We are excited to announce that Mel Bonis will be our 2023 Composer of the Year!

Join us as we learn about the life and work of Bonis. more events related to our Composer of the Year program celebrating her artistry will be coming soon!

Mélanie Hélène Bonis was born in Paris on January 21, 1858. Neither parent played a musical instrument and they owned a piano only to demonstrate a higher social status. But Bonis taught herself to play, and eventually her parents consented to pay for piano lessons as an advantage for her future marital prospects. 

César Franck, organ professor at the Conservatoire de Paris, recognized Bonis’ potential and endorsed her acceptance to the school in 1876. Bonis’s classmates included well-known French musicians of the late 19th century, such as Claude Debussy. In 1881, Bonis published her first work under the pen name “Mel Bonis,” a version of her name chosen to obscure her gender, since women were not taken seriously as composers. 

At the Conservatoire, Bonis also met journalist and music critic Amedée Landely Hettich, and he asked to marry Mélanie. Her parents denied his request, considering music an impractical career, and withdrew her from the Conservatoire to prevent the attachment. They searched for a “suitable” husband and ultimately forced the 25-year-old Bonis to marry Albert Domange, a 47-year-old widower with five children. Though married against her will, Bonis accepted her situation and continued to compose whenever she could. Many of her best-known works are from this period, 1900-1914. 

During World War I, most of Bonis’ male relatives entered the fight, and her commitment to caring for orphans and prisoners of war left her too drained to compose. In later years, Bonis returned to composing, but her works differed from her earlier music as she  struggled to align her passion for music, her strong religious beliefs, and her responsibilities to her family. Her pieces consisted of mainly religious music for organ and/or choir. Unfortunately, her conservative, tonal style of music meant publishers remained largely uninterested in her pieces, preferring the emerging Impressionist or Modernist styles. 

Bonis died in her home in Sarcelles, France on March 18, 1937. Though many of her works did not receive attention during her life, a newfound interest in her music began in the late 1990s as her descendents found and published her music. Interest in her work has increased, led by organizations such as the Association Mel Bonis. Still, the only comprehensive biography of Bonis, written by her great granddaughter, has not been translated into English and only recently have musicians outside of France turned their attention to this overlooked composer.

Upcoming Events

Details of the Event:

Mel Bonis Femmes de Légende

Friday, April 12 at 7:00 pm

Woman's Club of Louisville

1320 S 4th St, Louisville, KY 40208

Overview:
To celebrate the work of Mel Bonis, LAM’s 2023-2024 Composer of the Year, LAM partners with Kentucky Shakespeare for an evening telling the story of seven “legendary women.” Female students and teachers will perform each movement of this cycle, and actresses from KY Shakespeare will perform monologues based on each mythical figure. We hope that this evening will call attention to Bonis, who unfairly fought against gender barriers in making her voice heard through music. Her story is not mythical, but perhaps in time, she too will be acknowledged as a “legendary woman.”

Location:
The event will take place in the south parlor of the Woman’s club. We hope to evoke the feeling of a salon in the early 20th century, where much of Bonis’ music would have been originally performed. Light refreshments will be served in the grand hall following the performance.

Sources on Mel Bonis:

In English

Daum, Jenna. “Mel Bonis: Six Works for Flute and Piano.” DMA diss. Arizona State University, 2013.

Géliot, Christine. “Biography.” Translated by Florence Launay and Michael Cook. Mel Bonis: Composer, 2023. https://www.mel-bonis.com/EN/Biographie/. 

Géliot, Christine. “Compositions for Voice by Mel Bonis, French Woman Composer, 1858-1937.” Journal of Singing, Volume 64 No. 1 (September/October 2007): 47-57.

Padilla, Geraldine Margaret. “A Study on the Compositional Style of the Flute Chamber Works of Mel Bonis.” DMA diss. University of Southern Mississippi, 2018.

Tsou, Judy. “Bonis, Mélanie (Hélène) [Mel-Bonis].” In Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root. Accessed February 8, 2024. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

In French

Bonis, Mélanie. Souvenirs et Réflexions de Mel Bonis, extraits de notes autobiographiques et de pensées de Mel Bonis. Collected by her grandchildren. Évian, France: Éditions du Nant d'Enfer, 1974.

Géliot, Christine. Mel Bonis, Femme et “Compositeur.” 2nd ed. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, 2010.

Jardin, Etienne, ed. Mel Bonis (1858-1937): Parcours d'une compositrice de la Belle Epoque. Arles, France: Actes Sud; Venice, Italy: Palazzetto Bru Zane, 2020.

To view past composers of the year please click HERE