Lajos Dóczi


Baron Lajos Dóczi, aka Dóczy, 29/30 November 1845, Sopron was a Jewish Hungarian poet and journalist. His father, Adolf Dux, was a wine trader, not to be confused with the writer of the same name, Adolf Dux.

Biography

His father was Mór Dux, a leather merchant who went bankrupt during the War of Independence. His mother was Róza Rosenberg. His father, after the assets of unfortunate companies were completely ruined during the War of Independence, moved with his family to Németkeresztúr and joined the shop of his brother-in-law, Mór Rosenberg as a business manager. From there, his son Lajos went to Nagykanizsa to see Mrs. Lövinger, his mother's sister, in whose elementary Jewish school he completed the six elementary classes; then in Keresztúr he was initiated into the Talmudic sciences by the teacher of the village. In 1856, his parents sent him to the grammar school in Sopron, where he became the leader of the youth together with Jenő Rákosi. After completing his secondary school studies, he studied law at the University of Vienna and became a member of the editorial board of the Presse. He reported on the coronation to the Presse, and his articles caused a great sensation. As a correspondent, he became the centre of the literary society whose lifeblood was Adolf Ágai, Lajos Asbóth, László Hevesi, Ivor Kaas, Manó Kónyi, Tóbiás Lőw and Jenő Rákosi. He also constantly wrote for the then high-level political satirical magazine Borsszem Jankó, and at the same time he was an enthusiastic defender of Ferenc Deák's politics in newspaper articles. In 1868, Boldizsár Horvát ordered him to the Prime Minister's Office as a draftsman, but as early as 1872, Count Gyula Andrássy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, took him to Vienna, and Dóczi soon became a Hungarian court counsellor and ministerial class counsellor. At the same time, he was a member of the Kisfaludy and Petőfi Societies. On 8 June 1878, he was elected to the nobility, then 1900. On 13 March, he received the title of baron and the noble prefix "Németkeresztúr" from Franz Joseph I, King of Hungary.
He never interrupted his journalistic activities. He was a contributor to the Presse, the Pesti Napló, the Hírmondó, the Reform and the Fremdenblatt.

Career

After finishing his preliminary education he studied law in Vienna, joining at the same time the staff of Die Presse. His political articles, which advocated the "Ausgleich" with Austria, were very favorably received, and on the recommendation of Balthasar Horváth, then Minister of Justice, he was appointed clerk in the office of the prime minister.
When Count Julius Andrássy became minister of foreign affairs Dóczy accompanied him to Vienna, and was soon appointed "Sectionsrath", and later "Hofrath", at the Foreign Office. In 1899, he was elevated to the rank of baron, and in 1902, retired from public life. He resided in Deutschkreutz and Budapest.

Marriage and descendants

He married Ilona Mayer von Gunthof on 20 October 1879, in Vienna. He divorced his wife on 9 October 1891.
Child:
  • Baron Péter Gyula Dóczy. His wife, Baron Suzanne von Ferstel was a Hungarian politician.

Works

Dóczy's reputation rests not on the services he rendered to the state, but on his achievements as a dramatic writer and as a translator. His plays were staged one after the other: The Last Prophet ; Kiss ; Last Love ; Mária Széchy ; Mixed Couples ; Countess Vera. He made himself famous with his translation of Faust in 1887, when the National Theatre performed it in Hungarian for the first time in his translation. However, he was the seventh to translate Imre Madách's The Tragedy of Man into German. His comedy Princess Ellinor won the Teleki Prize. He was a contributor to all the significant Hungarian-language literary and daily newspapers of the time. His writings published in the Neues Pester Journal under the pseudonym Tobiás Onkel were especially popular. Other works: Anonymous Letters to Kálmán Tisza ; Poems ; Tales and Sketches ; Carmela Spadaro ; The complete poems of Friedrich Schiller ; Wallenstein trilogy ; Goethe's Poems. He translated many of the poems of János Arany and Mihály Vörösmarty into German, translated several opera texts into Hungarian, and wrote the text for the Knight Pázmány for Johann Strauss.
Besides these, he translated Schauffert's comedy Schach dem König, 1873, and wrote the libretto to Karl Goldmark's Merlin and to Johann Strauss II.'s Ritter Pázmán.
His Hungarian translation of Goethe's Faust and his German adaptation of Imre Madách's Az ember tragédiája were well received. His collected poems and novels appeared in 1890. His last work was a Hungarian translation of Schiller's poems.

Notable works

  • Goethe, Faust. Tragedy translated into Hungarian, Part I. Pest, 1872.
  • Anonymous letters to Kálmán Tisza on the occasion of the new program. Ibid., 1872.
  • Chess for the King, comedy in 4 acts. After Schauffert, trans. Dux L. Ibid., 1873.
  • Kiss, merry. 4 acts. Bpest, 1874.
  • Last love, broken. comedy. Ibid. 1880.
  • Mária Széchy, broken. play. Ibid. 1885.
  • Merlin, song work 3 acts. trans., music by Goldmark. Ibid.
  • Mixed Couples, Drama 3 acts. Ibid. 1889.
  • Poems. Ibid. 1890.
  • Talks and sketches. Ibid. 1890. Two volumes.
  • Carmela Spadaro. Short stories. Stuttgart, 1890.
  • Countess Vera, sad. 3 acts. Ibid. 1891.
  • Die Tragödie des menschen. Dramatisches Gedicht von Emerich Madách. Hey them kids. übersetz. Ibid. 1891.