Gombos László

"Klaviervirtuose aus Wien" - Ernst von Dohnányi's Reception in His Viennese Years
László Gombos

As a consequence of his first successful tours in England and the United States, Dohnányi became a world-renowned and acclaimed performer. In autumn 1901 he settled in Vienna, and for four years he and his family mainly resided here. With some generalization, therefore, we may dub the period between 1901 and 1905 as Dohnányi's "Viennese years," after which he moved to Berlin. This study analyses Dohnányi's career as a pianist, his reception and repertory. Dohnányi had won almost universal recognition with critics and musicians alike, but his art was truly appreciated not so much by the sensationalist public as by a significantly narrower circle of musically literate listeners. He did not enter any such biographical stage which we could term his "virtuoso years," but his concert life resembled that of a "classic" performer, who still gave recitals fairly regularly, while also composing symphonic pieces and conducting them himself. He retained his artistic and personal freedom through resisting the travelling virtuoso lifestyle offered by impresarios. His reception in Hungary was highly contradictory: in 1903, at the time of the Budapest performance of his Symphony in d-minor, he was celebrated as the creator of Hungarian symphonic music, but he was often attacked here, because he did not show much evidence of his national feelings in his compositions and actions.

Reception of the Young Ernst von Dohnányi: Successes of the Performer and Composer during His First Concert Tours
László Gombos

October 24, 1898, the day of Dohnányi’s debut in London meant a decisive turn in the artist’s career. After successes in Hungary, Vienna and Germany he came into the focus of attention of wide audiences by playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G major at the St James’s Hall. The warm reception, the sensational news in the press launched a chain reaction of invitations and Dohnányi’s international career. His first England tour (October-December 1898) was followed by two further tours within a year (January-March and October-December 1899, respectively) and his series of successes was crowned by this two tours of America (March-April 1900, November 1900-March 1901). In the meantime he acquired fame as a composer as well: with his Piano Concerto in E minor (op. 5b) he won the Bösendorfer Competition in Vienna in March 1899 and the three-movement version of the work (op. 5) was performed several times in Hungary, England, Germany and the United States. His String Quartet (op.7) was performed in London, his Sonata for Violoncello (op.8) in London and New York. His piano pieces (op. 2, 4, 6) – just as the piano parts of his Quintet (op.1) and Concerto – were played by him several times. The promising, yet unknown youth at the beginning of his career turned into an internationally acknowledged and appreciated artist within three years. This article tries to reveal the background of these events through the investigation of all available press articles, concert programs, letters and other contemporary documents, to make a step to create an authentic image of Dohnányi as a performer and a composer.

Die Morgenröte der neuen ungarischen Musik
Momentaufnahme aus dem Tagebuch eines ungarischen Musikers
László Gombos

In der Mitte des erste Jahrzehntes des 20. Jahrhunderts fand eine der bedeutendsten Wenden der ungarischen Musik statt, die mit dem Auftreten der mit den Namen Bartók und Kodály gekennzeichneten Generation verbunden ist. Dabei aber sah die vorangehende Generation die Werte der Vergangenheit durch diese Wende gefährdet, und betrachtete das Bewahren der Traditionen als ihre (vornehmliche) Aufgabe. Zu dieser konservativen Generation gehörte auch der weltberühmte Geiger und Lehrer Jenõ Hubay (1858-1937), dessen im Jahre 1903 einsetzendes Tagebuch als Leitfaden dieser Studie dient. Diese Aufzeichnungen zeigen das Bild der geschichtlichen Veränderungen aus einem eigenartigen Gesichtspunkt. Es erscheinen darin die Hauptfragen und Hauptereignisse der Zeit: Das Schaffen der ungarischen Kuntmusik, die Geburt von neuen Werken und ihr Schiksal, die Begegnung der Musikergenerationen und ihr Verhältnis zueinander, sowie die Ereignisse des Konzertlebens, des Lebens der Akademie für Musik, des Opernhauses. Der Traditionalist Hubay konnte die großen Talente der neuen Generationen erkennen, und versuchte Bartók am Angang seiner Karriere genauso behilflich zu sein, wie er einige Jahre davor auch Dohnányi half. Feststellungen, Ansichten in seinem Tagebuch klingen oft mit jenen in den Briefen des jungen Bartóks gleich.