Collection Overview
- Manuscript or facsimile scores and sketches (1 linear foot)
- 2 scrapbooks
- 2 binders of concert programs (1900-1960)
- 2 binders of correspondence (1948-1960)
- 3 binders of documents (1897-1960)
- 1 binder of photographs
- Various recordings, photos, documents, and miscellanea
Resources
Ernst von Dohnányi (in Hungarian, Dohnányi Ernő) taught piano and composition at FSU from 1949 until his death in 1960. Born 1877 in what is now Bratislava, Hungary, Dohnányi found early musical success with both his compositions and his exceptional work as a pianist. His first serious composition, his Piano Quintet in C, op. 1 was highly praised by Brahms. By the time he came to FSU in 1949, he had an international reputation without peer. He was described by the Miami Herald (7/27/1958) as the “last surviving representative of the romantic age of Brahms, Schumann and Wagner.”
Much of the Dohnányi collection that formerly resided at FSU, as cataloged in Jay Grymes’s Ernst von Dohnányi: a Bio-Bibliography (ML134 .D55 G79 2001), was owned by Dohnányi’s heir and was held by FSU on indefinite loan. In October 2015 the Hungarian National Museum acquired this portion of the collection from him.
The remaining portion of the collection owned by FSU consists of recordings, manuscripts, and correspondence, much of it having been given to the library by Dohnányi’s pupil Edward Kilenyi. There is currently no index of the collection as it presently stands. For further information on the collection, please contact our our Special Collections staff.