大象传媒

Donald Macloed explores Mel Bonis's preoccupations, musical and otherwise, in later life. After the Great War Bonis turned to writing music for her own pleasure, for her friends and family and for God.

Mel Bonis's name may not be a familiar one these days, but she produced somewhere in the region of three hundred compositions. There's no doubt that she was sensitive to gender discrimination. It's why she chose to publish her music under the name of Mel rather than her birth name M茅lanie.

She was born in 1858 to parents of modest means. Her father worked for the watch company Breguet, still in business today, and her mother worked in the haberdashery trade. Neither of them held any particular interest in music, so it was down to young M茅lanie to teach herself the play the family's piano. Her talent was recognised by a visiting friend who facilitated a meeting with one of the leading lights of the day, C茅sar Franck, an esteemed professor of organ at Paris's prestigious Conservatoire. M茅lanie enrolled and showed great promise as a student, winning several end of year prizes. Her studies came to an abrupt end when her parents refused to give their consent to her marriage to a fellow student there, a poet, critic and singer, Am茅d茅e Hettich. Her life took a sharp turn two years later when, at the instigation of her parents, she married a twice widowed man of comfortable means. Thereafter her life as a composer had to take a back seat to the demands of raising five step-children and three of her own children with her husband, Albert Domange. Even so, she managed to continue to compose, producing music for her own instrument, the piano, and in almost every other genre as well.

The arrival of her illegitimate daughter Madeleine had already brought much anxiety and guilt to the religiously minded Bonis. She kept the child a secret from her family. Then one of her sons expressed his wish to marry Madeleine, completely unaware that they were related.

Finale, Op 187
Tatjana Ruhland, flute
Florian Wieck, piano

Miocheries, Op 126, No 13, La toute petite s鈥檈ndort
Bertrand Chamayou, piano

Regina coeli, Op 45
Calliope Women鈥檚 Chorus
R茅gine Theodoresco, director

Piano quartet No 2 in D major, Op 124
Mozart Piano Quartet

Cantique de Jean Racine, Op 144
Ge虂rard Chave, tenor
Schola Saint-Saveur, vocal ensemble
Claire Le Fur, harp
Chantal de Zeeuw, organ
Jean-Franc抬ois Se虂nart, conductor

Le songe de Cl茅opatre, Op 180
Bucharest Symphony Orchestra
B锚noit Fromanger, conductor

Produced by Johannah Smith for 大象传媒 Audio Cardiff