Paul Arma
From Unearthing The Music
Paul Arma (Hungarian: Arma Pál, aka Amrusz Pál; born Weisshaus Imre; 22 November 1905 in Budapest – 28 November 1987 in Paris) was a Hungarian-French pianist, composer, and ethnomusicologist.
Arma studied under Béla Bartók from 1920 to 1924 at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Afterwards, he toured Europe and America giving concerts and piano recitals. Béla Bartók influenced Arma in his love for folk songs and collecting them.[1] He left Hungary in 1930, and worked as a conductor of orchestras and choirs in Berlin and Lepizig until 1933, before being arrested by the SS in Leipzig for spying against the Germans and for his connections with the intellectual and artistic avant-garde. Though deemed not enough of a threat to be imprisoned, Arma was subject to a mock execution by the SS prior to being released. He subsequently fled to Paris, where he worked until 1939 as a pianist for Radio-Paris and wrote songs supporting the Republican Spanish for the International Brigades such as ‘Madrid’ and ‘No pasaran’ ("They shall not pass"). [2]
From 1954 to 1984, he directed his research towards electroacoustic and tape music, writing thirteen works, including "Improvisation" and "Variations", premiered in Brussels (1956), the "Concerto for magnetic tape", commissioned by the ORTF and premiered at UNESCO, in Paris (1961); "Suite for magnetic tape" premiered in Denmark and Germany (1961); "Seven spatial variations" created in Germany, (1962); "Two convergences for magnetic tape" created at the Royal Albert Hall, London (1976), with saxophonist Alain Bouhey. He also created 81 sculptures out of wood and metal on the theme of music, called Musiques sculptées (sculpted music).
His music is generally characterised by modernist tendencies, although his varied output includes folk song arrangements, film music, popular and patriotic songs, in addition to solo, chamber, orchestral and electronic music.
Selected works
- Chants du Silence for voice and piano (1942–44)
- Concerto for string quartet and orchestra (1947)
- Violin Sonata (1949)
- 31 Instantanés for woodwinds, percussion, celesta, xylophone and piano (1951)
- Cantate de la Terre (1952)
- Improvisation, Précédée et Suivie de ses Variations for orchestra and tape (1954)
- Sept Variations Spatiophoniques for tape (1960)
- Chant du Marsouin for solo cello (1961)
- Polydiaphonie for orchestra (1962)
- Structures variées for orchestra (1964)
- Prismes sonores for orchestra (1966)
- Six Transparences for oboe and string orchestra (1968)
- Résonances for orchestra (1971)
- Deux Résonances for percussion and piano (1972)
- Onze Convergences for string orchestra (1974)
- Six Évolutions for 4 flutes (1975)
- Six Convergences for orchestra (1978)
- Silences and Emergences for string quartet (1979)
- À la Mémoire de Béla Bartók for string orchestra and percussion (1980)
- Deux Regards for violin and piano (1982)
- Deux Images for cello and piano (1982)
References
- Vera Lampert. "Arma, Paul." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 October 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/01260.
- http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/resistance-and-exile/french-resistance/paul-arma/
External links
Text partially adapted from Wikipedia