Honegger, Arthur

(1892-1955)

   composer

   Born in Le Havre of swiss parentage, Arthur Honegger, who is regarded as one of the most important French composers of the early 20th century, began his musical career as an impressionist and gradually evolved a personal style characterized by dissonance, strong rhythms, and an emphasis on counterpoint. He studied at the zurich and Paris Conservatories. Early in his career he became a member of Les six, a group devoted to the development of a more robust form of musical composition, inspired often by the music of J. s. Bach and also by the writings of such poets as jean cocteau and Guillaume Apollinaire. Honegger's ability to describe realistically in music various aspects of contemporary life is exemplified by his two orchestral compositions, Pacific 231 (1923), which is a musical description of a steam engine, and Rugby (1928). His other works include the theatrical compositions Le Roi David (1925), Judith (1925), Jeanne au bûcher (1935), and La Danse des morts (1938), the last two with texts by paul claudel. He also composed an operetta, Les Aventures du roi Pausole (1930); an opera, L'Aiglon (1937); and a Cantate de Noël (1953). In his later works, Honegger reveals his sense of disillusionment with the barbarity of the modern world and its loss of personal freedom. There are echoes of these sentiments in Incantation aux fossiles (1948) and Je suis compositeur (1951), a type of autobiographical composition.