Erno Dohnanyi's Revision of His Symphony in E Major, op. 40

Abstract

The musical legacy of Ern6 Dohnanyi (1877-1960) includes 157 compositions, 8 piano transcriptions, and 5 pedagogical works.1 Very little is known, however, about the creative process he went through when composing these pieces. This is because Dohninyi was a very private man who was reluctant to talk about his professional activities. Although contemporary accounts of Dohn'inyi lend much insight into his gifts as a composer, the most conclusive evidence of Dohnanyi's compositional process may be found in a series of letters between Dohnainyi and Antal Doriti written while Dohninyi was revising his Second Symphony in E Major, op. 40.2 It is evident from contemporary reports that Dohninyi possessed enormous wealth of musical ideas. His second wife, Elza Galafr6s, wrote that he never appeared to go through any throes in the process of creation. Inspiration came to him naturally and easily.3 The critics of Dohnainyi's Second Symphony seem to have agreed; the Musical Opinion asserted that the work displays plenty of inventive fertility as well as an unending resource and a wealth of ideas.4 Later reviews of the symphony compli-