Fantasie

Ern Dohnányi (1877 - 1960) composed his C minor fantasia in 1892, at the age of fifteen.This work, which is appearing in print now for the first time, is a real curiosity: apart from a few polyphonic stylistic exercises written while he was at the music academy, this is Dohnányi's only piece for organ.

The composer later recalled his first acquaintance with that instrument thus: 'My experience with the organ actually dates back to when I was a third-year grammar school student, for beginning with that year I served as organist for the Sunday worship services in the grammar school's church. These were the first wages I ever earned through music.'

The Fantasie wasprepared for publication on the basis of the composer's manuscript by the well-known Dohmányi researcher Deborah Kiszely.