The French Chamber Music Mystique
Chamber music was hard to sell in 19th century Paris which was totally absorbed by opera, but a few composers took a stand and stood out. Two of them were women, Louise Farrenc, the first female professor at the Paris Conservatory, and Mélanie Bonis, who disguised her gender by using the first name of Mel on her publications to sound like a man. Mel’s story will break your heart, but her music will melt it, and this all-French program as a whole will bring you into the intimate confines of the secret French chamber music societies that worked so hard to develop a rich genre in the shadows of the period’s over-blown operatic fixation.
Suite en trio in E Minor, Op. 59 – Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937)
Flute, Violin, and Piano
Sérénade: Allegretto
Pastorale: Andantino
Scherzo
Trio in E Minor, Op. 45 – Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
Flute, Cello, and Piano
Andante sostenuto; Allegro giocoso
Grave
Vivace
Allegro
Intermission
Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 92 – Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Violin, Cello, and Piano
Allegro non troppo
Allegretto
Andante con moto
Grazioso poco allegro
Allegro non troppo