Honegger, << HOH nehg uhr, >> Arthur (1892-1955), was a Swiss-French composer. In the early 1920’s, he was associated with Les Six, a group of six French composers who rejected the prevailing taste for Romanticism and Impressionism in music. Honegger developed a highly personal style that featured energetic rhythms. Writing in a style that is clearly tonal most of the time, he occasionally composed passages with polytonal and atonal harmonies. Honegger’s most popular composition is the short symphonic piece Pacific 231 (1924), which portrays in rhythm the motion of a locomotive. He wrote many works for the theater, notably King David (1921) and Joan of Arc at the Stake (1938). He also composed symphonies, concertos, piano and chamber music, and works for chorus and solo voice. Honegger was born on March 10, 1892, in Le Havre, France. He died on Nov. 27, 1955.
