Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955)

Arthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger was a Swiss-French composer, violinist and cellist, and music critic.

Honegger was born into a Swiss family but spent most of his life in France. He studied at the Zurich and Paris conservatories. After World War I, he joined Les Six, a group of young composers that also included Georges Auric, Germain Taillefer, Francis Poulenc, Darius Millau, and Louis Durey.

In the early 1920s Honegger asserted himself with strong orchestral and chamber works, including Pacific 231 (inspired by the sounds of a steam locomotive) and Pastorale d'Eté. In his dramatic oratorios Joan of Arc at the stake and Dance of the Dead, he turned to mysticism and religious meaning, which informed many of his later works.

Honegger was a prolific composer and composed several operas and a ballet, oratorios, five symphonies, and several chamber works for strings. He also wrote music for several movies. Honegger's music is written in a relaxed musical style that combines the French avant-garde with the large forms and massiveness of the German tradition.

Honegger is also known for his critical publications and musicological essays, particularly on composer Igor Stravinsky, whom he considered a genius and an example.