Nikolaus Dumba (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Νικόλαος Δούμπας; 24 July 1830,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– 23 March 1900,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

) was an Austrian

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and liberal politician. He is considered to have been an important patron of the arts and music and a benefactor of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Biography

In 1817, Nikolaus' father Stergios, an immigrant to Vienna from a family from

Vlasti Vlasti ( el, Βλάστη, before 1927: Βλάτση - ''Vlatsi'', rup, Blatsa) is a village and a community of the Eordaia municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was an independent community. The 2011 census recorded 274 inhabi ...

of Aromanian-

descent, then part of the Ottoman Empire and today a village in Northern

, became a merchant. Nikolaus attended the Akademische Gymnasium and spent the revolutionary years of 1847-48 with his brother Michael at the residence of the Austrian Ambassador Anton von Prokesch-Osten in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

. In 1852, he took a trip to Egypt with the travel writer Alexander Ziegler. He was trained for a commercial career and took over a

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

in Tattendorf that had been operated by his cousin Theodore. It had approximately 180 employees and soon became a highly profitable enterprise. This financial base allowed him to turn his interests elsewhere. He was knighted and appointed to the legislature, where he was very active. His son,

Konstantin The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Gr ...

, was

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

's last Ambassador to the United States.

Patron

He was a close friend of Hans Makart,

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's p ...

and Carl Kundmann and was a strong promoter of contemporary art. He helped establish several monuments to famous composers of the past and served as a Vice-President of the

Society of Friends of Music The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (), also known as the Wiener Musikverein (German for 'Viennese Music Association'), is an Austrian music organization that was founded in 1812 by Joseph Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theat ...

. Dumba left 50,000

florin The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purch ...

s to the Vienna Men's Choral Society in order to free them from financial concerns. In return, he asked that "from time to time, a choral work in remembrance of me should be performed in a church" and that "the money should never be used for a building". To this day,

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

's German Mass is often sung in his honor. In his will, he bequeathed over 200 original manuscripts by Schubert to the City of Vienna. These formed the basis for what is now the world's largest collection of musical scores at the Vienna Library

Benefactor in Greece

During a visit to Athens with his wife Anna, he made a grant to the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

to finish the building interiors. In the city of

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Nort ...

, near his father's hometown, he founded an orphanage and contributed to the construction of a vocational school, under the aegis of his friend, Georgios Averoff.City of Serres website

Political functions

From 1870 to 1896, he was a member of the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

, where he served on the Finance Committee and the Poor Law Committee, occasionally acting as the Landtag chairman's deputy. In 1885, the

Kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for " emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly a ...

appointed him to the Herrenhaus, the Upper Chamber of the Imperial Council of Austria.

Selected honors

Medals

* Order of the Iron Crown, Second Class * Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph * Commander's Cross, First Class, of the Romanian Order of the Crown

Places

* On 28, March, 1900, the "Künstlergasse" (Artist Alley) was renamed the "Dumbastraße", by vote of the Vienna City Council.

References

External links

TAR (Music Magazine): biography of Dumba
* (First news of his death) * (Detailed report and obituary
Fortsetzung S. 5
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumba, Nikolaus 1830 births 1900 deaths Philanthropists from Vienna Austrian people of Aromanian descent Austrian people of Greek descent Constitutional Party (Austria) politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1870–1871) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1871–1873) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1873–1879) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1879–1885) Members of the House of Lords (Austria) Austrian industrialists Austrian art patrons Austrian patrons of music 19th-century Austrian businesspeople 19th-century philanthropists