Born in Paris, Jan 21, 1858
Died in Sarcelles, Seine-et-Oise, March 18, 1937
- Bonis attended the Paris Conservatory where she studied harmony with Ernest Guiraud and organ with César Franck. She won the conservatory’s first prize for harmony in 1880.
- Bonis published over 300 compositions over the course of her lifetime, including piano works, chamber works, choral music, organ music and orchestral pieces.
- Bonis frequently published under the gender-neutral pseudonym Mel-Bonis (or Mel. Bonis)1
Composer website, maintained by Christine Géliot, Bonis’s biographer and great-granddaughter. The site is in French but includes an English version (click the flag in the upper right-hand corner)
Note: There are numerous inconsistencies in the dating and opus numbering of her pieces from one publication to another (probably due to the multiplicity of editions of her works, even during her lifetime). In this site, I have chosen to use the dates and opus numbers assigned in Géliot’s catalogue of Bonis’s works.
Sources
- Judy Tsou, “Bonis, Mélanie (Hélène),” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 17, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000045497.