Marc Honegger (17 May 1926 – 8 September 2003) was a French

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and choirmaster.

Biography

A distant cousin of the Swiss-born composer

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he was a pupil of

Paul-Marie Masson Paul-Marie Masson (9 September 1882 – 27 January 1954) was a French musicologist, music teacher and composer. A specialist of the lyrical work of Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theor ...

. He received a very complete musical training, studying piano with Santiago Riera (1942–1949),

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

with

Georges Migot Georges Elbert Migot (27 February 1891 – 5 January 1976) was a prolific France, French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished Painting, painter ...

(from 1946), and conducting with Ion Constantinesco (1947–1948). An assistant of

Jacques Chailley Jacques Chailley (24 March 1910 – 21 January 1999) was a French musicologist and composer. Alain Lompech, "Jacques Chailley, musicologue-praticien et infatigable chercheur", ''Consociatio internationalis musicæ sacræ, Musicæ sacræ ministeriu ...

at the Institut de Musicologie of the Sorbonne (1954–1958), then teaching assistant at the

Strasbourg University The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

(from 1958), he became full professor in 1970. He also taught in Canada. He directed the Institute of Musicology of the

Marc Bloch University The University Marc Bloch, also known as Strasbourg II or UMB, was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. As of 2006, it had around 13,000 students. Its name used to be ''Université des Sciences Humaines'' (University of Social Sciences), bu ...

of Strasbourg from 1958 to 1983. He was also president of the (1977–1980) and vice-president of the

International Musicological Society The International Musicological Society (IMS) is a membership-based organisation for musicology at the international level, with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It seeks the advancement of musicological research through international coopera ...

(1982–1992).

Musicological research

Honegger's research focused mainly on music of the 16th century. He supported two doctoral theses, one on the origins of Reformed Protestant music in France, ''Les Chansons spirituelles de Didier Lupi et les débuts de la musique protestante en France au XVIe'' and the other on the alterations (

flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Apartment, known as a flat in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), a two-dimens ...

or sharps) not noted in the

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ''ars nova'', the mus ...

, ''Les Messes de Josquin des Prés dans la tablature de Diego Pisador (Salamanque 1552): contribution à l'étude des altérations au XVIe''. He contributed to the publication of works by composers of the 16th century such as Paschal de L'Estocart,

Claudin de Sermisy Claudin de Sermisy (c. 1490 – 13 October 1562) was a French composer of the Renaissance.Isabelle Cazeaux, "Claudin d Sermisy", "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. (London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., ...

Pierre Certon Pierre Certon (ca. 1510–1520 – 23 February 1572) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was a representative of the generation after Josquin and Mouton, and was influential in the late development of the French chanson. Life Most likely ...

, Didier Lupi Second, and Claude Goudimel. The dictionaries he has coordinated are today still reference works. Honegger was also interested in 20th-century music, notably that of

(1891–1976) who was his teacher and whose work he wanted to make known. He became secretary-general of the association of friends of the work and thought of Georges Migot. He published the ''Catalogue des œuvres musicales de Georges Migot'' in 1977. He helped publish musical scores such as ''26 Monodies permodales'' in 1990 and ''L'Annonciation'', an

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

for two soloists, three-part female chorus and string orchestra (1993). He produced recordings, ''Le Petit Evangéliaire'', nine choruses ''a capella'', ''Requiem a capella'' for mixed choir or vocal quartet, recorded with his Ensemble Les Chanteurs Traditioneles de Paris. He also organized exhibitions on Georges Migot.

Work as choirmaster

At the age of 21, he began a career as a choirmaster in the Parisian

Protestant churches Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible sourc ...

of the (1947–1952) and the Holy Spirit (1952–1954). From 1952 to 1959, he directed the ''Chœur des chanteurs traditionnels de Paris'', with which he restored and published religious or profane music of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. As a choral conductor, he recorded ''La Bataille de Marignan'' by

Clément Janequin Clément Janequin (c. 1485 – 1558) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development o ...

, the French masters of the Renaissance, and especially the three-part

Tournai Mass The Tournai Mass is a polyphonic setting of the mass from 14th-century France. It is preserved in a manuscript from the library of the Tournai Cathedral. Background Before the 15th century, most musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass were gro ...

. He obtained the in 1958. In 1961, Honegger established the ''Journées de Chant Choral'' of Strasbourg, which became one of the biggest festivals of its kind in Europe.

Writings

* ''Dictionnaire de la musique: les hommes et leurs œuvres'', * ''Dictionnaire de la musique: technique, formes, instruments'', *1992: *1994: ''Dictionnaire usuel de la Musique'', Paris, *1996: ''Connaissance de la Musique (de A à Z)'', Bordas *2002: ''Dictionnaire du musicien'',''Dictionnaire du musicien''
/ref> Paris,

Éditions Larousse Éditions Larousse () is a French publishing house specialising in reference works such as dictionaries. It was founded by Pierre Larousse, and for some time was known also as Librarie Larousse; its best-known work is the '' Petit Larousse'' sin ...

Bibliography

* Marc Munch, "Marc Honegger", in ', vol. 45,

References

External links

Marc Honegger
on Encyclopédie Universalis
Marc Honegger
on Encyclopédie Larousse
Obituary
on ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' (10 September 2003)
Marc Honegger (dir.), Dictionnaire de la musique : Les hommes et leurs œuvres, 1986 (compte rendu)
on Persée {{DEFAULTSORT:Honegger, Marc 1926 births 2003 deaths 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French male musicians 20th-century French musicologists French choral conductors French male conductors (music) Musicians from Paris Writers from Paris Presidents of the Société française de musicologie