Classical Music Playlist, October 29, 2024
Ernő Dohnányi | photo: Library of Congress
Ernst von Dohnányi (Ernö Dohnányi in Hungarian) was considered the first of the great Hungarian composers (and pianists) since Franz Liszt (1811-1886). In 1895 his early Piano Quintet No. 1 was praised by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Leaving Europe in 1944 and in 1949 taking a post teaching music in Florida, he became a U.S. citizen in 1955. In 1935 he composed his final chamber music in a Sextet for the creative grouping of clarinet, horn, piano, violin, viola and cello. At times dark, the sextet moves toward a jazzy finale where a lilting but off-kilter waltz briefly interjects before a good-natured conclusion. The Sextet in C-major by Ernst von Dohnányi is today's Midday Masterpiece.