Paul Arma

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Paul Arma (born Imre Weisshaus on October 22, 1905 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary ; died on November 28, 1987 in Paris ) was a French composer , ethnomusicologist and pianist of Hungarian origin.

Life

Imre Weisshaus (some sources name 1904 instead of 1905 as the year of birth), studied from 1921 to 1924 in Budapest at the Franz Liszt Music Academy with Béla Bartók and Antal Molnár . From 1924 to 1930 he traveled as a pianist through Europe and - at the invitation of Henry Cowell - through the USA . In 1925/26 he was a member of the Budapest Trio . He also gave lectures on contemporary music at American universities. In 1931 he moved to Germany, where friendships with László Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky resulted in a series of concerts at the Bauhaus in Dessau , whose musical activities he then temporarily directed. In Berlin (there assistant to Hanns Eisler ), Leipzig a . a. he conducted various smaller workers' choirs and orchestras.

After the National Socialists came to power , Weisshaus was arrested as a Jew and anti-fascist by the Gestapo in 1933 and subjected to a mock execution; his manuscripts were burned. He managed to escape to France , where he settled in Paris, took the name Paul Arma and took French citizenship in 1958. In 1936 he founded the Loisirs Musicaux de la Jeunesse association and from 1936–1938 was a member of the Commission Interministérielle des Loisirs de l'Enfance . During the German occupation he joined the Resistance . He later worked for RTF , published a Nouveau Dictionnaire de Musique in 1947 , held a. a. Lectures at the Phonothèque Nationale and taught at Paris University from 1951 to 1960. In 1962 Arma was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres , and in 1983 a member of the Legion of Honor .

plant

Arma's 303 opus numbered works encompass almost all musical genres with the exception of opera. They show the influences of Bartók as well as folkloristic elements, with which he had dealt with music-ethnological research. He recorded Negro Spirituals in the USA , devoted himself to the French folk song and the chants of the Resistance. In the early 1930s, choirs were created for the propaganda work of the KPD , later in France for that of the French communists. In 1938 he composed his first film music, which was followed by more. Open to contemporary trends and experiments - a work for clarinet, trautonium or thereminvox had already been written around 1930 - he also wrote electronic music from the mid-1950s . 74 scores by Arma, who himself had close ties to the visual arts and created his own sculptural works, were illustrated with specially created cover sheets by painters who were friends with him, such as Georges Braque , Pablo Picasso , Henri Matisse or Marc Chagall .

Filmography (selection)

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography IRCAM ( Memento from January 17, 2010 on WebCite )
personal data
SURNAME Arma, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weisshaus, Imre (real name); Arma, Pál; Amrusz, Pál
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer, ethnomusicologist and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1987
Place of death Paris