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Honegger
Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to the French libretto by Jean Cocteau based on the tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles. It premiered on 28 December 1927 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie with sets designed by Pablo Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel. However, his most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work '' Pacific 231'', which was inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive. Biography Born Oscar-Arthur Honegger (the first name was never used) to Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, he initially studied harmony with Robert-Charles Martin (to whom he dedicated his first published work and violin in Le Havre. After studying for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, he enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with both Char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Roi David
''Le Roi David'' was composed in Mézières, Switzerland, in 1921 by Arthur Honegger, as incidental music for a play in French by René Morax. It was called dramatic psalm, but has also been performed as oratorio, without staging. The plot, based on biblical narration, tells the story of King David, first a shepherd boy, his victories in battle, relationship to Saul, rise to power, adultery, mourning of his son's death, and finally his own death. The work has 27 musical movements consisting of voice solos, choruses, and instrumental interludes. A narrator unifies the work by providing spoken narration of the story of King David. Arthur Honegger was commissioned to write incidental music to accompany René Morax's play ''Le Roi David'' in 1921. The commission outlined that the work was to be performed by 100 singers and seventeen instruments. Honegger struggled with these limited resources, and wrote to Igor Stravinsky for advice. Stravinsky advised him to think as if he had pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrée Vaurabourg
Andrée Louise Vaurabourg-Honegger (8 September 1894 − 18 July 1980) was a French pianist and teacher. She was the wife of Swiss-French composer Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), whom she met at the Paris Conservatoire in 1916. Honegger married her in 1926 on the condition that they live in separate apartments because he required solitude for composing. They lived apart for the duration of their marriage, with two exceptions. In September 1934, while traveling in Spain, Honegger's car ran into a tree after a tire burst. He only broke an ankle, but Vaurabourg, in the front passenger seat, broke both knees and was unable to walk for almost a year. She never fully recovered from the accident. Honegger lived with and cared for her during her recuperation. They also lived together during the last year of Honegger's life, when he could no longer live alone. They had one daughter, Pascale, born in 1932. She studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire, receiving first prize in counterpoint. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antigone (Honegger)
''Antigone'' is an opera (''tragédie musicale'') in three acts by Arthur Honegger to a French libretto by Jean Cocteau based on the tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles. Honegger composed the opera between 1924 and 1927. It premiered on 28 December 1927 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie with sets designed by Pablo Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel. Background and performance history Honegger had a passionate interest in theatre. Prior to ''Antigone'', he had composed film scores and incidental music for plays as well as an oratorio, ''Le roi David'', which he called a "dramatic psalm" and premiered in 1921. From 1922 Honegger began thinking about adapting the Greek tragedy ''Antigone'' by Sophocles as his first opera. He wrote that the plot is "not the standard anecdote of love which is the base of nearly all lyric theatre". The decade between 1920 and 1930 saw several new operas based on works or themes from the past. Like ''Antigone'', Satie's ''Socrates'' and Stravinsky's ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific 231
''Pacific 231'' is an orchestral work by Arthur Honegger, written in 1923. It is one of his most frequently performed works. Description The popular interpretation of the piece is that it depicts a steam locomotive, one that is supported by the title of the piece alongside film versions. Honegger explained that he wrote it as an exercise in building momentum while the tempo of the piece slows. He originally titled it Mouvement Symphonique, only giving it the name ''Pacific 231'', a class of steam locomotive designated in Whyte notation as a 4-6-2, with four pilot wheels, six driving wheels, and two trailing wheels (in France, where axles rather than wheels are counted, this arrangement is designated 2-3-1) after it was finished. Honegger was widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said: "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." Form The work consists of five main sections, all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoléon (1927 Film)
''Napoléon'' is a 1927 French Silent film, silent Epic film, epic historical film, produced, and directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon's early years. On screen, the title is ''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'', meaning "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance". The film is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, Split screen (filmmaking), split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects. A revival of ''Napoléon'' in the mid-1950s influenced the filmmakers of the French New Wave. The film used the Keller-Dorian cinematography for its color sequences. The film begins in Brienne-le-Chât ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Six
"Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in '' Comœdia'', (see Bibliography). Their music is often seen as a neoclassic reaction against both the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The members were Georges Auric (1899–1983), Louis Durey (1888–1979), Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), Francis Poulenc (1899–1963), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983). ' In 1917, when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of World War I, Blaise Cendrars and the painter Moïse Kisling decided to put on concerts at 6 , the studio of the painter Émile Lejeune (1885–1964). For the first of these events, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso, Matisse, Léger, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanne D'Arc Au Bûcher
''Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' (''Joan of Arc at the Stake'') is an oratorio by Arthur Honegger, originally commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It was set to a libretto by Paul Claudel, and the work runs about 70 minutes. It premiered on 12 May 1938 in Basel, with Rubinstein as Jeanne, and Jean Périer in the speaking role of Brother Dominique, with the Basel Boys Choir singing the children's chorus part, and Paul Sacher conducting. The drama takes place during Joan of Arc's last minutes on the stake, with flashbacks to her trial and her younger days. Honegger entitled his work a ''dramatic oratorio'', adding speaking roles and actors. The work has an important part for the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument (played at the premiere by its inventor Maurice Martenot). Claudel's dramatic frame provided Honegger with a space – between heaven and earth, past and present – where he could mix styles from the popular to the sublime. A hybrid work: partly oratorio and partly ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very close to the Prime Meridian. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. After Reims, it is also the second largest subprefecture in France. The name ''Le Havre'' means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as ''Havrais'' or ''Havraises''. The city and port were founded by King Francis I in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade. After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claire Croiza
Claire Croiza (14 September 1882 – 27 May 1946) was a French mezzo-soprano and an influential teacher of singers. Career Claire Croiza (née Conelly, or O'Connolly) was born in Paris, the daughter of an expatriate American father and an Italian mother, and as a child she excelled at piano and singing. She was taught singing privately at first and then went to the Polish tenor Jean de Reszke for further study. She made her opera début in Nancy in 1905 in ''Messaline'' by Isidore de Lara. In 1906 she made her first appearance at La Monnaie in Brussels, as Dalila in ''Samson et Dalila'', beginning a long association with that theatre which included the roles of Dido (Berlioz), Clytemnestra (''Elektra''), Erda, Carmen, Léonor (''La favorite''), Charlotte (''Werther'') and the title role in Fauré's opera ''Pénélope''. In 1910 she performed as Alays in the world premiere of Cesare Galeotti’s ''La Dorise'' and created the title role in the world premiere of Pierre de Bréville ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Roue
''La Roue'' (, 'The Wheel') is a French silent film, directed by Abel Gance, who also directed ''Napoléon'' and ''J'accuse''. It was released in 1923. The film used then-revolutionary lighting techniques, and rapid scene changes and cuts. Plot Railroad engineer Sisif (Severin-Mars) rescues a small orphan, whose name he learns is Norma (Ivy Close), following a disastrous crash. He raises the little girl as his own, along with his son Elie (Gabriel de Gravone), whose mother died during his birth. In time, Norma becomes a lively and playful young woman. Her greatest joy is time spent with Elie, by now a handsome violin maker, whom she believes to be her natural brother. But Sisif, to his own horror, finds himself falling in love with his adopted daughter. Sisif confesses to a wealthy colleague, Hersan (Pierre Magnier), Norma's origin and that he is attracted to her. Hersan threatens Sisif with blackmail if he does not consent to give Norma to him in marriage. Norma herself is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel. In the Books of Samuel, he is described as a young shepherd and harpist who gains fame by slaying Goliath, a champion of the Philistines, in southern Canaan. David becomes a favourite of Saul, the first king of Israel; he also forges a notably close friendship with Jonathan, a son of Saul. However, under the paranoia that David is seeking to usurp the throne, Saul attempts to kill David, forcing the latter to go into hiding and effectively operate as a fugitive for several years. After Saul and Jonathan are both killed in battle against the Philistines, a 30-year-old David is anointed king over all of Israel and Judah. Following his rise to power, David c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent D'Indy
Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Paris Conservatoire. His students included Albéric Magnard, Albert Roussel, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Erik Satie, as well as Cole Porter. D'Indy studied under composer César Franck, and was strongly influenced by Franck's admiration for German music. At a time when nationalist feelings were high in both countries (circa the Franco-Prussian War of 1871), this brought Franck into conflict with other musicians who wished to separate French music from German influence. Life Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and Louis Diémer."Indy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
