Born: October 22, 1904 - Budapest, Hungary
Died: November 28, 1987 - Paris, France

The Hungarian-born French composer, Paul Arma (real name: Imre Weisshaus), attended from 1921 to 1924 classes of Béla Bartók at the Budapest Academy of Music. Then he went to New York, where he became associated with radical political and musical groups and contributed highly complex pieces to Cowell's publication New Music Quarterly. A composer of empiric persuasion, he explored quaquaversal paths of modem techniques in contrasting sonorities.

In 1930 Paul Arma went to Paris and worked under the pseudonym Paul Arma. In 1947 he published in Paris a modernistically planned Noveau dictionnaire de musique. Typical of his modernistic techniques, reflected in the titles of some of his works, are Concerto for String Quartet and Orchecstra (1947); Violin Sonata (1949); 31 instantanés for Woodwind, Percussion, Celesta, Xylophone, and Piano (1951); Polydiapbonie for Orchestra (1962); Structures variées for Orchestra (1964); Prismes sonores for Orchestra (1966); 6 transparences for Oboe and String Orchestra (1968); Resonances for Orchestra (1971); 6 Convergences for Orchestra (1978); Silences and Emergences for String Quartet (1979); Deux Regards for Violin and Piano (982); Deux Images for Cello and Piano (1982); numerous experimental pieces for various instrumental combinations.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2007)

Bach-Arma: Paul Arma | Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Paul Arma (Wikipedia)

Paul Arma: biographie (Médiathèque de l'Ircam) [French]

Bibliography