La Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Joan of France), 1913

Sonia Delaunay-Terk and her husband, Robert Delaunay, co-founded Orphism, a short-lived art movement that mirrored the electric atmosphere of Belle Époque Paris. Just three years after Delaunay-Terk and poet Blaise Cendrars made their collaborative art book channeling a disorienting Trans-Siberian train voyage through synchronous words and images, Arthur Honneger composed Six poèmes, the first collections of songs based on the texts of Guillaume Apollinaire, the poet who gave Orphism its name. Like the Orphic artists, Honneger (a member of the composers group Les Six) was drawn to art reflecting the energy of modernity through the lens of profound humanity. A train enthusiast himself, Honegger composed Pacific 231, an orchestral piece echoing the movement and rhythm of a steam locomotive. In 1920, the loop between the Orphics and Honegger spiraled closer as he collaborated with Cendrars on a musical work titled Les Pâques à New York.