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Ernst von Dohnanyi (July 27, 1877 - February 9, 1960) was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions.
Dohnanyi 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, at gymnasium, but afterwards became a pupil at the Budapest Academy of Music, studying piano and composition with Carl Forstner, organist of the Bratislava Cathedral. In 1894 he became a pupil of Istvan Thoman for piano and of Hans Koessler for composition. Bea Bartok was one of his classmates there. Dohnanyi'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, Dohnanyi 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 hen made the tour of Europe with the greatest success. .
Using his position as a conductor, Dohnanyi pioneered the performance of Bartoks more accessible music to boost its popularity.
Unlike most other famous pianists of the time, Dohnanyi did not limit himself to solo recitals and concerto solos, but also played chamber music.
Erst married Elisabeth Kunwald, who was also a pianist. In 1902, their first son, Hans von Dohnányi, was born.
Joseph Joachim invited Dohnányi to teach at the Hochschule in Berlin, which he did from 1905 to 1915. Going back to Budapest, Dohnanyi 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. He became music director of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and promoted the music of Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly and other Hungarians, but did not play his own music too often.
In 1934 he was again appointed director of the Budapest Academy, a post he held until 1941, when he resigned from the post "as a protest against the anti-Jewish legislations [of that year]". That year he also had to disband the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.
After World War II, which had claimed the lives of both of his sons, one in combat and the other executed by the Nazis for his role in a plot to assassinate Hitler, Dohnanyi moved to the United States. He had remained in fascist Hungary during the war, using his influence and expending his own fortune to protect Jewish musicians. A whisper campaign against him was promoted by the new Communist government of Hungary, to the point where he found it necessary to leave. He 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, American Rhapsody (1953), was written for the sesquicentennial of Ohio University and included folk material. Dohnanyi also taught for ten years at the Florida State University School of Music in Tallahassee.
He was buried in Tallahassee, Florida.
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