A cultivated artist, a first class performer, a composer imbued with the love of poetry, Joseph Ermend-Bonnal created an abundant body of work in which he tackled all genres, from children’s piano pieces to the symphony. It is his music for the organ, however, which is most often played today, with such pieces as the Paysages Euskariens (1930) and his Symphony “Media Vita” in C-sharp minor (1932). His chamber music, less well known, is also worthy of esteem, including two string quartets, a string trio (1934) which the Pasquier Trio perfomed widely on tour and which brought them a Grand Prix du Disque, a Menuet Triste for flute and string quintet, Trois Portraits de Musiciens for three violins, and several works for two instruments (oboe and piano, cello and piano, violin and piano, violin and cello). His richly expressive music prompted Vierne to say: “Here is a highly personal composer, a poet inspired by nature, a being with a deep and moving sensibility.”

Born on July 1, 1880, in Bordeaux, where he died on August 14, 1944, Bonnal received his first lessons from his father, a violinist. He then entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied with Bériot (piano), Taudou (harmony), Guilmant and Vierne (organ) and Fauré (composition) and received first prizes in organ, composition, and fugue. A disciple also of Charles Tournemire, a “marvelous professor of improvisation” whom he would esteem highly his whole life, Ermend-Bonnal filled in for him at the organ of Sainte-Clotilde for many years before succeeding him in 1941. In the meantime he served as organist at Saint-Médard, Notre-Dame of Boulogne-sur-Seine (of the Dominicans), and substituted for Périlhou at Saint-Séverin as well as for Widor at Saint-Sulpice. His career as an organist, which had begun at Saint-Pierre in Bordeaux, would also lead him to Saint-André in Bayonne where he resided from 1920 until 1941, directing the Ecole Nationale de Musique and founding the Concerts Rameau. The Basque country, so near to his heart, inspired several of his compositions. A member of the jury at the Paris Conservatory, Inspector General of musical instruction (1941), he was also active as a teacher from 1892. Maurice Ohana figures among his piano students. At Bonnal’s death, Norbert Dufourcq wrote: “In him French music has lost one of its most representative members and one of its greatest servants.” Joseph Ermend-Bonnal had that quality rarely encountered in a musician: to be at once a virtuoso, a composer, and an improviser. He was, in a word, an exceptionally gifted artist.

Denis Havard de la Montagne (translation Haden McKay) www.musimem.com