Description: | Joseph-Ermend Bonnal (1880 - 1944 was a French composer and organist.
He studied piano at the Conservatoire de Paris under Charles-Wilfrid Bériot, harmony under Antoine Taudou, composition under Gabriel Fauré and organ under Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne. He also assisted Charles-Marie Widor at Saint-Sulpice, Albert Périlhou at Saint-Séverin and Charles Tournemire at the Basilica of St. Clotilde.
In 1901, Ermend-Bonnard was appointed Organist at Saint-Médard, and subsequently at Notre Dame in Boulogne-sur-Seine. In 1920, he was offered a professorship in organ at the University of Strasbourg. However, he decided instead to accept a position as director of the Bayonne Conservatory, which he held until 1941. His most famous student was the composer Maurice Ohana. In 1942, he succeeded his teacher Tournemire at the Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Basilica of St. Clotilde.
The focus of Ermend-Bonnard's musical output is organ music (Paysages Euskariens, 1930; Media Vita, organ symphony, 1932). However, he also wrote in all other musical genres, ranging from children's pieces for piano to symphonies (from: Wikipedia).
Paysages Euskarien from 1930 contains three evocative musical landscapes set in the French Basque Country and each piece describes all the distinctive details. The first piece is called „La Vallée du Béhorléguy, au matin” and is dedicated to „Mon ami, le Comte Christian d’Elbée”. |