Mel Bonis: Orchestral Works

$21.99
Label
Chandos
Release Date
June 12, 2026
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Mel Bonis
    • PERFORMER
      Elizabeth Watts, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      June 12, 2026
    • UPC
      0095115538128
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      CHSA 5381
    • LABEL
      Chandos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. No. 2. Ophélie, Op. 165

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    2. No. 3. Salomé, Op. 100

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    3. No. 1. Le Songe de Cléopâtre, Op. 180

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    4. I. Ballabile, Op. 35

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    5. II. Interlude et Valse lente, Op. 36: Interlude

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    6. II. Interlude et Valse lente, Op. 36: Valse lente

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    7. IV. Scherzo-valse, Op. 38

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    8. I. Prélude

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    9. II. Danse d'Almée

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    10. Le chat sur le toit, Op. 93 (version for voice and orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Elizabeth Watts

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    11. Bourrée, Op. 62 (version for orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    12. Pavane, Op. 81 (version for orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    13. Sarabande, Op. 82 (version for orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    14. Noël de la Vierge Marie, Op. 54 (version for voice and orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Elizabeth Watts

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    15. Suite en forme de valses: III. Danse sacrée, Op. 37 (version for orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba

    16. Les gitanos, Op. 15 (version for orchestra)

      Composer: Mélanie Bonis

      Ensemble: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Rumon Gamba


Mel (Melanie Helène) Bonis was born in Paris in 1858, and showed a prodigious talent for music from an early age, attending the Paris Conservatoire from the age of sixteen, studying alongside Debussy and Pierne under Cesar Franck. Her passionate relationship with the singer Amedee-Louis Hettich was frowned upon by her parents, who pressured her to marry edouard Domange, a twice-widowed industrialist with five children. Bonis threw herself into her role as wife and stepmother, until a reunion with Hettich in the 1890s reignited her serious interest in composition. She composed more than 300 works, including pieces for solo piano, chamber music, and over forty melodies for voice and piano. As Bonis was too modest for self-promotion, and a victim of gender-bias, her music fell into obscurity after the First World War, and she became bedridden from arthritis. She continued to compose until her death, in 1937. Her orchestral output dates from two decades, between 1891 and 1912, and is well represented on this album.