MEL BONIS

A late discovery of one of the most important female composers from France: Mélanie Hélène Bonis (1858 – 1937), known by her artistic pseudonym Mel Bonis, was a romantic composer in the late years of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Her oeuvre includes more than 300 pieces: music for piano, chamber music in various formats, organ pieces, Lieder, choral music, a mass, and works for orchestra. Her teachers at the Paris Conservatoire included César Franck, Ernest Guiraud and Auguste Bazille.

To everybody’s surprise Mel Bonis succeeded in the Paris society and was well regarded by her male composer fellows Camille Saint-Saëns, her fellow student Claude Debussy, and others. Some of her works have been officially published.

She was born into a very conservative family with a high catholic morality. Her private life was very much under this pressure, although she wanted to be free in choosing her profession as well as her private life.

Sheila Arnold and Sandrine Cantoreggi initiated this album and discovered not only a piece – Soir – never played nor registered before, but kept her choice mainly to their own instruments, violin and fortepiano (a Bluethner Fortepiano 1871). Two Trios (one with cello, the other with flute) embrace the program of small, short pieces for violin and fortepiano, highlighting the larger Violin Sonata, op. 112.

“Music speaks to me about what I want, but then it withholds it. It kindles my desires and makes me feel the futility of everything on this earth. Oh! Words are so empty when they try to express all these things! It’s such a horrible longing.” (Mel Bonis)