Honegger Through Biography and Interview

Arthur Honegger was important to French music as a member of Les Six, but according to Harry Halbreich’s biography of the composer, he was the black sheep of the group. Halbreich’s biography leads the reader through a timeline of Honegger’s life, and the section for 1920 details the beginnings of the famous group of French artists. Halbreich highlights the influence that Les Six had on his music, explaining that Le Roi David reflects the group’s affinity for using wind instruments, and mentions other pieces (Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, and Les Aventures du roi Pausole) that “are all delightfully close to the spirit of the group.”¹

However, Halbreich also shows how Honnegger was on the fringe of Les Six. He quotes descriptions of Honegger as “the Swiss Romantic, ‘the least Six of the Six,’ and their ‘honorary member”² to describe his role in Les Six, although the originators of these quotes are unclear in the text. Halbreich quotes primary sources that demonstrate how Honegger’s ideology diverged from the rest of the group. The first is an interview from La Victoire, in which Honegger stated “I’m not a devotee of the fair and the music hall, but rather of chamber and orchestral music in its most serious and austere manifestations. . . . Unlike some anti-impressionist composers, I don’t advocate a return to harmonic simplicity. On the contrary, I feel we should avail ourselves of the harmonic materials created by the school that came before us, but in a different way, as a basis for line and rhythms.”³ Halbreich rightly points out that other members of Les Six would disagree. The second primary source Halbreich quotes is the 1 February 1922 issue of Le Courrier musical, in which Honnegger said “we must not break the developmental thread of musical tradition. A branch separated from the trunk soon dies. The thing is to be a new player of the same game because, if you change the rules, you destroy the game and take it back to its starting point. Economy of means seems to me often more difficult to achieve but also more effective than extravagant audacity. It is pointless to break down doors that one can open.”⁴ Honegger simply had a different philosophy of music than the other members of Les Six, and was also the most reticent to let go of Wagner and Beethoven.⁵ Halbreich shows Honegger’s contributions to French music by comparing and contrasting him to the ideals of Les Six.

The other source helpful in determining Honegger’s importance is Honegger’s book “I am a Composer.” This book is a longform  interview between Bernard Gavoty, a music critic for Figaro, and Honegger.⁶ In Chapter 9, titled “How I Judge Myself,” Honegger explains that in his music he “endeavor[s] to find a design as clean-cut as possible, without surrendering the enrichment of the musical substance,” then recounts the advice he gives his students: “If your melodic or rhythmic design is precise and clear and commands the attention of the ear, the accompanying dissonances will never frighten the listener.”⁷ Honegger’s most important contribution to French music of this time very well might be his approach to prosody, the art of setting words to music. Honegger claims that most music obfuscates the delivery of the French words, and wrongly prioritizes the music over the text.⁸ He sets forth his method of prosody in this book: “I sought for the right stress, especially on the attacking consonants, finding myself in this respect in clear-cut opposition to traditional principles. . . . My personal rule is to respect the word’s plasticity as a means of giving it its full power.”⁹ Gavoty, the interviewer in the book, identifies a moment (linked and timestamped below) from Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake, and says that “the audience is as much impressed by the stress which you have known how to give this sentence as by its melodic and harmonic beauty.” ¹⁰

The primary source of Honegger’s book/interview is helpful in uncovering the composer’s process and philosophy. The presence of Gavoty as an interviewer gives the book a conversational tone, and Gavoty is able to further support and clarify Honegger’s claims.

Both Halbreich and Honegger’s books are very helpful in my research, as I try to understand the composer’s influence in France in the 1920s. Honegger brought a fresh (and foreign) voice to the musical scene in Paris, with his more moderate musical ethos and his innovative prosody style.