Arma, Paul (real name, Imre Weisshaus)
Arma, Paul (real name, Imre Weisshaus)
Arma, Paul (real name, Imre Weisshaus), Hungarian-born French composer; b. Budapest, Oct. 22, 1904; d. Paris, Nov. 28, 1987. From 1921 to 1924 he attended classes of Bartók at the Budapest Academy of Music, then went to N.Y., 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 modern techniques in contrasting sonorities. In 1930 he went to Paris and worked under the pseudonym Paul Arma. In 1947 he publ. in Paris a modernistically planned Nouveau dictionnaire de musique. Typical of his modernistic techniques, reflected in the titles of some of his works, are Concerto for String Quartet and Orch. (1947); Violin Sonata (1949); 31 instantanés for Woodwind, Percussion, Celesta, Xylophone, and Piano (1951); Polydiaphonie for Orch. (1962); Structures variées for Orch. (1964); Prismes sonores for Orch. (1966); 6 transparences for Oboe and String Orch. (1968); Résonances for Orch. (1971); 6 Convergences for Orch. (1978); Silences and Emergences for String Quartet (1979); Deux Regards for Violin and Piano (1982); Deux Images for Cello and Piano (1982); numerous experimental pieces for various instrumental combinations.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire