Veronika Kusz – författare

The Last Romantic in His Own Words combines carefully curated personal and professional letters with reminiscences, pedagogical essays, and statements on public affairs that Hungarian musician Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) wrote throughout his lengthy career. Also included are a selection of interviews he gave in various capacities: as a celebrated and versatile performer, as the composer of beloved masterworks, as an internationally respected pedagogue, and as a leader in Hungary's leading musical institutions. These texts--many of which have never appeared in English--shed new light on Dohnányi's singular aesthetics, as well as on his career as a charismatic and at times controversial public figure who was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, particularly in Hungary.The result of twenty-five years of archival research in England, Hungary, and the United States, the documents outline the major chapters in Dohnányi's long and fascinating life, from his joyful childhood in Hungary, through a globetrotting career that witnessed the advent of the radio as well as air travel, and ultimately to his final years in political exile. Along the way, readers will gain valuable insights into not only Dohnányi's musical influences and personal philosophies as a performer, music educator, and composer, but more broadly musical life and the dissemination of musical knowledge and public taste in the first half of the twentieth century. The documents facilitate a much-needed reevaluation of a public figure and private individual caught up in the web of twentieth-century politics, resulting in a picture that is more complete than ever of one of the most elusive musicians of the twentieth century.

On March 10, 1948, world-renowned composer and pianist Ernst von Dohnányi (1877−1960) embarked for the United States, leaving Europe for good. Only a few years earlier, the seventy-year-old Hungarian had been a triumphant, internationally admired musician and leading figure in Hungarian musical life. Fleeing a political smear campaign that sought to implicate him in intellectual collaboration with fascism, he reached American shores without a job or a home. A Wayfaring Stranger presents the final period in Dohnányi’s exceptional career and uses a range of previously unavailable material to reexamine commonly held beliefs about the musician and his unique oeuvre. Offering insights into his life as a teacher, pianist, and composer, the book also considers the difficulties of émigré life, the political charges made against him, and the compositional and aesthetic dilemmas faced by a conservative artist. To this rich biographical account, Veronika Kusz adds an in-depth examination of Dohnányi’s late works—in most cases the first analyses to appear in musicological literature. This corrective history provides never-before-seen photographs of the musician’s life in the United States and skillfully illustrates Dohnányi’s impact on European and American music and the culture of the time.