Honegger, Arthur 1892-1955
French composer

Born in Le Havre, of Swiss parentage, he studied in Zurich and at the Paris Conservatory, and after World War I became one of the group of Parisian composers known as Les Six. His dramatic oratorio Le Roi David (1921, 'King David') established his reputation, and amongst his subsequent works, Pacific 231 (1923), a musical picture of a locomotive, won considerable popularity. He composed five symphonies, and these, like a second dramatic oratorio, Jeanne d'Arc au b�cher (1935, Eng trans, Joan of Arc at the Stake, 1936), are works of considerable depth and power.

Bibliography: Harry Halbreich, Arthur Honegger, un musicien dans la cit� des hommes (1992)