- Born
- Died
- Arthur Honegger was born on March 10, 1892 in Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was a composer and writer, known for Pygmalion (1938), Street of Shadows (1937) and The Kidnapping (1934). He was married to Andrée Vaurabourg. He died on November 27, 1955 in Paris, France.
- SpouseAndrée Vaurabourg(1926 - November 27, 1955) (his death, 2 children)
- A Swiss national who spent most his life in France, Honegger composed music for French and British films. He also wrote five symphonies and a piece entitled "Pacific 231" (his most popular composition), a musical depiction of a heavy locomotive in motion.
- In the 1920s Honegger was a member of "Les Six", a group of young composers who rebelled against Romanticism and Impressionism in French music. They were mentored by Erik Satie and promoted by Jean Cocteau.
- In 1947, at the start of a scheduled US concert tour, Honegger suffered a near-fatal heart attack in Boston. He never fully recovered, and after 1953 was too ill to compose.
- Honegger needed solitude to write music. For most of his marriage to Andrée Vaurabourg (29 years) they lived in separate apartments in Paris.
- Born in France to Swiss parents, Honegger was offered a choice between French and Swiss citizenship when he turned 18 in 1910. He opted for Swiss. As a result he did his compulsory military service (1914-1915) with the neutral Swiss Army and was spared from the battlefields of World War I France.
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