Arthur Honegger

Synopsis

French-Swiss composer

• 1892 born in Le Havre, France to Swiss parents.
• 1911-1918 studied at the Paris Conservatory, after previous study at the Zurich conservatory. At the conservatory, his teachers included Capet (violin), Gédalge (counterpoint and fugue), Widor (composition and orchestration), d'Indy (conducting), Emmanuel (history) and others. Fellow students included Tailleferre, Auric, Ibert (with whom he collaborated on two large-scale works in the 1930s) and Milhaud, who became a close friend.
• 1913 his family returned to Zurich, but Honegger settled in Montmartre, residing there until his death.
• 1917 composed "Fugue et Choral pour orgue," his only significant organ work.
• 1920 the group of composers "Les Six," was founded,a group of six French composers who worked in Montparnasse. The group included Honegger, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre. According to Oxford Music online, "The series of large-scale dramatic works and major symphonic scores he composed during the following 30 years established him as one of the most significant composers of his generation. Nearly all his music was recorded during his lifetime, some under his own direction. He also made pioneering and extensive contributions to the development of music for film (43 scores) and radio (eight programmes)."
• 1923 composed "Pacific 231," his most popular work, an orchestral work inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive.
• 1926 married the pianist Andrée ‘Vaura’ Vaurabourg. They lived apart due to Honegger's need for complete solitude when he composed; however, Honegger respected her musical judgment above all others and she usually accompanied him on his frequent and extensive tours throughout Europe and the Americas, playing the piano parts in his chamber works, accompanying his songs and performing his solo piano music.
• 1955 died in Paris

For details, see the Wikipedia article on Arthur Honegger [1].

Oxford Music Online biography of Arthur Honegger: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/13298?q=arthur+Honegger&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

List of Organ Works

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Opus	Title	Year
Op. ??	2 Pieces for organ: Fugue in C# minor, Choral	1917
Op. ??	Orgue dans l'eglise	c1910-1911
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Background and General Perspectives on Performing These Organ Works

From Oxford Music Online:

"He developed unusual musical and dramatic forms in large-scale works for voices and orchestra, and was one of the 20th century's most dedicated contrapuntists, with a clear indebtedness to Bach. His language is essentially tonal but characterized by a highly individual use of dissonance. Despite his admiration for Debussy and Ravel, his music is often rugged and uncompromising."

"His student works sometimes display a striking indebtedness to Debussy and Ravel, but he soon found a more individual language."

"[Honegger's] musical language is fundamentally tonal and strongly characterized by qualities of unity and coherence. There is a stylistic eclecticism... with allusions ranging from Gregorian chant and Protestant hymns to jazz, but Honegger's frequent use of complex polyphony, and his consistent attention to architectural proportion and structure are constant reminders both of the unusually long time he spent on technical study and his aversion to compositional experimentation."

And from Wikipedia:

"The principal elements of Honegger's style are: Bachian counterpoint, driving rhythms, melodic amplitude, highly coloristic harmonies, an impressionistic use of orchestral sonorities, and a concern for formal architecture. His style is weightier and more solemn than that of his colleagues in Les Six."

Registration and Organs

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Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

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Recordings

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Free Online

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Other Resources

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Notes

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