About the Music

Mel Bonis' Cello Sonata in F Major, Op.67 (1905), arranged by Dr. Timothy Bonenfant for bass clarinet and piano. Extended-range bass clarinet required.

Mélanie (Hélène) Bonis (published under the pseudonym “Mel Bonis”) was born in Paris in 1858 and died in 1937. She was brought up in a strict religious family, and was not given music lessons in her youth, but taught herself piano. Convinced by a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, her parents then allowed her formal music lessons. She entered the Conservatoire at age sixteen after César Franck recommended her. She studied in the same class with Claude Debussy and Gabriel Pierné. However, her parents withdrew her from the school when they did not approve of the fellow student she fell in love with. They subsequently married her off to a man twenty years her senior—a widower with five children. Forced into this marriage, she was forced to give up music for many years. Additionally, she had three children of her own, disappearing slowly into domesticity and obscurity for many years. Despite her husband’s apathy towards music, she began composing again about 1894, eventually writing more than 300 compositions, including 20 chamber pieces, 150 works for piano solo, 27 choral pieces, and organ music, songs and orchestral works.

The Sonata for Piano and Cello in F major, Op. 67 dates from 1905. Janet Horvath of the online magazine Interlude writes of the Sonata “The three-movement work is tender and elegiac, with an especially lovely second movement. Bonis focuses on the tenor range of the cello, where it can really sing. Full of ardor, the finale has the pianist take the spotlight with undulating passagework covering the entire keyboard— the piano alternating musical statements with the cello.” This work adapts very easily to the bass clarinet, and like the original cello version, features long flowing melodies that emphasize the upper clarion register of this instrument.

Piano score: 37 pages, spiral bind. Bass clarinet part: 8 pages, booklet.

Listen to the piece in its original instrumentation:

Hard Copy Edition

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About the Arranger

Timothy Bonenfant is a member of Dos Gatos, The Mesquite Trio, The Batik Quartet, and the West Texas Jazz Orchestra. He holds three degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a master’s degree from California Institute of the Arts.

Bonenfant has premiered over seventy works, many written especially for him, including Virko Baley's Partita No. 4 for clarinets (bass, A, Eb and Bb contrabass) and piano, and Stephen Emmons’ Seaside and States of Mind. Bonenfant was also one of the performers on the world premiere performance of Arthur Gottschlak’s The Electric Pocket Rocket Boogaloo for bass clarinet ensemble.

With multiple recording credits, Bonenfant’s solo album, Multiple Personae, features music by Virko Baley. Bonenfant uses seven different members of the clarinet family for this collection. The Clarinet, the journal of the International Clarinet Association, said of this album “Throughout this recording, Bonenfant displays his virtuosity performing almost the entire family of clarinets.”

His playing is also featured on Walter Blanton’s The Body of a House, performing Blanton’s Wind Songs One, which was specifically composed for him. Additionally, Blanton featured his bass clarinet playing as a guest artist on the album Voyage from The Past performed by Blanton’s jazz group Dharma. Steve Horowitz included Bonenfant’s performance of his solo work on The Evening News, which Horowitz composed for him and is featured on his album of chamber music San Francisco 1990-1996.

Bonenfant has developed an international reputation as an extremely versatile clarinetist. He has performed at multiple International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music at the United States National Conference, at the International Double Reed Society Conference, the American Single Reed Summit, numerous College Music Society conferences, and presented performances and panel sessions at the National Association for College Wind and Percussion Instructors Conference.

He has worked with composers Steve Reich, John Adams, Paul Dresher, Arthur Gottschalk, Libby Larsen, Dana Kaufman, Monica Houghton, Cara Haxo, Dorothy Hindman, Nolan Stoltz, Edwin London, and Ivan Karabitz,

He has also performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Luca Ferrini, Theodore Bikel, Sandy Patti, Toni Tenille, Monica Mancini, The Village People, The Moody Blues, Louie Bellson, Joe Williams, Bobby Shew, Gary Foster, and Carl Fontana.

A former member of the Nevada Symphony Orchestra and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Bonenfant’s ensemble credits also include the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Abilene Philharmonic, San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, Boise Symphony Orchestra, Nevada Opera Theater, and various groups on the Las Vegas Strip.

In addition to those in the United States, Bonenfant’s has performed internationally in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Sweden. His major teachers include Felix Viscuglia, William Powell, Alberto Asercion, Raphael Sanders, Marina Sturm and Michele Zukovsky.

Dr. Bonenfant is currently Professor of Single Reeds at Angelo State University, where he also has taught Introduction to Music, History of Jazz, History of American Popular Music, Survey of Rock and Roll, Improvisation, and Woodwind Methods.