Boulnois sonata

[eschiss1]

Score and part for the Boulnois 1922-published cello sonata can be found here.

(His piano trio in B (not B-flat) major, also at IMSLP, also published posthumously in 1922, looks neat...)

BTW according to World Concert Hall, the Boulnois sonata was heard along with works by Vierne (his fantastic piano quintet) and Samazeuilh (at present mostly a name to me, though he did a reduction of a work by Magnard) - a fine concert, it seems!

[semloh]

And, thanks go to jdperdrix for making this most enjoyable work available to UC. Full of colour, lovely languorous passages and short periods of intense activity - for me it's like taking an imaginary ride through the fields and villages of post-WW1 Northern France.

There seems to be nothing by Boulnois available on CD except a short organ work; he doesn't appear in Grove, and it's difficult to find out much about him. Was he a casualty of the war? Any biographical information, anyone?

[poem_of_ecstasy]

Someone recorded his "4 Pièces brèves in D" (score on IMSLP), available on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB7xmNbvBlI 
He/she also provided this information: "Joseph Boulnois (1884-1918) only had a few short years to write music before being killed in active service near the end of WWI. These four short organ pieces show a glimpse of what he might have become had he lived longer."

[eschiss1]

Translating the French Wikipedia article...

Boulnois Joseph , born in Verneuil-en-Halatte on 28 January 1884 , died at the military hospital Chalaines on 20 October 1918 , is an organist and composer French.
Contents   
1 Biography
1.1 Price
2 Major works
3 External links
4 Free sheet
1 Biography
Joseph Boulnois studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris . He worked counterpoint with Georges Caussade and organ with Louis Vierne . In 1906 , he married pianist Jane Knight who bears him a son the following year, Michel Boulnois , which will also composer and organist. In 1908 , he was appointed to the organ in the church of Sainte-Élisabeth-du-Temple , in the 3 th arrondissement of Paris . There is little time and was appointed to the organ in the church of Saint-Louis d'Antin in the 9 th arrondissement of Paris . In 1909 he was head of singing at the Opéra-Comique . He remains very active in the field of concerts, including being the co-founder with Marc de Ranse , spiritual Concerts of St. Louis d'Antin. But 1914 arrives, Boulnois mobilized to Chalons-sur-Marne . It's Sergeant nurse. This test period is when Boulnois will produce his most important works (piano pieces including a sonata, Suite 5 parts for piano and cello, Trio for piano, violin and cello). But Boulnois contracted the Spanish flu and died at the age of 34 in full possession of his art, three weeks of the Armistice .
1.1 Works
1905  : 1 st runner-up ('class of Antoine Taudou )
1906  : 1 st Prize for organ ('class of Alexandre Guilmant )
1908  : 2 nd Prize fugue (Class Charles Lenepveu )
1910  : 1 st piano accompaniment Prize (Class Paul Vidal )
2 Major works 
Orchestra  :
Sonata for piano and small orchestra
Rhapsody
Marine
Funeral Symphony (unfinished)
Piano  :
Pastoral Menuet
Choral in F sharp minor
All Saints (1903)
Madrigal
Scherzino
Gigue
Piano Sonata (1918)
Chamber music  :
String Quartet
Sonata for violin and piano
Sonata for cello and piano (1917), dedicated to Gérard Hekking*
Trio for piano, violin and cello (1918)
Christmas , for violin and piano
Winter, Snow, Christmas , suite for cello and piano
"Jeux" for cello and piano
Melodies  :
La Biche , The Death of Lovers (1908), The Bagpipe (1910)
Theatrical music  :
The ring of Isis , a lyrical drama in five acts (1912)

The source cited is http://www.musimem.com/boulnois.htm.

*The Hekkings - Gérard, his cousins André (also a cellist) and André's brother Anton - seem to show up their share of times on work dedications

[Aramiarz]

Very interesting composer! Thank You for the Link to IMSLP, any idea about where are there his orchestral works?

[semloh]

Wow, thanks for all that information. UC can always be relied upon, and I think Eric deserves a special 'thank you' - always a dogged seeker after the facts! 

[jdperdrix]

A few precisions.
I didn't upload the rest of the concert. The Samazeuilh piano piece is the last movement of "Le Chant de la Mer", which is available by Stéphane Lemelin with other piano works on CD by ATMA. And Vierne's chamber music masterwork, his piano quintet, has been recorded many times now.
About the circumstances of the death of Joseph Boulnois. He was serving in a military hospital, where he contracted the dreadful Spanish flu, which killed 50 to 100 millions of people (!) from 1918 to 1920. So he died of influenza, in active service, earning a "Mort pour la France" citation.