The Last Romantic in His Own Words: Ernst Von Dohnanyi’s Selected Writings and Interviews

The Last Romantic in His Own Words combines carefully curated personal and professional letters with reminiscences, pedagogical essays, and statements on public affairs that Hungarian musician Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) wrote throughout his lengthy career. Also included are a selection of interviews he gave in various capacities: as a celebrated and versatile performer, as the composer of beloved masterworks, as an internationally respected pedagogue, and as a leader in Hungary’s leading musical institutions. These texts--many of which have never appeared in English--shed new light on Dohnányi’s singular aesthetics, as well as on his career as a charismatic and at times controversial public figure who was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, particularly in Hungary.

The result of twenty-five years of archival research in England, Hungary, and the United States, the documents outline the major chapters in Dohnányi’s long and fascinating life, from his joyful childhood in Hungary, through a globetrotting career that witnessed the advent of the radio as well as air travel, and ultimately to his final years in political exile. Along the way, readers will gain valuable insights into not only Dohnányi’s musical influences and personal philosophies as a performer, music educator, and composer, but more broadly musical life and the dissemination of musical knowledge and public taste in the first half of the twentieth century. The documents facilitate a much-needed reevaluation of a public figure and private individual caught up in the web of twentieth-century politics, resulting in a picture that is more complete than ever of one of the most elusive musicians of the twentieth century.

James A. Grymes is the author/editor of Ernst von Dohnányi: A Bio-Bibliography, Ernst von Dohnányi: A Song of Life and Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi, as well as the author of Violins of Hope: Violins of the Holocaust--Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour. He is Professor of Musicology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Veronika Kusz is the author of A Wayfaring Stranger: Ernst von Dohnányi’s American Years, 1949-1960 and the editor of Dohnányi Erno: Válogatott írások és nyilatkozatok [Erno Dohnányi: Selected writings and interviews]. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Research Centre for the Humanities and curator of the Dohnányi Collection there.