Mel Bonis (1858–1937)

For a long time, the common opinion was that composing was a man's business, and that serious female composers existed only in exceptional cases at best. However, it has long been clear that music history, as it is taught and heard in concert programs, has significant gaps: From the 19th century onwards, if not earlier, there were more and more women who devoted themselves to the art of composition, not only with diligence and talent but also with the necessary, thorough training.

One of them was Mel Bonis. Her works will appear frequently in the concert programs this summer, because: Aside from quotas or isolated efforts, the Musikdorf Ernen aims to specifically and comprehensively focus on one female composer from the past and show that: Female composers who have left behind a broad and high-quality body of work that finally deserves to be discovered in the concert hall have existed for a long time!

Turbulent Biography

Her actual name was Mélanie Bonis. After being forced to marry a twice-widowed industrialist, she rose into the upper bourgeoisie, where, as Madame Albert Domange, she ran a large household with five stepsons and three children of her own. Her biography provides material for several films or operas – she led a veritable double life at times. Mélanie Domange was a family head and an industrialist’s wife, who received guests, instructed staff, and accompanied her husband on travels (even to Egypt). As Mel Bonis, she was a musician, composing songs, chamber music, choral, organ, and piano music, performing as a pianist and conductor, striving for the publication and performance of her works, and participating in competitions – also as a jury member.

And: With her youth love, Amédée-Louis Hettich, she worked on an anthology of classical arias. She had met the singer, poet, music critic, and later conservatory professor at the conservatory when she was 20, and she also composed songs based on Hettich's poems. But after he proposed marriage, Mélanie’s parents abruptly ended their daughter’s time at the conservatory. Bonis and Hettich lost touch, but when they met again ten years later at the Parisian publishing house Leduc – both now married – not only did their musical collaboration restart, but so did their love.

Music as a Mirror of Inner Turmoil

Mélanie Domange regularly went to confession to talk about her extramarital feelings – an expression of her strict Catholic morals, due to which she could never forgive herself for one ‘misstep’: She became pregnant and secretly gave birth to her illegitimate daughter Madeleine in 1899 after a few months abroad, and immediately separated from her. A turning point in her creative work: While she had previously limited herself to songs and lighter chamber and piano music according to the fashion, she now composed sensual, passionate music that expressed her emotional turmoil.

But the moving life story does not end there: After the death of her husband in 1918, Mélanie was able to spend more time with her illegitimate daughter. However, when Madeleine fell in love with her half-brother Edouard, the mother was forced to reveal the truth to them. Mel Bonis – who had concealed her gender since the first publications from her student days by using the short form of Mélanie – withdrew from the public and mainly wrote sacred works and organ music.

In the Musikdorf, you will hear concise piano pieces by Mel Bonis dedicated to literary female figures, impressionistic character pieces, and grand, late-Romantic chamber music in the tradition of Gabriel Fauré and her mentor César Franck. And not in isolated special concerts, but within the great chamber music evenings and piano recitals. Exactly where they belong.

The following works of Mel Bonis will be performed 2026 at the Festival Musikdorf Ernen:

Saturday, 20 June, 5pm | Wendel Quartet
Piano Quartet No. 2 D major Op. 124

Saturday, 4 July, 2pm | Trio Gaspard
Suite orientale for Piano Trio Op. 48

Saturday, 4 July, 8pm | Trio Gaspard
Soir – Matin for Piano Trio Op. 76

Sunday, 5 July, 11am | Trio Gaspard
Soir for Piano Trio Op. 192

Tuesday, 14 July, 8pm | Piano Recital Shio Okui
Phœbé Op. 30
Salomé Op. 100 No. 1

Thursday, 16 July, 8pm | Piano Recital Tähe-Lee Liiv
Mélisande Op. 109
Desdémona Op. 101
Ophélie Op. 165 No. 1

Saturday, 8 August, 6pm | Festkonzert «River of Time»
Suite dans le style ancien for Flute, Violin, Viola and Piano Op. 127

Wednesday, 12 August, 5.30pm | Lecture Jonathan Inniger
Festival director Jonathan Inniger speaks about the life and works of Mel Bonis

Wednesday, 12 August, 8pm | Festkonzert «In Dream»
Piano Quartet No. 2 D major Op. 124

Saturday, 5 September, 8pm | Trio Clara
Soir – Matin for Piano Trio Op. 76

Saturday, 12 September, 5pm | Achille Vocat, Violin and Martin Jollet, Piano
Suite for Violin and Piano Op. 114
Three Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 78, 84 and 83