Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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The superb Schott Student Edition series has recently grown to include two very welcome volumes of music for children by the Late Romantic French composer Mélanie Bonis.
The Album pout les tout-petits Op.103 includes 20 pieces suitable for elementary players (around UK Grades 1-3), while the eight pieces that make up Scènes enfantines Op.92 will suit intermediate players (UK Grades 4-6).
Both books are edited by the indomitable Melanie Spanswick, who has also written an excellent introduction which includes a composer biography, and several pages of in-depth teaching notes.
These excellent volumes are an important addition to the pedagogy repertoire, and in this review I will consider each of the two sets after first briefly introducing the composer…
Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937)
Mélanie Bonis was a remarkable French composer whose contributions to the world of music, and particularly her piano literature, have garnered renewed attention in recent years.
Born in a small village near Paris to a modest bourgeoise family, Bonis demonstrated musical talent from an early age, but remained self-taught until the age of twelve. She later studied with the composer César Franck at the Paris Conservatoire, where she was influenced by notable contemporaries, including Gabriel Fauré and her illustrious classmate Claude Debussy.
Bonis’s domestic life was marked by both personal fulfillment and the challenges of balancing her career with her duties as a wife and mother. In 1883, disapproving of her fling with the singer Amédée Hettich, her parents withdrew her from the Conservatory, and arranged her marriage to the wealthy businessman Albert Domange, who was twice her age, twice a widower, and already had five sons.
By all accounts, Domange disliked music, and Bonis’s career came to an abrupt halt. She subsequently had three children with her husband, and devoted herself to her role in the family home.
Some years later however, Bonis and Hettich reconnected. Though he was married to a Polish harpist by this time, and she dutifully stayed with Domange, they had a secret love child, a daughter who was raised by a chambermaid.
Hettich encouraged Bonis to resume her composing life, introducing her to the renowned publisher Alphonse Leduc. From this time, her musical creativity took over and she devoted much of her energy to composing, steadily established a reputation as a leading voice in France’s musical life.
Bonis left more than a hundred works, which reflect the inspiration of French culture and Romanticism, and are characterised by expressive melodic writing, a rich harmonic language, and a knack for storytelling through sound.
Her charming piano and educational works showcase an ability to craft accessible yet beautiful music for younger pianists, highlighting her deep understanding of pedagogical needs and childrens’ imagination. This makes their revival a supremely welcome addition to today’s educational repertoire.
Album pour les tout-petits
The Pieces for Little Ones were written and published in 1913, the collection including the following 20 titles:
- La Toupie (The Spinning Top)
- Le petit mendiant (The Little Vagabond)
- Marionnettes (Marionettes)
- Le baptême (The Baptism)
- Compliment à grand-maman (Compliments to Grandma)
- La machine à coudre (The Sewing Machine)
- Gros chagrin (Big Sorrow)
- Colère (Anger)
- Gouttes de pluie (Raindrops)
- Monsieur Vieuxbois (Mr. Vieuxbois)
- La clé des champs (Great Freedom)
- Au temps jadis (In Days gone by)
- Câlineries (Cuddles)
- Prière (Prayer)
- Miaou! Ronron! (Meow! Purr!)
- Madrigal (Madrigal)
- La puce (The Flea)
- Le pâtre dans la montagne (The Shepherd in the Mountains)
- Mireille au piano (Mireille at the Piano)
- Douce amie (My Sweet Friend)
While the imaginative imagery of these pieces is very much of its time (in the same way as, for example, Schumann’s and Tchaikovsky’s Albums for the Young) they are nevertheless very enjoyable as character pieces, and showcase Bonis’s vivid musicality and wit.
Many of the pieces also include technical challenges that will be fresh for learners at around Grade 2 level, such as rapidly repeated notes, overlapping hands, cantabile touch, and use of the sustain pedal.
In the first instance, a collection such as this delivers a useful sourcebook for material which might be picked up by teachers, exam boards, and others. Beyond that, looking for a practical use-case scenario, the collection offers superb material for learners at early intermediate level wanting “quick study” music to explore; the technical benefits here are particularly noteworthy, I think.
In common with the other titles in the Schott Student Edition, which I have reviewed here, the publication includes a detailed introduction by its editor (in this case Melanie Spanswick), presented in both English and German. Meanwhile, the original French piece titles are given throughout, together with their appropriate translations.
The notation of the pieces is beautifully and spaciously presented on cream paper, with each of these short character miniatures given its own single page. Bonis is generous with her fingering suggestions, while Spanswick has added metronome marks for guidance, and added pedal markings of her own.
The book concludes with six pages (in each language) of Teaching Notes newly written by Spanswick. These being aimed at teachers (rather than the “students” of the series title), their content is rather dry at times, and I wonder whether child-friendly practice tips and engaging background stories might have been more appropriate.
In any case, Spanswick’s well-written notes usefully draw attention to important characteristics of each piece, and less experienced teachers might find this content useful for their preparation exploring the material.
Scènes enfantines
The Children’s Scenes Op.92 will appeal as the natural sequel to the Pieces for Little Ones, but certainly offer a step up in difficulty and length (being two to four pages long).
This collection of eight descriptive programmatic miniatures in fact preceded the easier collection by a year, being published in 1912. And here are the titles which make up this intermediate collection:
- Aubade (Morning Song)
- Joyeux réveil (Happy Awakening)
- Cache-cache (Hide and Seek)
- Valse lente (Slow Waltz)
- Marche militaire (Military March)
- Frère Jacques (Brother John)
- Bébé s‘endort (Baby Falls Asleep)
- Carillon
Some readers may have encountered pieces from this set elsewhere, and in particular Immanuela Gruenberg’s excellent Piano Music by Women Composers (reviewed here) includes no less than four of them in its first volume.
Spanswick here includes significantly more fingering (indeed, some might suggest too much, bearing in mind the level and assumed reading ability). She notes in her introduction (which is largely the same biographical sketch as the first book) that the majority of the metronome and pedal markings are hers, too.
Unlike Gruenberg however, Spanswick does not incorporate translations of Bonis’s quirky narrative instructions within the pieces (“Do you not hear the birds singing?” etc), which are given here only in French. Teachers can discover translations within the Teaching Notes which again appear at the rear of the book, and which are again fairly sober.
The growing popularity of the pieces from Children’s Scenes is understandable given their superb quality and imagination.
With music that at times leans towards impressionism, and pedagogically useful technical challenges gently embedded in each piece, the collection would make superb material for players at around Grade 4 level, and it is valuable indeed to have the complete set so elegantly edited and presented.
Closing Thoughts
I am delighted to see this excellent series from Schott Music continue to grow, not least because it is yielding up titles not easily obtainable elsewhere. Both these collections of children’s music by Melanie Bonis are outstanding.
Melanie Spanswick deserves praise for her dedication to promoting music by overlooked women composers, a cause that has become very closely associated with her name, and is clearly close to her heart.
In the case of Bonis, Spanswick is of course not alone, and wonderful recordings are now appearing of this neglected composer’s marvellous music. Anyone wanting to gain a fuller view of this composer’s terrific piano music for children will delight in both these volumes.
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