Henry Brougham Farnie
Encyclopedia
Henry Brougham Farnie often called H. B. Farnie, was a British librettist and adapter of French operetta
s and an author. Some of his English-language versions of operettas became record-setting hits on the London stage of the 1870s and 1880s, strongly competing with the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas being played at the same time.
After attending Cambridge University, Farnie returned to his native Scotland, where he was appointed editor of the Cupar Gazette. In 1857, he wrote The Golfer's Manual, the first book on golf
instruction. In 1860, he wrote books on the flora
of St. Andrews and on The City of St. Rule. His journalism career brought him to London in 1863 as editor of a new musical journal, The Orchestra. He began to write the lyrics to popular songs, and, in 1867, he began to write plays. During the 1870s and 1880s, Farnie turned out translations and adaptations of dozens of French operas and operettas. Many of the latter had long and successful runs. Among his few enduring lyrics is the "Gendarmes' Duet", adapted from Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant
.
Farnie was born in Burntisland
, Fife
, Scotland, one of seven children of James Farnie and the former Margaret Paterson Cairns. He was named after the Whig statesman Lord Brougham
, to whom the family claimed to be related. Farnie was educated at St. Andrews University, where he won a prize that took him to Cambridge University. After leaving Cambridge, he returned to Scotland, where he was appointed editor of the Cupar Gazette. In 1857, Farnie wrote the first book on golf
instruction, The Golfer's Manual: being an historical and descriptive account of the national game of Scotland, under the pseudonym, "A Keen Hand". He also wrote the Handy book of St. Andrews about the flora
of that area of Scotland, and The City of St. Rule with calotypes by Thomas Rodger (1860).
In 1863 Farnie moved to London, as editor of a new musical journal, The Orchestra. In the first edition of the magazine, he printed one of his own verses, "The Last Stirrup Cup", which impressed the composer Luigi Arditi
so much that he set it to music. The song was taken up by Charles Santley
and became immensely popular. The Morning Post stated that it was familiar to "millions of people". The Era
later wrote, "the success of this casual attempt at song writing determined Farnie's future career." The proprietors of The Orchestra, the musical publishers Cramer and Co
, engaged Farnie as their literary adviser, with a brief to adapt and translate foreign operas. Simultaneously, Farnie found himself in demand as the lyricist for popular songs. Among the songs for which he wrote lyrics were, "The Guards' Song" (music by Dan Godfrey), "Land Ho" (music by Henry Leslie
), "The Message from the Battlefield" (music by John Hullah
), "The Dove and the Maiden" (music by Jacques Offenbach
), "The Fall of the Leaf" (music by George Macfarren
), and "Summer is Nigh" (music by Julius Benedict
).
. The Observer
, in a favourable review, said of Farnie, "if he has not before this tried his hand at dramatic writing, he has at all events now made a very successful essay in the art." His principal work for the stage, however, was as a librettist. He wrote or adapted libretti for dozens of operettas in the 1870s and 1880s. Although many of Farnie's adaptations were extremely popular and enjoyed long and profitable runs in West End theatre
s, most of them did not survive beyond his lifetime. One obituary said of them, "few were of very high literary merit. They were furnished chiefly to suit ephemeral public taste, and for the most part ceased to exist with the excitement they created." According to a 1914 article in The Times
, the translations were heavy handed, and "The spoken dialogue was a kind of Sahara between the oases of song ... the attempts to fit English words to French music usually resulted in absolute nonsense." Even harsher was the judgment of The Pall Mall Gazette: "He had little or no original talent or literary faculty, but an immense knack of vamping up French opera bouffes, glozing over licentiousness sufficiently to get it smuggled past the censor, spicing the dialogue with 'topical allusions,' and converting the lyrics into some sort of patter that would go with the music. The dogerel [sic] he used to produce was something appalling." Nevertheless, some of Farnie's lyrics have endured, including the "Gendarmes' Duet" (adapted from Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant
), and "Sweet Dreamer" (with Arthur Sullivan
).
Among Farnie's earliest adaptations were operas by Gounod
: La Reine de Saba, (which Farnie renamed Irene),Ulysse and The Pet Dove. Farnie later prepared Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
for its first British performance in English, given after his death by the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1890. Farnie's other adaptations include the English libretti for Offenbach's Breaking the Spell (Le Violoneau) (1870; later played as a companion piece with The Sorcerer
), Geneviève de Brabant (1871), Barbe-bleue (1872, Bluebeard), a version of Dick Whittington and His Cat
with music by Offenbach (1875), The Rose of Auvergne, or, Spoiling the Broth, The Barber of Bath, La fille du tambour-major
, the very successful Madame Favart
(1879), and The Blind Beggars
(1882); for Robert Planquette
's hit debut, Les cloches de Corneville
(1878) and his Rip van Winkle
(1882), Nell Gwynne
(1884), Les voltigeurs de la 32ème (The Light Infantrymen of the 32nd Regiment) (1887), and Paul Jones (1889); for Edmond Audran
's Olivette (1880; another hit), La mascotte
(1881) and The Grand Mogul (1884, starring Florence St. John
, Fred Leslie and Arthur Roberts); for Charles Lecocq's La fille de Madame Angot
(1873); for Richard Genée
's The Naval Cadets (1880); for Franz von Suppé
's Boccaccio (1882); for Francis Chassaigne's Falka
(1883); and for Hervé
's Little Faust! (1870) and Chilpéric
(1884). With Englishman Edward Solomon
, Farnie wrote Rothomago or The Magic Watch in 1879. With William Marshall Hutchison, he wrote Glamour in 1886.
Farnie wrote some original libretti, including Nemesis; The Bride of Song, a one act opera with music by Julius Benedict; and The Sleeping Queen for Thomas German Reed
, with music by Balfe
. He collaborated with Robert Reece
on 15 of his libretti or adaptations, including Up the River, or the Strict Kew-Tea (1877), Stars and Garters (1878), Les cloches de Corneville (1878) and The Creole, all at the Folly Theatre
, London (where Farnie also acted as stage manager), and Boccaccio. At least one of Farnie's libretti was set by two different composers. His Nell Gwynne, a three-act opera, was first set by Alfred Cellier
and was staged at the Prince's Theatre in Manchester
, where it opened on 17 October 1876 for a run of 24 performances. Later, Robert Planquette set Farnie's libretto, and that version was staged at the Avenue Theatre in London on 7 February 1884 before transferring to the Comedy Theatre for a total of 86 performances. The Planquette version also ran for 38 performances at the Casino Theatre in New York in November the same year. Farnie's shows that were performed on Broadway
as well as in London include: Sinbad the Sailor (1869), Pluto (1869), The Forty Thieves (1870), Little Faust (1870, revived 1871), Bluebeard (1872), Nemesis Not Wisely But Too Well (1874), Indiana (1887), and Nell Gwynne (1901).
Farnie died suddenly at the age of 53 in Paris. He left his entire estate of £23,072 to his sister, Isabella.
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s and an author. Some of his English-language versions of operettas became record-setting hits on the London stage of the 1870s and 1880s, strongly competing with the Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas being played at the same time.
After attending Cambridge University, Farnie returned to his native Scotland, where he was appointed editor of the Cupar Gazette. In 1857, he wrote The Golfer's Manual, the first book on golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
instruction. In 1860, he wrote books on the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of St. Andrews and on The City of St. Rule. His journalism career brought him to London in 1863 as editor of a new musical journal, The Orchestra. He began to write the lyrics to popular songs, and, in 1867, he began to write plays. During the 1870s and 1880s, Farnie turned out translations and adaptations of dozens of French operas and operettas. Many of the latter had long and successful runs. Among his few enduring lyrics is the "Gendarmes' Duet", adapted from Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant....
.
Life and career
Burntisland
Burntisland is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 5,940....
, Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland, one of seven children of James Farnie and the former Margaret Paterson Cairns. He was named after the Whig statesman Lord Brougham
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux was a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.As a young lawyer in Scotland Brougham helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, and was called to the English bar in...
, to whom the family claimed to be related. Farnie was educated at St. Andrews University, where he won a prize that took him to Cambridge University. After leaving Cambridge, he returned to Scotland, where he was appointed editor of the Cupar Gazette. In 1857, Farnie wrote the first book on golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
instruction, The Golfer's Manual: being an historical and descriptive account of the national game of Scotland, under the pseudonym, "A Keen Hand". He also wrote the Handy book of St. Andrews about the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of that area of Scotland, and The City of St. Rule with calotypes by Thomas Rodger (1860).
In 1863 Farnie moved to London, as editor of a new musical journal, The Orchestra. In the first edition of the magazine, he printed one of his own verses, "The Last Stirrup Cup", which impressed the composer Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor.Arditi was born in Crescentino, Piemonte . He began his musical career as a violinist, and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan. He made his debut in 1843 as a director at Vercelli, and it was there that he was made an honorary...
so much that he set it to music. The song was taken up by Charles Santley
Charles Santley
Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era...
and became immensely popular. The Morning Post stated that it was familiar to "millions of people". The Era
The Era (newspaper)
The Era was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content.-History:...
later wrote, "the success of this casual attempt at song writing determined Farnie's future career." The proprietors of The Orchestra, the musical publishers Cramer and Co
Cramer & Co.
J. B. Cramer & Co. was a musical instrument manufacturing, music-publishing and music-selling business in London.It was founded in 1824 by the musician Johann Baptist Cramer in partnership with Robert Addison and Thomas Frederick Beale, the company then being known as Cramer, Addison & Beale...
, engaged Farnie as their literary adviser, with a brief to adapt and translate foreign operas. Simultaneously, Farnie found himself in demand as the lyricist for popular songs. Among the songs for which he wrote lyrics were, "The Guards' Song" (music by Dan Godfrey), "Land Ho" (music by Henry Leslie
Henry David Leslie
Henry David Leslie was an English composer and conductor. Leslie was a leader in supporting amateur choral musicians in Britain, founding prize-winning amateur choral societies. He was also a supporter of musical higher education, helping to found national music schools.-Biography:Leslie was...
), "The Message from the Battlefield" (music by John Hullah
John Pyke Hullah
John Pyke Hullah , English composer and teacher of music, was born at Worcester.He was a pupil of William Horsley from 1829, and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1833...
), "The Dove and the Maiden" (music by Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
), "The Fall of the Leaf" (music by George Macfarren
George Alexander Macfarren
Sir George Alexander Macfarren was an English composer.-Life:George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author, and journalist, and Elizabeth Macfarren, née Jackson. At the age of seven, Macfarren was sent to Dr...
), and "Summer is Nigh" (music by Julius Benedict
Julius Benedict
Sir Julius Benedict was a German-born composer and conductor, resident in England for most of his career.-Life:...
).
Librettist and adapter of French operettas
In 1867, Farnie's two act drama Reverses was staged at the Strand TheatreRoyal Strand Theatre
The Royal Strand Theatre was located in Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps...
. The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, in a favourable review, said of Farnie, "if he has not before this tried his hand at dramatic writing, he has at all events now made a very successful essay in the art." His principal work for the stage, however, was as a librettist. He wrote or adapted libretti for dozens of operettas in the 1870s and 1880s. Although many of Farnie's adaptations were extremely popular and enjoyed long and profitable runs in West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
s, most of them did not survive beyond his lifetime. One obituary said of them, "few were of very high literary merit. They were furnished chiefly to suit ephemeral public taste, and for the most part ceased to exist with the excitement they created." According to a 1914 article in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, the translations were heavy handed, and "The spoken dialogue was a kind of Sahara between the oases of song ... the attempts to fit English words to French music usually resulted in absolute nonsense." Even harsher was the judgment of The Pall Mall Gazette: "He had little or no original talent or literary faculty, but an immense knack of vamping up French opera bouffes, glozing over licentiousness sufficiently to get it smuggled past the censor, spicing the dialogue with 'topical allusions,' and converting the lyrics into some sort of patter that would go with the music. The dogerel [sic] he used to produce was something appalling." Nevertheless, some of Farnie's lyrics have endured, including the "Gendarmes' Duet" (adapted from Offenbach's Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant
Geneviève de Brabant is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant....
), and "Sweet Dreamer" (with Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
).
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
: La Reine de Saba, (which Farnie renamed Irene),Ulysse and The Pet Dove. Farnie later prepared Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
for its first British performance in English, given after his death by the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1890. Farnie's other adaptations include the English libretti for Offenbach's Breaking the Spell (Le Violoneau) (1870; later played as a companion piece with The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
), Geneviève de Brabant (1871), Barbe-bleue (1872, Bluebeard), a version of Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dick Whittington and His Cat is an English folk tale that has often been used as the basis for stage pantomimes and other adaptations. It tells of a poor boy in the 14th century who becomes a wealthy merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London because of the ratting abilities of his cat...
with music by Offenbach (1875), The Rose of Auvergne, or, Spoiling the Broth, The Barber of Bath, La fille du tambour-major
La fille du tambour-major
La fille du tambour-major is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot ....
, the very successful Madame Favart
Madame Favart
Madame Favart is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot.-Performance history:...
(1879), and The Blind Beggars
Les deux aveugles
Les deux aveugles is a one-act bouffonerie musicale, in the style of an operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Jules Moinaux...
(1882); for Robert Planquette
Robert Planquette
Jean Robert Planquette was a French composer of songs and operettas.Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, including Les cloches de Corneville , the length of whose initial London run broke all records for any piece of musical theatre up to that time, and Rip...
's hit debut, Les cloches de Corneville
Les cloches de Corneville
Les cloches de Corneville is an operetta in three acts, composed by Robert Planquette to a French libretto by Louis Clairville and Charles Gabet based on a play by Gabet.In 1876, the director of the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, Louis Cantin, hired Planquette to compose the operetta,...
(1878) and his Rip van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle (operetta)
Rip Van Winkle is an operetta in three acts by Robert Planquette. The English libretto by Henry Brougham Farnie was based on the stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving after the play by Dion Boucicault and Joseph Jefferson.-Performance history:The operetta...
(1882), Nell Gwynne
Nell Gwynne (operetta)
Nell Gwynne is a three-act comic opera composed by Robert Planquette, with a libretto by H. B. Farnie. The libretto is based on the play Rochester by William Thomas Moncrieff. The piece was a rare instance of an opera by a French composer being produced first in London...
(1884), Les voltigeurs de la 32ème (The Light Infantrymen of the 32nd Regiment) (1887), and Paul Jones (1889); for Edmond Audran
Edmond Audran
Achille Edmond Audran was a French composer best known for several internationally successful operettas, including Les noces d'Olivette , La mascotte , Gillette de Narbonne , La cigale et la fourmi , Miss Helyett , and La poupée .After Audran's initial success in Paris, his works also became a...
's Olivette (1880; another hit), La mascotte
La mascotte
La mascotte is an opéra comique by Edmond Audran. The French libretto was by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot. The story concerns a farm girl who is believed to bring good luck to whoever possesses her, so long as she remains a virgin...
(1881) and The Grand Mogul (1884, starring Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
, Fred Leslie and Arthur Roberts); for Charles Lecocq's La fille de Madame Angot
La fille de Madame Angot
La fille de Madame Angot is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq. The French text was by Clairville, Paul Siraudin and Victor Koning.-Performance history:...
(1873); for Richard Genée
Richard Genée
Franz Friedrich Richard Genée was a Prussian born Austrian librettist, playwright, and composer.Genée was born in Danzig. One of his best known works was the libretto of Karl Millöcker's operetta Der Bettelstudent, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Zell .In 1876, Genée composed the operetta Der...
's The Naval Cadets (1880); for Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
's Boccaccio (1882); for Francis Chassaigne's Falka
Falka
Le droit d'aînesse is an opéra bouffe, a form of operetta, in three acts by Francis Chassaigne with a French libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo. It premiered in Paris in 1883...
(1883); and for Hervé
Hervé (composer)
Hervé , real name Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger, was a French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, whom Ernest Newman, following Reynaldo Hahn, credited with inventing the genre of operetta in Paris.-Life:Hervé was born in Houdain near Arras...
's Little Faust! (1870) and Chilpéric
Chilpéric (operetta)
Chilpéric is an opéra bouffe with libretto and music by Hervé, first produced in Paris on 24 October 1868 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatique in Paris...
(1884). With Englishman Edward Solomon
Edward Solomon
Edward Solomon was a prolific English composer, as well as a conductor, orchestrator and pianist. Though he died before his fortieth birthday, he wrote dozens of works produced for the stage, including several for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, such as The Nautch Girl, among others.-Early...
, Farnie wrote Rothomago or The Magic Watch in 1879. With William Marshall Hutchison, he wrote Glamour in 1886.
Farnie wrote some original libretti, including Nemesis; The Bride of Song, a one act opera with music by Julius Benedict; and The Sleeping Queen for Thomas German Reed
Thomas German Reed
Thomas German Reed was an English composer and theatrical manager best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable...
, with music by Balfe
Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl.After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to compose. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he composed 38 operas, almost 250 songs and other works...
. He collaborated with Robert Reece
Robert Reece
Robert Reece was a British comic playwright and librettist active in the Victorian era. He wrote many successful musical burlesques, comic operas, farces and adaptations from the French, including the English-language adaptation of the operetta Les cloches de Corneville, which became the...
on 15 of his libretti or adaptations, including Up the River, or the Strict Kew-Tea (1877), Stars and Garters (1878), Les cloches de Corneville (1878) and The Creole, all at the Folly Theatre
Folly Theatre
The Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
, London (where Farnie also acted as stage manager), and Boccaccio. At least one of Farnie's libretti was set by two different composers. His Nell Gwynne, a three-act opera, was first set by Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
and was staged at the Prince's Theatre in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, where it opened on 17 October 1876 for a run of 24 performances. Later, Robert Planquette set Farnie's libretto, and that version was staged at the Avenue Theatre in London on 7 February 1884 before transferring to the Comedy Theatre for a total of 86 performances. The Planquette version also ran for 38 performances at the Casino Theatre in New York in November the same year. Farnie's shows that were performed on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
as well as in London include: Sinbad the Sailor (1869), Pluto (1869), The Forty Thieves (1870), Little Faust (1870, revived 1871), Bluebeard (1872), Nemesis Not Wisely But Too Well (1874), Indiana (1887), and Nell Gwynne (1901).
Marriages and notable legal action
Farnie married Elizabeth Bebb Davies, of Wales, in 1861, but the couple lived in Scotland. She divorced him for adultery after a few years, and he then married Alethea Emma Harvey, an Englishwoman, in 1865. In 1879, his second wife, also complaining of adultery and cruelty, petitioned the English courts for a declaration that their marriage was null and void. The case made legal history: Harvey's argument was that since the first marriage was solemnised in England, the courts in Scotland did not have the power to end that marriage by divorce, and therefore, Farnie had not been free to marry Harvey. The Lords found that the divorce decree of the Scottish courts should be respected by the English courts.Farnie died suddenly at the age of 53 in Paris. He left his entire estate of £23,072 to his sister, Isabella.
External links
- Information about several Farnie and Planquette works from musicaltheatreguide.com
- Information about several additional Farnie works from musicaltheatreguide.com
- Information about two Farnie works
- Information about a work by Solomon and Farnie