Jenő Takács

Born in Cinfalva on 25 September 1902, he studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Joseph Marx in composition and Paul Weingarten in piano until 1926 at the University of Vienna counterpoint with Hans Gál and musicology with Guido Adler. Since 1920, he had already undertaken tours through Germany, Hungary and Yugoslavia.

In 1926 he made acquaintance with Béla Bartók; from which a lively contact arose until Bartók's emigration to the United States in 1940. He was a professor of piano at the conservatory of Cairo, Egypt from 1927 to 1932, where he made Arab and Egyptian Music the subject of his research. He knew Egon Wellesz, Curt Sachs, Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Paul Hindemith.

In the years 1932 to 1934 he was a professor of piano and composition at the University of the Philippines, Conservatory of Music. He gave concerts in Japan, China and Hong Kong. Due to a new professorship in piano at the conservatory in Cairo in 1938, he made his first trip to the United States. In 1939, he moved to Sopron in Hungary, however the German authorities made his life difficult. In the years 1942 to 1948, he was director of the Conservatory in Pécs, Hungary. In 1943, he married Eva Pasteiner.

At that time, he learned from Zoltán Kodály, Ernö Dohnányi, Sándor Weöres, Darius Milhaud and Yehudi Menuhin. From 1948-49, he left then the communist-ruled Hungary and settled down in Grundlsee after stays in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. In the years 1949 to 1952, he conducted concert tours in Europe and America and was visiting professor at the conservatories of Geneva and Lausanne. In addition, he was professor of piano and composition at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1970, after his retirement in Cincinnati, he moved back to Siegendorf, where he remained until his death. On the occasion of his 100th birthday his works were performed in about 200 concerts. He died in Eisenstadt in 2005 at the age of 103.

• 1953 Title of Professor
• 1962 Grand Decoration of Burgenland; honorary citizen of Siegsdorf
• 1963 State Prize for Music
• 1970 Fellow of the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati
• 1976 National Cultural Award in Burgenland
• 1981 Bartók medal
• 1983 Kodály Medal
• 1987 Honorary Member of the Austrian composer and the Federal University of Music in Graz
• 1990 Prize of Bartók Pászthory Foundation Budapest
• 1992 Prize for Music of the Federal Ministry of Education and Arts
• 1993 Honorary Medal of the Austrian capital Vienna in gold; Haydn Medal of Eisenstadt; Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic
• 1997 Commander's Cross of Burgenland
• 2001 Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
• 2002 Gold Medal of the Findings University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
• 2004 Honorary Ring of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest; Würdigungspreis Central Cross with Star of the Republic of Hungary, honorary member of Kibu (composers and performers in Burgenland)

(incomplete, taken from the German page)