‘A little four-year-old girl was asked: what are you going to be? The quick reply was: “violin virtuoso”. Nobody knows where the child got to know this word and what it meant by it. But it was a prophecy.’ With these words Mary Dickenson-Auner (1880–1965) – who would grow up to be not just a gifted violinist but a composer too – started her autobiographical notes, written just before her death in Vienna. (For another discussion of a composer who drafted her autobiography see Klein, Chapter 8, this volume.) Talent and determination enabled Dickenson-Auner to overcome the obstacles put in her way as a woman. Her story is that of a performer and composer born in Ireland who built a successful career on the continent in the early twentieth century but remained attached to her Irish identity, often returning to motifs from Irish folk music in her compositions. Despite these achievements, her legacy has since largely been forgotten. This chapter takes steps towards retrieving the musician from obscurity, by using archival sources to trace the main events in her life and career, especially her performance career. Detailed discussion of her compositional catalogue lies beyond the scope of this chapter, but an index of works is provided for readers who wish to pursue further study.

I became aware of the work of Dickenson-Auner in the late twentieth century in Vienna. Her complete musical catalogue – three boxes full of scores, sketches, notes, letters and tapes – was in the possession of her son, Michael Auner, who lived in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. My interest in her work and music led me to approach Michael about cataloguing and exploring the collection, and with his permission I began this work in the early 1990s. I cataloged the material, created an index of works, checked the composer’s personal details and reconstructed her biography. This work became my dissertation at the University of Wuppertal. Upon completion of my dissertation and with the consent of the family, I donated the composer’s estate to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where it remains today, to ensure the material would be available for other scholars to explore and research the work of Dickenson-Auner.

Early Life and Education

Mary Frances Dorothea Dickenson was born on 24 October 1880 in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin.