Aline Petrie Dunn
Documents associated with this person:
Wife of .
Aline Dunn (unmarried name not known) was originally from Leipzig. It is thought that she met John as a pupil of his while he was teaching at Kiel Conservatory between 1909 and 1914; Hoboken, who met the couple in 1927, reported: “His wife, who was also there [in Edinburgh], is much younger; she is German, and was his pupil when she married him.” She was, according to John’s obituary, an accomplished pianist. The two of them played piano duets: she reported that shortly before John’s death they had been working on J. S. Bach’s “C major Concerto” (perhaps BWV 1061 for two harpsichords and strings) in preparation for a performance with orchestra.
It is clear that she assisted her husband in his work; For example, when John Petrie Dunn produced his abbreviated translation of parts of Schenker’s Kontrapunkt 2, Aline helped him with the production of multiple copies for his students.
The Dunns and Schenkers had planned to meet in the Tyrol in summer 1929 while the Dunns were attending the Bayreuth Festival, but this came to nothing. It was Aline who wrote informing Schenker of her husband’s sudden death in a street accident in February 1931.
Correspondence
Two letters from her to Schenker survive as OJ 10/12, [1] and [2], both from 1931 after her husband’s death. Schenker sent a letter of condolence to her on February 23. A photograph showing both John and Aline, inscribed “Marienbad, August 1930,” which she sent to Jeanette Schenker, is preserved as OJ 72/4, item 2.
Contributor
- Ian Bent