When you cross the village of Alluets-le-Roi (Yvelines) coming from Orgeval, you are obliged, to let cars arriving in the opposite direction pass, to pull over momentarily in front of a large house from which nothing suggests that she has played a determining role, for more than a quarter of a century, in the reconsideration of the composer Mel Bonis (1858-1937). Although the musician never lived there, all her archives – original editions of works, manuscripts, correspondence – are kept there by her great-granddaughter, Christine Géliot, who allowed us to consult them with a view to monographic program, entitled “Mel Bonis, the secret”, which will be given on May 26, at the Maubuisson Abbey (Val-d’Oise), as part of the Un temps pour Elles festival.
The same day, at the Palais Garnier, musicians from the Paris National Opera will present the Forest scenes. Mel Bonis is on the rise. In France (Lyon, Metz, Marseille), as well as abroad (Australia, Canada, United States), his name is regularly on the concert bill. The time has therefore come to look into her case and to consider “a time for Mel” in the company of the woman who devoted her first biography to her.
The title of the work, Mel Bonis. Woman and composer (1858-1937) (L’Harmattan, 2000), clearly specifies the intentions of a musician who, to be appreciated without gender preconceptions, decided to keep only the first syllable of her first name. “However, today, we often want to call her “Mélanie” and I have to fight to ensure that her wish is respected”, protests Christine Géliot. The latter, who taught piano at the Asnières conservatory (Hauts-de-Seine) for twenty-five years, is however far from having grown up in the cult of her ancestor. She was simply told that she had a great-grandmother who had composed, but that her music was “completely outdated”.
Rehabilitation in 1997
On the other hand, little Christine knew nothing of the production of her grandfather Robert Géliot (1878-1947), sung daily by her own father, Bernard Géliot, who had a career as “charming singer, notably with Ray Ventura and his Collégiens”. The rehabilitation of Mel Bonis took place in 1997, at the initiative of German musicians wishing to perform his works in concert in Paris.
“I almost didn’t go”confesses Christine Géliot, who, that day, had A “immediate love at first sight”. Very much in the style of the turn of the century for which she admits to having a weakness, the music of this devalued ancestor then appeared to her as a ” treasure ” which she was quick to explore with Laurent Martin, artistic director of the Vollore festival (Puy-de-Dôme). “We deciphered everything with two pianos. One hundred and eighty opuses covering all genres, except opera. » The machine was launched, like one of those locomotives for which Albert Domange, the great industrialist whom Mel Bonis had married, manufactured leather belts. Establishing the catalog of works then went hand in hand with the outline of a biography.
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