Omphale, Op. 86

• Bonis’s Omphale was originally published by German publisher Simrock in 1910,¹ in Berlin.²
• In the same year that Omphale was published, Bonis had the distinction of becoming the secretary of the “Société des compositeurs de musique” (SCM), a French organization which supported contemporary composers. Holding this position was an unusual achievement for a 19th-century woman. Other composers of the SCM, with whom Bonis interacted in her official capacity, included Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré, and Jules Massanet.³
• In Greek mythology, Omphale was the queen of Lydia in Asia Minor, and the lover of Hercules. 

This piece was republished in 2003 in Femmes de légende, the first volume of Furore’s complete edition of Bonis’s piano works. 

1. “Catalogue: Piano seul,” Mel Bonis: Composer, Association Mel Bonis (2020), accessed June 3, 2021, https://www.mel-bonis.com/EN/Catalogue/.
2. “Omphale, Op.86 (Bonis, Mel),” IMSLP, accessed June 4, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Omphale%2C_Op.86_(Bonis%2C_Mel).
3. Christine Géliot, “Biography: Mel Bonis, 1858-1937,” Mel Bonis: Composer, Association Mel Bonis (2020), accessed June 4, 2021, https://www.mel-bonis.com/EN/Biographie/.