HONEGGER, ARTHUR ), Swiss composer, was born at Havre in 1892. He studied for two years at Zurich before entering the Paris Conservatoire in 1912, where he was under Gedalge and Widor. As one of the group known as "les Six" he must be classed with the newest French school and he undoubtedly owes much to the influence of Debussy and Florent Schmitt. But there is a sturdy element in his music which recalls his true nationality and in the mass effects of his recent oratorios he has broken away more and more from French traditions. While some of his harmonic audacities are startling, the impetus of his rhythm is so strong that they fall into place in the general scheme. His development may still have surprises in store ; his personal idiom, on the other hand, seems to be well established. The clashing of scale passages and rhythmic figures in contrary motion is a device which he uses constantly with great effect. His respect for sonata form is shown particularly in his chamber music. The success of his biblical drama King David has made him known to a wide public whose ear would normally be shocked by atonality and modern counterpoint. The choruses are the out standing feature of this work, which was first written for the stage at Mezieres (canton Vaud) in 1921 and completely revised as an oratorio for concert purposes in 1926.
After King David, Honegger's best known work is Pacific 231 (1924), a brilliant example of modern programme music which at once hit the popular taste. The two works represent the ex tremes of Honegger's style. In his opera Judith (1924) the choruses are again the backbone of the work. The form is more concise and the rhythm sharper and more syncopated than in King David. Both here, and in his latest opera Antigone, the solo parts tend to be dramatic rather than lyrical. The composer has explained that his aim is to replace recitative by a melodic leading of the singing voice, which is to grow out of the text itself, to avoid dwelling on high notes (in the interests of distinct enunciation) and to be definitely non-instrumental. The oratorio Judith adapted from the opera and produced at Leipzig in 1928, is an interesting experiment to bring oratorio into line with modern feeling. It is short, lasting little over an hour, and is divided into thirteen numbers, so arranged as to offer sharp con trasts.