A distant cousin of the Swiss-born composer Arthur Honegger, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he was a pupil of Paul-Marie Masson.

He helped publish musical scores such as 26 Monodies permodales in 1990 and L'Annonciation, an oratorio for two soloists, three-part female chorus and string orchestra (1993).

At the age of 21, he began a career as a choirmaster in the Parisian Protestant churches of the Foyer de l'âme [fr] (1947–1952) and the Holy Spirit (1952–1954).

From 1952 to 1959, he directed the Chœur des chanteurs traditionnels de Paris, with which he restored and published religious or profane music of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

As a choral conductor, he recorded La Bataille de Marignan by Clément Janequin, the French masters of the Renaissance, and especially the three-part Tournai Mass.