Demtrius Dounis Biography

D.C. Dounis: A Biography
Brendan Bordick‐Lesavage
A Biography of D.C. Dounis
EARLY LIFE
Demetrius Constantine Dounis was born at the end of the 19th century in Athens,
Greece.1 Born to an upper‐class family, Dounis had the opportunity to receive a high‐quality
education and participate in the arts. He had attended music classes at the Odeon in Athens2
and gave his first violin recital at the age of seven.3 Three years later, Dounis sold his bicycle
and roller‐skates to go to Italy and study the violin.4 No imploring by Dounis’s mother would
make him return, and so, Demetrius’s father had sailed for Italy so that he may bring his son
home. His father made him aware that “the three approved professions – the church, law, and
medicine – were set forth as fitting for his consideration to carry on the family traditions –
worthy professions in which a gentleman might engage with honor to himself and his family.”5
Upon his return to Greece, Dounis (age 11) registered to study the violin and mandolin
at the Athenian Mandolinata6. Dounis graduated within three years, earning a soloist diploma.
Following his graduation, Dounis was invited to give a series of private house concerts in the

1
The exact date of Dounis’ birth is unknown. A number of legal documents pertaining to Dounis contain conflicting
dates of birth. In an interview with Dimitri Mitropoulos, who was born around the same time as Dounis in Greece,
he said that “I’m not quite sure when I was born. I was in Greece, you know, and they weren’t very good at keeping
records of that sort of thing.” Mitropoulos later described how he needed a birth date for his papers when leaving
Greece. His solution was to simply make one up. (William R. Trotter, Priest of Music: The Life of Dimitri Mitropoulos
(Portland, Or: Amadeus Press, 1995), 23) The same is most likely true for Dounis.
2
By definition, an Odeon is a musical performance space. The Odeon that Dounis studied at was a music school
and is known today as the Athens Conservatory.
3
Chris A Costantakos, Demetrios Constantine Dounis: His Method in Teaching the Violin (New York: Peter Lang,
1998), 19
4
Sybil Eaton, “A Great Violin Teacher: Dr. D. C. Dounis,” The Musical TImes 95, no. 1340 (October 1954): 559. In
her memorial to Dounis, Eaton states that Dounis originally ran away to study with Ondricek, the same teacher
that Dounis would study with while in medical school.
5
George D. Oakley, “Music on the Tradewinds,” Honolulu‐Star Bulletin, March 19, 1938.
6
“Nikolaos Lavdas and the Athenian Mandolinata Orchestra and Conservatory: History,” accessed January 10,
2020, https://athenianmandolinata.com/about/. The Athenian Mandolinata was a music school that was founded
by Nikolaos Lavdas. It would have its own conservatory by 1901, teaching various instruments (mandolin, guitar,
violin, cello, and flute), vocal music, and music theory.
United States at the age of fourteen. The tour was cut short when his father crossed the ocean
in a fury to bring his son home.
Dounis continued to diligently study the violin and mandolin. His ability on the mandolin
had brought him many opportunities to give concerts and go on tour. In 1903, Dounis’s father
had gone away on a trip, and Dounis had taken the opportunity to join the modern dancer,
Isadora Duncan, on her European tour as a collaborative musician. This infuriated Dounis’s
father, who had once again gone out to collect his son and bring him back home.
MEDICINE, MUSIC, AND WAR
Tensions between Dounis and his father were slowly nearing a breaking point. Dounis,
realizing that his father was determined to disown him had he continued his behavior, finally
succumbed to the wishes of his father. Deciding upon medicine as his profession, Dounis
proceeded to enroll at the University of Athens Medical School before transferring to the
University of Vienna Medical School.
While in Vienna, Dounis continued to study the violin with Czech virtuoso Franz
Ondricek.7 Ondricek regarded Dounis as an exceptional student, and it is suspected that Dounis
collaborated on at least one of Ondricek’s pedagogical works. Ondrieck admits to working with
a medical doctor, Dr. S. Mittlemann, for his New Method of Obtaining the Masterful Technique
of Violin Playing on Anatomical and Physiological Basis (published in 1909). In conversations

7
Stanley Sadie and George Grove, eds., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Reprinted .̤ in
paperback ed (New York: Grove [u.a.], 1998). Ondricek gave the world premiere of Dvorak’s Violin Concerto,
composed several pieces, and authored a collection of pedagogical works.
with his students, Dounis revealed that he had written the etudes in Ondricek’s book8. Dounis
had adopted the pseudonym to avoid drawing attention to himself and angering his father. It is
interesting to note that the German name Mittlemann means “a man of medium or in‐between
size.” Dounis was 5’4” tall.
Interrupting his studies in Vienna, Dounis toured Eastern Europe and Russia as a violinist
and mandolinist. Upon the tour’s conclusion, Dounis returned to Vienna to complete his
medical training. He graduated as a medical doctor specializing in neurology and psychiatry.
Dounis then left for Paris to begin his medical internship at the Paris Charity Hospital.9
While in Paris, Dounis met the famous Belgian virtuoso, Cesar Thomson,10 who would
become his teacher and friend. At times, he would have to travel to Brussels from Paris (≈ 200
miles) in order to take lessons with Thomson. Dounis and Thomson took a strong liking to each
other, and Thomson would often address Dounis as “my colleague.” With Dounis’s continuing
studies with Thomson and his work with patients as a medical doctor, he began to develop an
interest in violin pedagogy.11
During Dounis’s final year of residency in Paris, his father died. Upon fulfilling the
requirements of his internship, Dounis left medicine so that he might concentrate on music.
With the support of Cesar Thomson, he embarked on a concert tour in Europe and the Eastern

8
Costantakos, 22
9
Ibid, 23
10
J. Cuthbert Hadden, Modern Musicians: A Book for Players, Singers and Listeners. (Place of publication not
identified: Best Books, 2001). Cesar Thomson was a violinist famous for his technical prowess on the violin. He was
a student of both Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski. Thomson had succeeded Ysaye as principal professor of violin at the
Brussels Conservatory, as well as holding teaching positions at Ithaca College and the Julliard School. He revived
interest in Paganini and unearthed many obscure works, and had famously performed Paganini’s Moto Perpetuo in
Fingered Octaves.
11
Emily Stewart K, Demetrios Constantine Dounis: The Philosophy behind the Methods (Boston: OpenBU, 2013),
https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/12231, 8
United States. Dounis made his New York debut in 1910 at the Carnegie Lyceum.12 He would go
on to give two more concerts at Carnegie in 191113 and 1912.14 Following a 1911 concert in
Philadelphia for the American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists, and Guitarists, Dounis was
dubbed as “one of the very best who has ever appeared in this country.”15 Between these
American concerts, Dounis continued to tour in Europe. He put on a recital on October 19th,
1912 in Paris, no more than two days after the outbreak of the First Balkan War.16
The Balkan Wars (1912‐1913) were two successive military conflicts that resulted in the
Ottoman Empire losing the majority of its European territory. The first war was fought between
the Balkan League – Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro – and the Ottoman Empire. One
month after the Balkan League’s victory over the Ottomans, the Second Balkan War broke out,
which was fought between the Balkans over the territory won in the prior conflict.17 In this
second war, Greece and Bulgaria were pitted against one another, and Dounis just happened to
be traveling through Bulgaria at this time. He was stopped and arrested as a citizen of an enemy
country. It took the intervention of politicians on both sides to negotiate his release. This would
not be the last time that Dounis’s life and work were interrupted by war.18

12
“First New York Concert ‐ Demetrius Dounis: The Mandolin Virtuoso,” New York Herald, November 15, 1910, sec.
Musical Notices. The Carnegie Lyceum has since been renamed and is known today as Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall,
NYC).
13
“Music Here and There,” New York TImes, February 12, 1911. This concert took place in the Carnegie Lyceum.
14
Michael Reichenbach, “Demetrius C. Dounis – Geigenvirtuose, Mandolinenvirtuose und Violinpädagoge,” June 1,
2018, http://www.gezupftes.de/?p=14703#jp‐carousel‐14746. This concert occurred in the Carnegie Chamber
Music Hall, which was later renamed to Weil Hall.
15
“The Guild Concert,” The Crescendo 3, no. 12 (June 1911), 22
16
Reichenbach, “Demetrius C. Dounis – Geigenvirtuose, Mandolinenvirtuose und Violinpädagoge.”
17
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Balkan Wars,” Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed January 10, 2020,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balkan‐Wars.
18
Costantakos, 26
World War I began on July 28th, 1914. In 1917, Greece declared war on the Central
Powers. Dounis was drafted into the medical corps and was stationed in Thessaloniki. During
the day, he performed his military duties. At night, he worked tirelessly to document his
analysis of violin technique.19 He had manufactured eighteen volumes which were to be
published in French as La Technique du Violin. This same work would later be republished in
America as Artist’s Technique Op. 12. It was during this time (while working at night with poor
light) that Dounis had developed an abscess in his right eye which eventually led to a loss of
sight in that eye. His left eye was also affected, necessitating the use of strong glasses.20
Dounis had completed his service to the Greek military in 1919. Around the same time,
he met Alexander Kazantzis, a former pupil of Cesar Thomson and then‐director of the National
Odeon of Salonika.21 Sharing a teacher had helped to establish a rapport between the two, and
in December of that year, Dounis was hired by the conservatory. He was appointed as a
professor of violin/viola and conductor of the orchestra. Dounis had served on the Odeon’s
faculty for three years until the termination of his contract.22
While at the Odeon, Dounis had taken multiple leaves of absence. Some were taken
with permission, and others were not. These leaves of absence were taken for concert tours
and in order to see publishers about his books. In 1922, Dounis had requested a six‐month
leave. The conservatory’s board of directors then met to vote on the decision. They had
decided to not only deny his request, but also to terminate his contract.

19
Stewart, 8
20
Costantakos, 25‐26
21
This conservatory is known today as the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki
22
Costantakos, 26‐27
Upon his dismissal, Dounis went on a concert tour throughout Egypt, Russia, France,
Austria, and Holland, playing concerts in all of the major cities: Moscow, Paris, Vienna, Leipzig,
and Hague. At the conclusion of the tour, Dounis had spent some time in London, England
before leaving for New York City, which would become his home.23
LIFE IN AMERICA
In 1923, Dounis established himself in the Upper East Side at 23 E 81st Street. He shared
a floor with four other Greek men: Petros Depastas, vice‐consul of Greece; Aristides
Georgiades, vice‐president of the Atlantic Bank of NYC; Prodromos Nomides, an officer of the
Hellenic Bank of NYC; and Antonio Dounis, Demetrius’s brother.
Dounis was soon able to secure a job as a mandolin soloist on a weekly program on the
Blue Network radio station WJZ. He was also able to recruit a few students, including his
roommate Prodromos Nomides. Teaching Nomides as a beginner inspired Dounis to write new
works, as well as elaborate on his theories and put them into practice. Having had no other
teachers, Dounis was able to see the impact of his Expressive Technique on a student who was,
in essence, a blank slate. Nomides, upon the conclusion of his studies, believed himself to have
benefitted greatly under Dounis.24
Throughout the 1920s, Dounis wrote nine books for the violin and would have to travel
to London and Vienna to present his work to the publishers. One work, the ”Dounis Daily
Dozen” was published in NYC by Harms, Inc. In an effort to supplement his income and advance

23
Ibid, 28
24
Ibid, 29
his career, Dounis pursued further work as a musician. He would find opportunities to play the
violin and viola in orchestral settings, as well as expand his work as a mandolinist. At times,
Dounis would play background music on the mandolin for the silent film studios in Astoria,
Queens. He also made concert appearances in the Hippodrome and Town Hall.25
In all of his appearances as a mandolinist, Dounis assumed his brother’s name, Anton
Dounis. He chose not to use his own name (as he had done previously in New York), as he
wanted to be known as Demetrius Dounis the violinist, and not Demetrius Dounis the
mandolinist. Though he was greatly successful as a mandolinist, Dounis’s real passion was for
the violin, the instrument that he had run away to study during his youth. Dounis had
aspirations of emerging in the United States as a great violin teacher and concert soloist. He
chose to conceal his identity with the alias, realizing that his fame as a mandolinist would
prevent critics and the public from taking him seriously as a violinist. Dounis would even go on
to grow a mustache later on in his life in hopes to further disguise himself from his mandolin
playing alter‐ego, Anton.
On January 25th, 1931, “Anton” Dounis gave a mandolin concert in the Bijou Theatre in
NYC. Every work performed in the concert was taken from the concert violinist’s repertoire. The
program included: Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 4 (in entirety), Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat,
Op. 926, Paganini’s Caprice No. 23, Beethoven’s Romance in F, Kreisler’s Rondino on a theme by
Beethoven, and Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen. The next day, the New York Times published this
review:

25
Stewart, 11
26
D.C. Dounis, Mandolin, Nocturne (Chopin ‐ Sarasate Op.9 Nr 2.) (Vienna: Odeon O‐2913 b ‐ Ve 3004, 1929) This
piece was recorded by Dounis in 1929. The recording can be quickly found with an internet search.
Anton Dounis, whose extraordinary playing of the mandolin has been recognized in
Europe, appeared in recital last night at the Bijou Theater. His program might have been
that of a virtuoso violinist, and included the Vieuxtemps Concerto in D minor, Op. 31,
Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs and shorter pieces.
The Greek Mandolinist displayed rare technical command of his instrument. He has a
brilliant trill, among other feats, and his presentation of Paganini’s unaccompanied
Twenty‐Third Caprice, with octave passages played with alternate (fingered octaves)
fingers, was an unusual feat of virtuosity.27
In 1927, the Roxy Theater28 opened its doors in Manhattan. The theater had employed a
large staff of entertainers, including a full symphony orchestra. Sometime during the late 1920s,
the orchestra contractor, William Lockwood, hired a violist named Dmitry Yaltoff. It was not
long before the concertmaster of the orchestra, Mischa Violin,29 preparing for a Carnegie Hall
recital, revealed to Lockwood that he was studying with Yaltoff. Violin said to Lockwood, “No,
his name is not Yaltoff, but Dounis. He is the world’s greatest teacher.”30
Dounis adopting the name Yaltoff was two‐fold. Using the pseudonym allowed Dounis
to conceal his identity and protect his reputation. It was also, however, an intelligent way to

27
“Anton Dounis Heard: Greek Mandolinist Gives Brilliant Program at Bijou Theatre,” New York Times, January 26,
1931.
28
The Roxy was a 5,920 seat movie theater located at 153 West 50th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, just off
Times Square. It opened on March 11, 1927 and would present major Hollywood films and lavish stage shows. The
programs would include a 110 member symphony orchestra (the world’s largest permanent orchestra at that
time), a solo theatre pipe organ, a male chorus, a ballet company, and a line of female precision dancers, the
“Roxyettes.”
29
There is perhaps a level of doubt associated with the existence of Mischa Violin given his peculiar surname. It
may be speculated that “Violin” is a pseudonym, although there is no confirming evidence. Mischa Violin is listed in
old Roxy Theater programs. He worked as a music copyist for the film, Citizen Kane, and made a debut in Carnegie
Hall in 1920, but was received unenthusiastically. A photo of Violin can be found on the loc.gov website.
30
Violin, quoted in Costantakos, 31
make himself more appealing to contractors. In the 1920s and ‘30s, many of Leopold Auer’s
students, bearing Russian names, were emerging on the concert scene. Consequently, Russian
names had begun to act as a mark of quality.
In October of 1929, the stock market crashed signaling the beginning of the Great
Depression. For the next decade, unemployment was rampant, especially amongst musicians.
Dounis was fortunate enough to have secured a position with the Roxy Theater which
guaranteed a steady income. It was difficult to keep a full teaching studio given the economic
conditions, and Dounis had decided that it was better to maintain his current prices than to
lower them and risk degrading his reputation. There was also a lapse in Dounis publications
between 1928 and 1935. Dounis’s main priority, like that of the rest of America, was survival.
THE FLOOD FAMILY
Dounis, despite his successes, would become depressed and dejected at times. He
would often be unrecognized, unappreciated, and misunderstood throughout his career,31 and
these feelings would only come to manifest themselves through a developing alcoholism.32 The
early 1930s had perhaps become one of the darkest periods in his life. His life and career had
hit a wall.33

31
Dounis would often be called a charlatan and made fun of by professional teachers. His system would often
become misinterpreted when students excitedly shared Dounis’s solution to their particular problem. Dounis
developed a corrective plan for each individual student. As such, two students having difficulty with a bowstroke,
say spicatto, could each be given contradicting advice and yet, both will improve. The excited students would then
share that which Dounis showed them without fully understanding the theory, creating two inaccurate
representations of his teaching that are easily dismissed by others are claptrap.
32
Violin lesson between the author, and Dounis authority, Byron Duckwall, November 2018.
33
In 1931, Dounis briefly held a teaching position at Gaucher College in Baltimore. He had commuted a few times,
but found the work unsatisfactory and resigned from the position. Costantakos, 34
All of this changed in 1933 when Dounis was contacted by Mrs. Leona Flood of Los
Angeles. Mrs. Flood was the wife of Frank B. Flood. Mr. Flood had previously been the owner of
a small milk and ice cream company that was later bought by the Carnation Evaporated Milk
Company. He became the manager for Carnation’s western district, and in doing so, became
quite well off.34 The Floods had a daughter, also named Leona,35 who was just fifteen years old
at the time. Leona had been studying the violin for several years, but Mrs. Flood was
dissatisfied with the level of instruction that her daughter was receiving.
In an attempt to help Leona, Mrs. Flood (herself a music teacher36) had begun to search
through the violin literature when she came across Dounis’s The Artist’s Technique of Violin
Playing. She was thoroughly impressed by the work, and believed that this type of teaching was
what her daughter needed to succeed. Not knowing whether the author was alive or dead, she
took a chance in contacting the publisher who then put her in direct contact with Dounis. An
audition in Dounis’s NYC studio was arranged. Leona and Mrs. Flood traveled to New York and
met with Dounis. Leona was accepted as a student, but studying in New York would interrupt
her schooling and family life. After much persuading, Mrs. Flood was able to arrive at an
agreement with Dounis to move out to Los Angeles and teach Leona.37
Leona had begun studying with Dounis at the end of 1933 and worked diligently under
his guidance. After little more than a year, Dounis had felt that Leona was ready to concertize.
In March of 1935, Dounis accompanied Leona in Europe as she embarked on her first concert

34
Stewart, 13
35
To avoid confusion going forward, we will refer to the daughter as “Leona” and to the mother as “Mrs. Flood.”
36
“Dr. Dmitri Dounis Dies,” Daily Press, August 14, 1954.
37
Costantakos, 32
tour.38 The tour opened with a recital in Oslo, Norway, which Leona gave in the honor of her
grandfather, from whom her family had inherited a fortune permitting the purchase of a
Stradivarius.39 She gave concerts in Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and Italy
before returning to the United States in December of 1936.
In 1938, Dounis traveled to Hawaii and Australia to give a series of masterclasses and
lectures.40 These classes became Dounis’s primary means of communicating his theory of
technique to a wider audience without being affiliated with an institution. While Dounis wrote
many technical studies, the majority of his ideas were never elaborated on in these works, and
he had not written a treatise.
D.C. DOUNIS, MASTER TEACHER
By the 1940s, word of Dounis and his unique teaching style had spread, and he was soon
inundated with lesson requests. He established a studio in New York City at 400 E. 52nd St. in
Midtown, and traveled between the east and west coasts to teach privately. Dounis only
accepted advanced students, many of them being top‐notch professionals who felt that their
playing had plateaued. Many students came to see Dounis to seek out answers to particular
musical and technical problems. For reasons of professional pride, many people had kept this
contact a secret, which also contributed to a lack of publicity.41

38
Before embarking on the concert tour, Dounis would submit his Fundamental Technical Studies for the Young
Violinist for publication in Philadelphia, marking the return of Dounis publications after a 7 year gap. Two
additional works were subsequently published by the Strad of London, New Aids to the Technical Development
(1935) and Moto Perpetuo in Fingered Octaves (1936)
39
“Eastern Debut for Local Miss,” Spokane Daily Chronicle, September 24, 1938.
40
Dounis was also accompanied on these trips by Leona, who gave concerts in both Sydney and Honolulu.
41
Costantakos, 36
Dounis had a great respect for this expected confidentiality, and would rarely, if at all,
speak of the famous pupils that came to study with him. It is unknown exactly how many
students Dounis taught during his lifetime, and the identity of many students has remained
secret. In an interview with George Neikrug in 2011, he elaborated on the secretive nature of
Dounis’s studio:
His New York studio had two doors: one in the front, and one in the back. We would
enter through the front door, and exit through the back. This way, one student never
encountered another as he was coming or going. This was for reasons of professional
pride.42
The next section offers portraits of some of Dounis’s more famous pupils.
William Primrose
Violist William Primrose was one of Dounis’s first well‐known students. Prior to meeting
Dounis, Primrose had studied the violin with Eugène Ysaÿe in Belgium before becoming a violist
and joining the London String Quartet. In the late 1930s, he came to New York to play with the
NBC Symphony Orchestra and began studying with Dounis in 1940.43 Dounis worked with
Primrose on the technical differences between violin and viola playing and devised exercises
specifically for Primrose.44

42
Tim Janof, Conversation with George Neikrug, January 4, 2002,
http://www.cello.org/newsletter/articles/neikrug/neikrug.htm.
43
Stewart, 15
44
These exercises were later compiled by Dounis and published by Carl Fischer under the name Specific Technical
Exercises for the Viola.
Elizabeth D. Orr, at lunch with Dounis in early 1941, recalls Dounis mentioning Primrose
“studying under him and subsequently re‐recording all his records with great improvement
over the earlier recordings.” Later in that same year, Primrose launched his solo career when he
was invited to join tenor Richard Crooks (of the New York Metropolitan Opera) on tour. 45
George Neikrug
George Neikrug was a cellist who had studied with virtuoso Emmanuel Feuermann until
Feuermann’s death in 1942. Neikrug, at the time, felt that he had reached an impasse in his
playing and that it would be impossible for him to make further progress on the cello. One of
his friends, a violist, studied with William Primrose. Primrose had raved about his lessons with
Dounis, and George’s friend figured that he may as well go take some lessons with Dounis
rather than hear what he had to say second‐hand from Primrose.46 Later, he told George about
his lessons with Dounis. George thought that Dounis’s ideas on playing resembled the image he
had of the way his teacher, Feuermann played. In a last‐ditch effort, he contacted Dounis
before deciding to “make peace with his mediocrity.”
He began studying with Dounis in 1943, after having pled with him for several months to
accept him as a cello student. Before studying with Dounis, George resigned himself to the fact
that he would always be a section player in the back of the orchestra. Dounis’s ideas captivated
him, transformed him, and gave him hope.

45
Costantakos, 35
46
Janof, Conversation with George Neikrug.
Before my time with him, I had a concept of what I wanted to sound like but I couldn’t
do it, so I was envious of those around me who had a seemingly natural technique.
Thanks to Dounis, I eventually developed this same kind of technique.47
In 1947, Neikrug made his debut as a soloist and later became principal cellist with the
Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. Neikrug continued to study
with Dounis until Dounis’s death in 1954. He inherited the legacy of his knowledge and is
considered his chief disciple. George would go on to preserve Dounis’s teachings and pass them
on to coming generations until his death in 2019 at the age of 100. In the 21st century, students
of Neikrug continue to carry on the torch and preserve the wealth of knowledge that is Dounis’s
Expressive Technique through lessons, literature, and masterclasses.
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin was a child prodigy and concert soloist who had once been called “the
most wonderful artist I have ever heard” by Sir Edward Elgar. Early in his life, Menuhin would
appear as a soloist in London, Paris, New York, and Berlin.48 During his climb through
adolescence, Menuhin became increasingly doubtful of his ability to play the violin. This led him
to seek out Dounis’s teachings in secret.
Shortly after the death of Dounis, Menuhin’s sister, Yaltah, was an accomplished pianist
who had then collaborated with George Neikrug. Neikrug recalls the experience:
She said, “Would you help Yehudi a little bit? He has trouble with his bow.” I had about
ten sessions with him… Everything I told him was Dounis’s teaching, and [Menuhin] told

47
Janof.
48
“A Wonderful Performance Comes Finally to an End,” The Irish Times, March 13, 1999.
me, “I wish I’d met him.” A few years later I was working with the pianist Arpád
Sándor,49 who had accompanied Menuhin. I told him the story about working with
Yehudi, and what he’d said about wishing he’d met Dounis. Sándor said, “But he did
meet Dounis. We went together to him many times.”50
Although Menuhin had denied ever meeting Dounis, he openly respected him. In
Conversations with Menuhin, Yehudi refers to Dounis as a “wonderful teacher” and states that
his “published exercises are among the best and most ingenious ever devised for the violin.”51
Menuhin is but one example of a well‐known soloist seeking out the instruction of Dounis in
secret. Dounis’s teaching would go on to influence Yehudi’s own in Six Lessons with Yehudi
Menuhin and The Compleat Violinist.
Joseph Silverstein
Joseph Silverstein was a violinist who showed great promise and talent at a young age.
Silverstein was admitted into the Curtis Institute of Music in 1944 at the age of 12, and
primarily studied with Efrem Zimbalist,52 director of the institute. During the summer of 1949,
Silverstein had taken some lessons with Dounis, a fact soon discovered by Ivan Galamian,
professor of violin at the Curtis Institute and the Julliard School of Music.

49
Joseph Stevenson, “Arpad Sandor | Biography & History,” AllMusic.com, accessed January 14, 2020,
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/arpad‐sandor‐mn0002205869/biography.
50
Neikrug, as quoted in Stewart, 17. Stewart notes that there was no possibility for Sándor to mistake Dounis’s
identity, having collaborated with Leona Flood for her NYC debut at Town Hall in 1938. Sándor would have
certainly made Dounis’s acquaintance, for Leona was his prized pupil.
51
Robin Daniels and Yehudi Menuhin, Conversations with (Yehudi) Menuhin (London: Macdonald General Books,
1979), 139
52
Silverstein’s other primary teachers included Josef Gingold and Mischa Mischakoff.
Galamian came to see Zimbalist. ‘Students at Curtis are given, free of charge, the finest
teaching available,’ he fumed. ‘I happen to know that one of your students, and one of
mine, spent the summer paying for lessons with Dounis. Now they are distributing his
exercises here. I don’t know what you intend doing, but I want my student expelled
from the Institute.’ (Galamian’s student was Michael Serber, a fine talent who later
entered the psychiatric field; Galamian was particularly angry because two of his best
Julliard students, David Nadien and Berl Senofsky, had also fallen under Dounis’s spell.)
‘Who is my student?’ Zimbalist asked. ‘Joseph Silverstein.’ Distressed, he called
Silverstein in and softly said, ‘Joseph, you are dismissed.’ Silverstein’s accomplishments
following his dismissal are too well known to enumerate. In an attempt to ease his
lingering lack of conviction about the decision, twenty‐eight years later Zimbalist had
the Institute award Silverstein his diploma.53
Silverstein would later go on to have a successful orchestral career. In 1962, he became
the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and held the position for 22 years.
Silverstein also held teaching positions at Boston University, Yale, New England Conservatory,
and the Curtis Institute of Music. In a 2015 interview, Silverstein said that his lessons with
Dounis were “very helpful” and that his manner of identifying and working on difficulties was
“an excellent method.”54

53
Roy Malan, Efrem Zimbalist: A Life (Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2004), 265
54
Hans Jensen, Interview with Joseph Silverstein, July 2015,
http://stringvisions.ovationpress.com/2015/10/interview‐joseph‐silverstein/.
Height of Fame
Much of Dounis’s success can be attributed to Mrs. Leona Flood, who had served as
Dounis’s secretary for many years. Morally, financially, and through her business acumen, Mrs.
Flood was instrumental in helping Dounis achieve his reputation as a leading authority on violin
technique. In 1946, Mrs. Flood was widowed when her husband, Frank B. Flood died after
facing a long illness. Dr. D.C. Dounis and Mrs. Leona Flood were subsequently married in 1949.55
Throughout the 1940s, Dounis had become extremely successful as a violin teacher.
Between 1941 and 1949, Dounis published 17 works for the violin.56 His popularity was at an
all‐time high. Dounis adverts occupied major music magazines, and articles about Dounis were
being written by his students. In 1949, Valborg Leland, head of the violin department of
Stephens College, Missouri, lectured at the Julliard School of Music on The Dounis Principles of
Violin Playing, a book that she had wrote based on her lessons with Dounis. This book was
published in 1949 by the Strad, and later republished by Patelson Music House in NYC.57
In 1948, Dounis began his series of master classes in Los Angeles which were attended
by string players from the Hollywood Studios and musicians from the area. Leona Flood assisted
him in these classes.58 In that same year, he returned to New York to continue his teaching
there. Dounis’s schedule had become intense at the beginning of the fifties.

55
Costantakos, 39
56
Costantakos, 37. Out of the seventeen works: five were Chopin transcriptions, five were existing works
edited/fingered by Dounis, and seven were technical studies.
57
Valborg Leland, The Dounis Principles of Violin Playing: Their Meaning and Practical Application (London: The
Strad, 1949).
58
Costantakos, 38. Leona had continued to concertize and study with Dounis throughout the 1940’s, in addition to
occasionally helping Dounis teach.
On top of his regular teaching, Dounis had continued to give master classes on violin
technique. In 1951, he gave a six‐week master course, from June 25th to August 4th, for string
players at the Conservatory of Music and Arts in Los Angeles, California.59 Over the next few
years, Dounis would give similar classes in London, Paris, and California. During what would be
his final trip to London in 1954, Dounis became very ill and returned to California where he was
diagnosed with metastatic cancer.60
Legacy
Dounis was attempting a recovery in California, but his situation was not improving. In
his final weeks, he was visited by faithful students from across the country. Due to their
number, Mrs. Dounis had to limit the number of students to one a day. Even in his weakened
condition, Dounis was able to impart guidance on technical and musical matters to the students
that persisted in coming. Those students who were sensitive about burdening him who had
come without instruments, Dounis would insist that they bring their instruments and play for
him. About his unfortunate time, Neikrug said:
Two days before he died, I went to see him. He weighed about sixty pounds. He held out
his finger and said, “What’s the difference between the up bow and the down bow?” He
was still teaching until the day he died.61
On August 11, 1954, after a struggle for life – with a mind that was alert and active, but a body
that was not – Demetrius Constantine Dounis died in the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los

59
“LA Conservatory Advertisement,” The Los Angeles TImes, June 10, 1951.
60
Costantakos, 40
61
Neikrug quoted in Stewart , 18
Angeles, California.62 He would be missed dearly by his family, friends, and students. Here, he is
remembered by his principle student, George Neikrug:
To those of us who knew and worked with Dr. Dounis in different parts of the world,
that same world must have seemed a great deal smaller with the news of his death on
August 12th here in Los Angeles. Until the very last hour of a lingering fatal illness his
extraordinary mind and spirit retained that vitality and awareness which was a constant
source of inspiration to his students. His greatest concern, in those last days, was for the
ability of his students to carry on without him and perpetuate those ideals and
principles that formed the basis of his unique teaching.
How difficult it is to give the measure of such a man to those who had not the great
fortune of working with him. How can one sum up the legacy of his knowledge? When
one realizes the staggering fact that at the age of eighteen he had already written what
are still today the most advanced works on violin technique and has been steadily
developing and adding to his knowledge throughout the ensuing years until the age of
sixty, perhaps some idea of the depth of his understanding will be apparent.
His mind seemed to penetrate to the very core of every problem on any musical
instrument and whether the problem was technical or musical he could immediately
expose the truth in all its simplicity. To his students this process at times worked like
magic, but on further pondering it would become clear that these truths were there for
all to see. But who had the powers of observation and analysis to see them without his

62
“Music Authority Dr. Dounis Dies,” The Los Angeles TImes, August 14, 1954.
help? All who came in contact with his mind could never be the same again. One’s very
thinking processes were revolutionized as if a sleeping giant within us had suddenly
been awakened. The goal of the never‐ending search for truth and beauty in art finally
seemed humanely obtainable. He guided the way along that road and the pupil’s efforts
were richly rewarded in proportion to the amount of his work. One had to re‐evaluate
every basic idea and conception of so‐called tradition in the light of Dr. Dounis’s
teachings and very often the commonest maxims and rules we had for years accepted
blindly as the truth, had to be discarded.
Dr. Dounis was always humble and undogmatic, at times to the point that a casual
observer would little suspect the enormity of his knowledge. His teaching had its basis in
the principles of nature, and he was always pointing out examples of the correct
application of those principles in gifted people who had not studied with him but had
found the same goals instinctively.
He set a new standard of ethics in teaching by never showing favouritism to a student
and even lavished greater attention and patience on the less gifted. In spite of the great
number of gifted performers of reputation who worked with him, he refused to use
their names for purposes of advertising and self‐glorification.
I was privileged to witness the extraordinary sight of his last teaching sessions from his
very death‐bed just a few days before his passing, during which intricate problems of
phrasing, and bowings were discussed with students who had made a last pilgrimage
from New York. After studying with him for almost fifteen years I learned even more
than those last lessons than when he was at the height of his activities.
This brave and great spirit will live on in the perpetuation of his thought, and the bonds
between his pupils will grow ever stronger in the years to come.
To his students who mourn I would like to prescribe his oft‐repeated remedy for times
of grief and distress: “work, work and more work”. Only thus will he still be with us.63

63
George Neikrug, “Dr. Demetrius Dounis: A Tribute,” The Strad 65, no. 774 (October 1954): 182.
Bibliography

General Resources
Costantakos, Chris A. Demetrios Constantine Dounis: His Method in Teaching the Violin. New
York: Peter Lang, 1998.

Daniels, Robin, and Yehudi Menuhin. Conversations with (Yehudi) Menuhin. London: Macdonald
General Books, 1979.

D.C. Dounis, Mandolin. Nocturne (Chopin ‐ Sarasate Op.9 Nr 2.). Vienna: Odeon O‐2913 b ‐ Ve
3004, 1929.

Eaton, Sybil. “A Great Violin Teacher: Dr. D. C. Dounis.” The Musical TImes 95, no. 1340
(October 1954): 559.

Hadden, J. Cuthbert. Modern Musicians: A Book for Players, Singers and Listeners. Place of
publication not identified: Best Books, 2001.

Malan, Roy. Efrem Zimbalist: A Life. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2004.

Neikrug, George. “Dr. Demetrius Dounis: A Tribute.” The Strad 65, no. 774 (October 1954): 182.

“Nikolaos Lavdas and the Athenian Mandolinata Orchestra and Conservatory: History.”
Accessed January 10, 2020. https://athenianmandolinata.com/about/.

Reichenbach, Michael. “Demetrius C. Dounis – Geigenvirtuose, Mandolinenvirtuose und
Violinpädagoge,” June 1, 2018. http://www.gezupftes.de/?p=14703#jp‐carousel‐14746.

Sadie, Stanley, and George Grove, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Reprinted .̤ in paperback ed. New York: Grove [u.a.], 1998.

Stevenson, Joseph. “Arpad Sandor | Biography & History.” AllMusic.com. Accessed January 14,
2020. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/arpad‐sandor‐mn0002205869/biography.

Stewart, Emily, K. Demetrios Constantine Dounis: The Philosophy behind the Methods. Boston:
OpenBU, 2013. https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/12231.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Balkan Wars.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed
January 10, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balkan‐Wars.

“The Guild Concert.” The Crescendo 3, no. 12 (June 1911).

Trotter, William R. Priest of Music: The Life of Dimitri Mitropoulos. Portland, Or: Amadeus Press,
1995.
Interviews

Janof, Tim. Conversation with George Neikrug, January 4, 2002.
http://www.cello.org/newsletter/articles/neikrug/neikrug.htm.

Jensen, Hans. Interview with Joseph Silverstein, July 2015.
http://stringvisions.ovationpress.com/2015/10/interview‐joseph‐silverstein/.

Newspapers
Duckwall, Byron. Violin lesson between the author, and Dounis authority, Byron Duckwall,
November 2018.

“A Wonderful Performance Comes Finally to an End.” The Irish Times, March 13, 1999.

“Anton Dounis Heard: Greek Mandolinist Gives Brilliant Program at Bijou Theatre.” New York
Times, January 26, 1931.

“Dr. Dmitri Dounis Dies.” Daily Press, August 14, 1954.

“Eastern Debut for Local Miss.” Spokane Daily Chronicle, September 24, 1938.

“First New York Concert ‐ Demetrius Dounis: The Mandolin Virtuoso.” New York Herald,
November 15, 1910, sec. Musical Notices.

“LA Conservatory Advertisement.” The Los Angeles TImes, June 10, 1951.

“Music Authority Dr. Dounis Dies.” The Los Angeles TImes, August 14, 1954.

“Music Here and There.” New York TImes, February 12, 1911.

Oakley, George D. “Music on the Tradewinds.” Honolulu‐Star Bulletin, March 19, 1938.

Pedagogical Resources

Costantakos, Chris A. Demetrios Constantine Dounis: His Method in Teaching the Violin. New
York: Peter Lang, 1998.

Leland, Valborg. The Dounis Principles of Violin Playing: Their Meaning and Practical
Application. London: The Strad, 1949.

Stewart, Emily, K. Demetrios Constantine Dounis: The Philosophy behind the Methods. Boston:
OpenBU, 2013. https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/12231.

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MEDICINE, MUSIC, AND WAR

THE FLOOD FAMILY

D.C. DOUNIS, MASTER TEACHER

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