By Megan Ma

Joe Hu/Town Crier Denes Agay plays his piano in the Los Altos home he shares with daughter Susan Rothschild. He has written many music books.

Mention 95-year-old Denes Agay’s name in the classical music world to a beginning music student and virtuoso alike, and you’re likely to draw a nod of recognition at the least and even a burst of enthusiasm from the initiated.

Agay moved from Baltimore to Los Altos two years ago to live with his daughter Susan Rothschild. His age keeps him indoors most days, Rothschild said, but her father still manages to entertain the occasional visitor and fan.

Agay is regarded worldwide as his first musical scholar to arrange complex pieces for beginners and compose music for students based on grade levels. His diverse repertoire of instructional piano books includes pieces by Chopin, Bartok, Thelonious Monk, Gershwin, lesser-known American folk songs and Christmas music.

Agay may be known more for musical accomplishments, but he is also a first-rate storyteller, said Sondra Clark, a retired Los Altos music teacher and longtime music critic.

“He’s done so much for piano teachers everywhere. … He’s also quite a character, a delightful raconteur,” she said.

Don’t be fooled by his age - Agay remains a formidable presence with a keen and astute ear for music and conversation. Although frail and hard of hearing, Agay sits poised and speaks with a warmth and generosity about the past.

“All in all, it was quite a journey. I accomplished what I wanted to do, and there is a satisfaction to talk about it,” said Agay, who has conducted more than 200 workshops and lectures for piano teachers in every state.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in June 1911, Agay was regarded as a prodigy even as a toddler. At 4, he could play piano by ear and composing music naturally followed.

At the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Agay studied piano and composition with famed teachers Albert Siklos and Erno Dohnanyi, and graduated with high honors in 1933. On his father’s advice, Agay even attended law school while at music academy.

Tragedy struck early on. Both Agay’s parents were killed in Auschwitz, and his brothers, who were conscripted into the Hungarian army, died on the Russian front.

Armed with $13 and a briefcase full of compositions, Agay arrived in the port of New York on the U.S.S. Manhattan in 1939. A distant uncle and cousin met him at the port and he arranged to stay with relatives, who he said were of only “marginal help.” It was the end of the Depression and jobs were scarce - and almost non-existent for young composers.

In one of his most memorable stories, Agay marched through every floor of a 10-story New York music publishing company, hoping to persuade impatient publishers to accept his sonatas, suites and quintets.

He was hired to compose a simple cowboy tune, which he adorned with such flourishes to the simple three-chord accompaniment that he garnered instant admiration.

Agay’s famous teaching collections, anthologies and texts for piano studies include the “Classics to Moderns” series, the four-volume “Anthology of Piano Music” and the various “Joy” series collection that explores musical genres from “Joy of Baroque” to “Joy of Jazz.” His best-selling volume, “The Best Loved Songs of the American People” has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and was praised by Irving Berlin. The acclaimed Broadway composer wrote that it “is one of the best collections I have ever seen.”

One of Agay’s guiding principles in arranging a piece - no matter how simple or complex - is to retain the essence of the original.

“If you don’t change the melody, harmony and rhythm, then you can keep the original intent of the music,” he said.

At the same time, Agay said, through strong teaching and encouragement, students can successfully master even the grueling intricacies of any piece.

“From the beginning, I insisted that people study music in its original form, not simplified or rearranged,” he said.

While his international reputation as a composer, editor and piano teacher has endeared Agay to many, Rothschild said her father never forced music or piano on her growing up or on her three sons.

“He was a very supportive father, never pressured us to play music,” she said.

Although his mobility is restricted, Rothschild said, her father still approaches life with an insatiable appetite for information. He reads the New York Times nearly cover to cover every morning and regularly absorbs mystery novels, histories and biographies of famous people.

What Agay doesn’t pay much attention to is modern popular music. “The popular music today is rather strange for me,” he said. “I don’t disapprove, I think it fills a need.”

He even grew to “tolerate” the Beatles, the group his daughter idolized during her teen years.

After all, he said with emphasis, “there is good in every kind of music.”