The Family Letters of Ernő Dohnányi

Ernő Dohnányi (1877–1960) was one of the most renowned music performers and composers of his time. He played an important role in all the areas of the Hungarian music life between the two world wars, and his work as a piano teacher that he continued until the end of his life greatly contributed to the success of his disciples in the concert halls around the world.

The collection of Dohnányi’s broad correspondence has not been published before. The purpose of our present publication is to fill this gap making nearly three hundred family letters available for the Hungarian readers.

The letters addressed to the parents of the composer and his younger sister Mária are from two long periods of Dohnányi’s career: from his childhood to November 1915 and the one and the half decade he spent in emigration after the autumn of 1944. While the letters to the parents concern Dohnányi’s musical studies, compositions, concerts and the reception of his works, the correspondence with his sister tell more about his personal life. Reading the letters from the childhood, youth and old years of Dohnányi written to his sister with loving kindness and sometimes with fatherly care we can get a glimpse into the decades-long close relation of the siblings.

The collection is complemented with tables, indexes and notes of the contents of the letters, as well as brief summaries in English.