Jenö Takács was born on 25 September 1902 in Siegendorf (Burgenland) Austria, where he now resides once more after a dazzling career abroad which took him to such diverse locales as Cairo, Manila, and Cinncinnati. The composer, who was trained at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, was privileged to enjoy the friendship of both Bela Bartók and Zoltan Kodály. The dean of Austrian composers at the astonishing age of 102, Takács has been associated at one time or another with many of the most prominent musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Ernst von Dohnányi, Witold Lutoslawski, Arthur Rubinstein, Andres Segovia, Ernest Ansermet, and James Levine are but a few of the brilliant artists with whom he has come into professional contact.
A prolific master of many forms and styles, the music of Takács is for the most part tonal, and tends to be richly colored by his lifelong study of the of the art and folk music of the many cultures that he has come to know firsthand. His use of Hungarian and gypsy idioms is an especially salient and ingratiating feature of his style.
The creative intellect of Jenö Takács transcends both time and space, illuminating the presence of the past, bringing an expansive global dimension to musical culture, but always respectful of the great Austro-Hungarian traditions which continue to inform his art.
Kalendarium 2002 (Illustrated 100th Birthday Document in PDF format)
Music Information Center Austria
Various selections available through Amazon.
Several of the CDs at the "discography" URL above provide links to audio samples of the composer's works.
Fünf Stücke für drei Klarinetten, Universal Edition
Improvisationen nach Vogelstimmen, für Flöte und Klavier, Universal Edition
The Delian Society gratefully acknowledges information about the composer and photographs provided by Hermann Swietly, founder of the Swietly Trio (see "Discography" above). Shown below from left to right are Gereon Kleiner (piano), Jenö Takács, Michaela Eyberg (cello), and Hermann Swietly (violin).
