Dont, Jakob

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Dont, Jakob

Dont, Jakob, Austrian violinist, teacher, and composer; b. Vienna, March 2, 1815; d. there, Nov. 17,1888. He was the son of the cellist Joseph Valentin Dont (b. Georgenthal, Bohemia, April 15, 1776; d. Vienna, Dec. 14, 1833). He was a pupil of Bohm and Hellmesberger (Sr.) at the Vienna Cons., and then joined the orch. of the Hofburgtheater in 1831, and the court orch. in 1834. He taught in the Akademie der Tonkunst and the Seminary at St. Anna; Leopold Auer was his pupil. From 1873 he was a prof, at the Vienna Cons. His book of violin studies, Gradus ad Parnassum, is widely known. Altogether he publ. some 50 works.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire