French composer (1892-1955), associated with the modern movement in French music. Born of Swiss parents, Honegger spent most of his life in France. He studied at the Zürich and Paris Conservatories. After World War I he was connected to Les Six, a group of young composers that also included Georges Auric, Germaine Tailleferre, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, and Louis Durey. Honegger soon asserted his own strong personality in the “dramatic psalm” Le Roi David (1921; The King David). Two successful orchestral works followed Pacific 231 (1924), an impression of a locomotive in action, and Rugby (1928), which reflected the composer’s love of speed and virile sports. During this period he composed the Pastorale d’été (1921; Summer Pastoral) for chamber orchestra. A lot of his music from the 1920s is rhythmic, dissonant, and austere and shows great freedom in the treatment of tonality.