Suite en forme de valses op. 35–39

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, fourhanded piano-playing was a common and popular form of music-making in both salons and private houses. Mel Bonis’ repertoire for four hands consists mainly of salon pieces, but once again, her music – even her so-called “light” pieces – represent “a form of elegance that seems blissfully unaware of its own depth – which only serves to bring it out all the more clearly. Behind the melodic simplicity, behind this music that one could easily imagine being played by young girls straight out f a novel by Paul de Kock or Ponson du Terrail, we can find a whole range of emotions … that make these pieces more than just straight-forward salon romances.” Lionel Pons pour le Bulletin de l’Association de la Musique Française, 2007).

Mel Bonis put a lot of work into this composition, and she published it simultaneously in several different versions: an arrangement for a large symphony orchestra, one for piano “after the orchestral suite” and one for piano with four hands.

In all three cases the configuration of the pieces is different: The suite is a well-structured salontype work of intermediate difficulty, although some of the pieces call for a certain degree of virtuosity if they are to be played at an appropriate tempo. The music, with its slight orientalist flavour, emanates an air of elegant nonchalance. The entire suite takes about 15 minutes to perform. The Ballabile has a very marked oriental dance character, Interlude et Valse lent has a melancholic introduction which is followed by a charming waltz. Scherzo-Valse combines two original and gracefully developed themes (ABA) with lightness and elegance. It brings the suite to an end on a cheerful note.