An introduction to the piano music of Jeno Takacs

American Music Teacher, April-May, 2004 by Jerry Perkins

Touted as "One of Austria's most prestigious contemporary composers ...", Jeno Takacs composed hundreds of pieces for the young pianist.

The various collections of piano pieces for children comprise some 200 compositions. Taken together, this output is extraordinary and represents one of the major bodies of teaching pieces written in the twentieth century. The sheer variety of pieces found in these volumes is quite astounding and is a virtual compendium of twentieth-century compositional styles. Here, you find everything from 12-tone to boogie-woogie, neoclassic to blues, and neo-romantic to completely abstract constructions. Each individual piece is composed with musical sureness and technical subtlety; each projects its own particular character with imagination and an economy of means. Takacs moves through a kaleidoscope of techniques, and yet he molds whatever procedure he is using at the time into a unique and highly personal style.

The pieces for younger students range from elementary through intermediate level. They are not only well crafted, but are wonderful teaching pieces dealing with problems such as hand and finger independence, exploring the keyboard's entire range, widely ranging dynamics, expanding the concept of tonality, improvisation, varying touch, phrasing, melody with accompaniment, tempo and mood changes within one piece and pedal use. In addition to their pedagogical value, the individual pieces are effective and interesting. The picturesque nature of many of the pieces is a great stimulus to the imagination. Each volume contains numerous compositions that are wonderful recital pieces.

Whether referring to the concert repertoire or the teaching pieces, one may say they are extremely well written for the instrument; they lie well in the hand, so to speak. There is never any of the awkwardness or unpianistic requirements sometimes found in the works of twentieth-century composers. The more difficult concert works in Takacs's catalog also are varied in terms of both compositional style and difficulty level. Here, you find such disparate influences as impressionism, folk music (particularly from Hungary), neoclassicism, bi-tonality and the expressionism of Schoenberg and Berg. These influences, as well as his predilection for tone clusters and more abstract constructions, are amalgamated into his individual style.

Compositions for younger students

Philippine Island Miniatures, 12 easy pieces, Op. 34 (1933/34) SCHIRMER

Von Fremden Landern und Menschen, Op. 37 (1934/35) UE

Kleine Sonate, Op. 51 (1943/44) DOB

Allerlei fur kleine finger, Op. 63 (1958/59) UE

Fur mich, Op. 76 (1963) DOB

Children's Pieces, Op. 82 (1965/66) WIL

Wenn der Frosch auf Reisen Geht, 6 Klavierstucke for Junge Spieler, Ohne Opus (1947/71/77) DOB

Klange und Farben, 15 Klavierstucke, Op. 95 (1973/74) DOB

4x4 Klavierstucke, Op. 106 (1979/80) UE

Von Nab und Fern, 21 leichte klavierstucke, Op. 111 (1983) UE

Neues fur dich, Op. 116, (1985) DOB

Miss Sona-Tina, Op. 118 (1986) DOB

Drei Minuten, Op. 123 (1997) DOB

One theme permeating Takacs's oeuvre for children is his interest in the music of many countries. This can be noted, in particular, in the title of three of his collections: Philippine Island Miniatures, From Far and Wide (Von Fremden Landern und Menschen) and From FarAway Places (Von Nab und Fern). However, scattered in most of the other collections are pieces also inspired by "far away places." As a forward to Opus 37, Takacs writes, "Far have I traveled, from the rugged Scottish highland to the tropical-exuberant South Seas, and everywhere music has provided a friendly welcome for me. Music was the language which I understood everywhere; it told me more of foreign lands and folks than many a book."

Takacs lived in many different places--Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States and traveled the world over. Perhaps for this reason he became interested in the folk music of many countries. No doubt, his friend and colleague Bela Bartok also was influential in this regard. While living in the Philippines, Takacs made the first study of Philippine music and instruments, A Dictionary of Philippine Musical Instruments, and the influence of this music, as well as folk music from Hungary and North Africa (Egyptian-Arab), plays an important part in his musical output.

From Far Away Places, Op. 37, is a beautiful collection unified by the compositional style and subject matter. In it are twenty pieces written in a tonal idiom. Each piece is representative of a particular country with the exception of the last, which is titled A Letter from Home. Some pieces are simply harmonizations of melodies of a particular country, while other pieces are originally composed. The harmonizations are especially beautiful and imaginative, while the originally composed pieces are elegant miniatures. All the pieces are about the same difficulty level with perhaps the exception of A Letter from Home, which, while not particularly difficult, requires a certain level of musical sophistication. In the collection From Far Away Places, Op. 111, the pieces are slightly more difficult, a little longer and, while still tonal, contain a few "spiky" dissonances. The only pieces not really tonal are the two that are unmeasured and have a free improvisational quality. Like the Opus 37, all the pieces are representative of a particular country and would be appropriate for recitals.