Ernst von Dohnányi

Ernst von Dohnányi (Hungarian: Dohnányi Ernő, ; 27 July 1877 – 9 February 1960) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor. He used the German form of his name on most published compositions. Biography Dohnányi was born in Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Bratislava, Slovakia). Born into the old noble Dohnányi family, he was the son of (1843–1909) and his wife, Ottilia Szlabey. He first studied music with his father, a professor of mathematics and amateur cellist, and when he was eight years old, with Carl Forstner, organist at the local cathedral. In 1894 he moved to Budapest and enrolled in the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music, studying piano with István Thomán and composition with Hans von Koessler, a cousin of Max Reger. Thomán had been a favorite student of Franz Liszt, while von Koessler was a devotee of Johannes Brahms’s music. These two influences played an important part in Dohnányi’s life: Liszt for his piano playing and Brahms for his music. Dohnányi’s first published work, his Piano Quintet in C minor, earned the approval of Brahms, who promoted it in Vienna. Dohnányi did not study long at the Academy of Music: in June 1897 he sought to take the