Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a composer of operas, chamber music, and orchestral music. An almost exact contemporary of Prokofiev (1891-1953), he rivaled Poulenc as the most successful member of Les Six and was without doubt among the greatest French composers of his day. He was influenced in his early work by the impressionists and Stravinsky's modernism, but stylistically, he was quite protean, eschewing the Impressionism of Debussy while absorbing certain features of neo-Classicism and taking on a sometimes brash and usually rugged expressive manner, always within a tonal context. Honegger used a personal style in his mature work that is densely bitonal, classically polyphonic, and emotionally austere. This is especially apparent in the beautiful Symphony No. 2 for string orchestra -- with a mysteriously emerging trumpet solo in the last movement -- a work written in occupied Paris of WWII.
Born in France to Swiss parents, Honegger became proficient on the violin as a child, but he also developed an interest in composition early on. His first work, an unorchestrated opera, Philippa, dates to 1903. He enrolled at the Zurich Conservatory while in his teens, where he studied composition with Friedrich Hegar and violin with Willem de Boer. He left after two years for the more prestigious Paris Conservatory in 1911, where he studied composition with Widor and Gédalge. Although he continued to take instruction on the violin there, Honegger was clearly more interested in a career as a composer. In 1913, his family relocated to Zurich, but he remained in Le Havre and commuted daily to Paris by train, perhaps one of the reasons he developed a fascination with locomotives. His first works began gaining exposure by 1916, and four years later, he and his conservatory friends Milhaud, Auric, and Tailleferre, along with Poulenc and Durey, found themselves aligned in the famous musical group called Les Six, a name coined by critic Henri Collet. Les Six was formed in reaction to Impressionism and Wagnerian ideas, but Honegger did not recognize any musical creed in his association with the group.
In 1923, Honegger composed one of his most famous works, Pacific 231 (Mouvement symphonique No. 1), a work whose motoric qualities were inspired by the sounds and rhythms of a locomotive. The piece was a tremendous success and spawned many imitations. In 1926, Honegger married a young, highly gifted French pianist, Andrée Vaurabourg. The two rarely lived together during their marriage, owing to the composer's need for solitude in his creative activities. On concert tours, however, they apparently shared quarters and throughout their marriage were otherwise a happy, loving couple. The 1928 Rugby (Mouvement symphonique No. 2) was also a success for Honegger and is another example of the composer being inspired by an extra-musical interest: he was a sports enthusiast, especially of rugby. Honegger made many concert tours in the 1930s with his wife, who would perform his piano and chamber works or serve as accompanist to his songs. His oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bucher (1935) is a significant work told in a series of episodic "flashbacks," a form that fits well with the music. His concert and compositional activity was curtailed for a year when he nursed his wife along to recovery following a serious injury in a 1935 automobile accident.
During the war years, Honegger taught at the École Normale de Musique and made many trips to Zurich, where his Symphony No. 2 (1940-1941) was successfully premiered by Paul Sacher and the Collegium Musicum on May 18, 1942. Honegger remained quite prolific during these dark years, especially in the realm of film music. He wrote 11 film scores in the period of 1942 to 1943, though some were collaborations with other composers, such as Jolivet. In 1947, on a concert tour in the United States, Honegger suffered a heart attack and thereafter his health declined, severely limiting his musical activities, with his wife tending to him in his final year.
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Diskografie
12 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Le Roi David (Mono Version)
Arthur Honegger, Maurice Duruflé, Janine Micheau
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: La danse des morts, H. 131 - Une cantate de Noël, H. 212
The Gulbenkian Orchestra, Michel Corboz, The Gulbenkian Choir
Oper - Erschienen bei Cascavelle am 01.01.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Le Roi David
Gulbenkian Orchestra, Gulbenkian Choir
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cascavelle am 13.06.1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher
Orchestre Symphonique Français, Michael Lonsdale, Sonia Petrovna
Oper - Erschienen bei Cascavelle am 10.10.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Sonata for Viola & Piano, H 28 - Brahms: Sonata No. 1 & 2 for Viola & Piano, Op. 120
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 09.03.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arthur Honegger: King David A Symphonic Psalm in Three Parts (English translation by Edward Agate)
Norma Procter, William Herbert, Margaretta Scott
Klassik - Erschienen bei The Digital Gramophone am 28.01.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Müller-Zürich: Fantasia, Canzone, Introitus - Honegger: Fugute & Choral - Martin: Passacaille - Hess: Präludium & Chaconne - Kuhn: Präludium & Fugue
Klassik - Erschienen bei Guild GmbH am 31.08.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arthur Honegger: Prélude pour Aglavaine et Sélysette - Peter Mennin: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra
The Louisville Orchestra, Jorge Mester
Klassik - Erschienen bei First Edition am 23.05.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical's Dark Side
Klassik - Erschienen bei OMP Classics am 30.06.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Pacific 231 & Rugby (Mono Version)
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger vous parle et présente son œuvre, avec illustrations musicales (Mono Version)
Arthur Honegger, Charles Munch, Charles Panzera
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Le Roi David & The Soldier's Tale (Concert Suite)
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Oper - Erschienen bei MVE am 12.02.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo