Lajos Papp

This article is about the composer. For sport shooting see Lajos Papp (sport shooting) .

Lajos Papp (born August 18, 1935 in Debrecen , Hungary , † January 17, 2019 in Oldenburg ) was a Hungarian composer and music teacher .

Life

Lajos Papp first studied piano and composition at his home conservatory , then composition with Ferenc Szabó and conducting with László Somogyi at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. The musical training there did not include an occupation with the twelve-tone technique of the New Vienna School . Papp acquired these techniques through independent study of the works of Schönberg , Berg and Webern, which were difficult to obtain at the time. In 1960 he finished his studies with a diploma in composition.

Until 1968 he worked as a piano and theory teacher at the music school in Budapest, where he introduced the subject of music literature together with Erna Czövek and László Dobzay in the early 1960s as part of reform efforts. During this time he made the decision to focus more on pedagogy in the field of composition. Instead of dealing with music theory , music history and solmization in isolation , as the previous curriculum dictated, theory lessons now include a work (usually an opera ) from the Viennese classic , then from the Baroque and finally from the Renaissance or the modern ( Bartók ) treated all year round from different perspectives.

In the following years he put together collections under pedagogical aspects and composed a number of demanding pedagogical literature, initially primarily for piano , but also for other instruments (e.g. pieces in instrumental schools and collections for string instruments , recorder , guitar and trombone ). From mid-1968 he worked as a freelance composer. A scholarship enabled him to study in the master classes of Klaus Huber and Helmut Lachenmann in Basel Switzerland from 1971 to 1973, but did not lead to an approach to their compositional style.

Since 1973 Lajos Papp lived with his family in Oldenburg as a teacher for piano and theory at the Oldenburg Music School. This move to Germany and the resulting change in work and family caused a longer creative break from 1973 to around 1985. In the period that was now beginning, Papp placed his work, which was inspired by music education, in the foreground of his work. His piano school , started in 1965 and finished in 1971, was published in 1994/95 after thorough revision. For the single-tone accordion , three progressively arranged game books were published, often used instead of a school book. Many works emerged from music pedagogical practice, often at the suggestion of instrument pedagogues. Through his compositional and music-pedagogical approach, in which he contrasts Western European models (major / minor system) with Eastern European ( church keys ) based on the pentatonic scale and included children's songs from many countries in his work, Papp has followed the tradition of his compatriots Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály and was considered one of the most important contemporary representatives of this direction.

Works

Lajos Papp himself divided his work into two categories: educational music and art music . In this style - so called by Papp - the sound material is arranged in a free twelve-tone technique and thus offers the composer the opportunity to put his music in a floating state that is not related to the keynote. In a sense, it falls into an idealistic, non-materialistic state. When looking at the genesis of the work, it can be seen that this clear separation was not intended from the start. Papp's first compositions from 1967 ( Three Rondos for piano (1967), Variazioni per pianoforte (1968), Trakl songs for soprano and piano ) focus on his main instrument. In 1966 Papp went public with a larger work, Dialogo per pianoforte ed orchestra , whose musical statement is still valid. His main educational works were initially published in Hungary, but then also in Germany and France. Parts of it have appeared in collections in Europe, Canada, Japan and South Africa. Numerous works have been published by various publishers, including a. also three booklets for the single tone accordion in AUGEMUS Musikverlag .

Educational works:

Literature for piano lessons:

• Three piano pieces , 1970
• 27 small piano pieces , 1969
• Starting the Piano , 1969
• 22 small piano pieces , 1985
• Fairy tale pictures , 1987
• Children's pictures from Europe , 1987
• Aquarium , 1994
• The ABC of Piano, Part 1 , 1994
• The Strong Mole for piano four hands , 1994
• Hungarian Christmas carols , 1994
• The ABC of Piano, Part 2 , 1995
• Mosaic , 1997
• Images. Pieces pour piano à 2 et 4 mains , 1998

Works for accordion:

• 44 easy pieces , 1990
• The tired jumping jack , 1991
• Pierrot dreams. Twelve Pieces for Accordion , 1993

Works for string instruments:

• Four pieces for violoncello , 1973
• 15 small cello duos 1973
• Hungarian Christmas carols for two violins , 1995

Works for chamber music ensembles:

• Five pieces for violin and piano , 1968
• Three dances for two violins and piano , 1968
• Dance of frogs. Small Chamber Music for Recorder or Another Melody Instrument and Accordion, Volume 1 , 1991
• Hungarian Christmas Carols for two recorders or two guitars , 1994
• Hungarian variations for violin and piano , 1985/1998
• Dance of frogs. Small Chamber Music for Recorder or Another Melody Instrument and Accordion, Volume 2 , 1998

Web links

• Lajos Papp at AUGEMUS Musikverlag Ralf Kaupenjohann
• Lajos Papp at Editions Henry Lemoine
• Lajos Papp at the Editio Musica Budapest
• Obituary notice

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lajos Papp. in Jane Magrath: Pianists Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature. , Alfred Publishing Co., Van Nuys, 1995