16 - ‘Too Much Playing Four Hands!’: Ernst von Dohnányi’s European Salon in the United States of the 1950s

Summary

The Hungarian composer-pianist Ernst von Dohnányi (1877−1960) spent his last decade as an American emigrant (1949−60). Fate led him to a provincial city in Florida where he had to live in far different circumstances than before. Although he basically enjoyed life in the new world, he was nostalgic for his home country and previous lifestyle. Probably as a result, and also because of his central role within the cultural life of his small community, he established a type of salon music culture. Despite Dohnányi’s undeniable significance as a composer, performer and administrative leader, he was largely ignored in musicology until the 1990s, even in his homeland, partly for political reasons. Interestingly, his Tallahassee salon is even more unknown, as it was unmentioned in most existing biographical sources. In 2014, a hitherto unpublished part of Dohnányi’s American legacy came to light, namely his wife Ilona von Dohnányi’s private diaries, which contain many references to these events (see Figure 16.1). The diaries can be read alongside Ilona’s letters to Dohnányi’s parents and sister-in-law, held in the Széchényi National Library. These letters (also unpublished) have never been researched to date. This chapter gives an account of the salon based on these sources, and briefly summarises the characteristics of the American salon of a truly European emigrant composer. I will first situate Dohnányi’s salon experience within his own biography, followed by a detailed examination of his salon in Florida, focusing on the following aspects: spontaneity, inwardness and nostalgia, guests, repertoire, and the educational dimension.

Many excellent musicians left their European home for the United States of America in the hope of a more secure life during and directly after the Second World War. In some cases, these emigrants’ lives improved, while others faced new difficulties; but all of them, including Dohnányi, experienced drastic changes. This is evident from a comparison of two moments in Dohnányi’s life, fifteen years apart. In 1937, he (then known as Dohnányi Ernő) turned sixty. His birthday was publicly celebrated both in Hungary and abroad. In 1952, Dohnányi’s family, close friends, students and the local press celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday in Tallahassee, the capital city of Florida, a pleasant town, albeit with little in common with the European capitals he had frequented (Budapest, Vienna and Berlin).