and composer.

Ernst von Dohnányi is the grandfather of Klaus and Christoph von Dohnányi and the great-grandfather of Johannes and Justus von Dohnányi .

Audio language

Dohnányi's musical language is often prematurely described as epigonal and strongly oriented towards Brahms. Not least because of the fact that he was by far the most conservative of the Hungarian composers' triad Dohnányi - Kodály - Béla Bartók . In addition, the roots of his music can clearly be found in the 19th century, whereby Brahms can be seen as the starting point of his work and an important source of inspiration. Nevertheless, Dohnányi quickly developed a characteristic personal style, which is not limited to imitating great role models, but represents an independent further development of the music of the late Romantic period.

Dohnányi had an excellent, very mature composition technique, a wealth of ideas and a sense for opulent timbres. Although he orientated himself on traditional compositional schemes, the attraction of his works often lies in the fact that he experiments with their limits. In terms of harmony, instrumentation and design, he liked to go well beyond the tonal language of his role models. At times he developed an almost grotesque tone of voice that reminds a little of Shostakovich . Unlike his Hungarian peers, Dohnányi rarely resorted to Hungarian folklore. His best works show Dohnányi as a conservative, but nevertheless very inventive and independent composer.

Dohnányi as a pianist and teacher

Dohnányi is one of the most important pianists of the first half of the 20th century. On the one hand, he advocated classical-romantic piano literature, including Beethoven's piano sonatas , on the other hand, he also proved himself as an interpreter of modern music (including by Béla Bartók). In addition, he published a textbook that is still instructive today ("The most important finger exercises for obtaining a safe piano technique", Budapest 1929). Dohnányi also had a lasting influence as a teacher who saw technical means and musical expression as a unit. His Budapest student group included u. a. Géza Anda , Sári Biró (1912–1990), György Cziffra , George Feyer (1912–2001), Annie Fischer , Ferenc Fricsay , Ervin Nyíregyházi and Péter Solymos . Christoph von Dohnányi studied with his grandfather after his emigration to the USA at Florida State University.

Works

• Orchestral works
  • Symphony in F major (1896, unpublished)
  • Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 9 (1900/01)
  • Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 40 (1943/44, rev. 1953–56)
  • The veil of Pierrette op. 18 (1908/09), ballet pantomime after Arthur Schnitzler
  • Suite in F sharp minor op.19 (1908/09)
  • Ruralia hungarica op.32b (1924)
  • Symphonic minutes op.36 (1933)
  • American Rhapsody op.47 (1953)
• Concerts
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 5 (1897/98)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 42 (1946/47)
  • Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 27 (1914/15)
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 43 (1949/50)
  • Concert piece in D major op.12 for violoncello and orchestra (1903/04)
  • Variations on a children's song in C major op.25 for piano and orchestra (1914)
  • Concertino op.45 for harp and chamber orchestra (1952)
• Vocal works
  • Szegedin Mass op.35 (1930)
  • Cantus vitae, cantata op. 38 (1939–41)
  • Stabat mater op. 46 (1952/53)
  • three operas
  • Songs
  • Choirs
• Chamber music
  • 2 piano quintets (No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1, 1895, No. 2 in E-flat minor, Op. 26, 1914)
  • 3 string quartets (No. 1 in A major, Op. 7, 1899, No. 2 in D flat major, Op. 15, 1906, No. 3 in A minor, Op. 33, 1926)
  • Violoncello Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 8 (1899)
  • Violin Sonata in C sharp minor op.21 (1912) (earlier version 1894)
  • Serenade for String Trio in C major op.10 (1902)
  • Sextet in C major op.37 for piano, clarinet, horn and string trio (1935)
  • String Sextet in B flat major
  • Aria op.48, No. 1 for flute and piano
  • Passacaglia op.48, No. 2 for flute solo - dedicated to Eleanor Baker Lawrence
• Piano music
  • Four piano pieces op.2 (1896/97)
  • Four Rhapsodies op.11 (1902/03)
  • Winterreigen op.13 (1905)
  • Humoresques in the form of a suite op.17 (1907)
  • Suite in the old style op.24 (1913)
  • Six Concert Etudes op.28 (1916)
  • Ruralia hungarica op.32a (1923/24)
  • Six piano pieces op.41 (1945)
  • Three piano pieces op.44 (1951)
  • Daily Finger Exercises, 3 volumes (1960)

Awards

In 1930 Dohnányi received the Matthias Corvinus Badge of Honor .

literature

• Thomas Schipperges: Basic tone of serenity. To the music of Ernst von Dohnanyi. In: Musica. Volume 45, 1991, pp. 12-17.
• Jochen Thies: The Dohnányis. A family biography. Propylaea, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-549-07190-6 .

Web links

Commons : Ernst von Dohnányi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Ernst von Dohnányi in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Article on the Budapest Symphony by Robert Adelson, 2012.
2. ^ Kusz, Veronika: A Wayfaring Stranger: Ernst von Dohnányi's American Years, 1949-1960 . California Studies in 20th-Century Music 25th University of California Press, 2020 ISBN 9780520301832 .
3. ↑ James A. Grymes: Ernst von Dohnányi. A Bio-Bibliography . Greenwood Press, Westport / London 2001, ISBN 0-313-30850-0 , pp. 203 .