Henry Brougham Farnie

operas being played at the same time.

Life and career

Farnie was born in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, one of seven children of James Farnie and the former Margaret Paterson Cairns. [http://chrisknight.info/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I8324&tree=Tiger&PHPSESSID=19a233b970ccd0a1fca0e186493c02d6 Information about Farnie from genealogy site] ] He was educated at St. Andrews and Cambridge.

Author

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).

Librettist and adapter of French operettas

Farnie 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 theatres, most of them did not survive beyond his lifetime. 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." ["Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", "The Times", 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D] Nevertheless, some of Farnie's lyrics have endured, including the "Gendarmes' Duet" (adapted from Jacques Offenbach's "Geneviève de Brabant"), "Sweet Dreamer" (with Arthur Sullivan), [ [http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/other_sullivan/songs/charmante/charmante.html Background information, lyrics and Midi file for "Sweet Dreamer] ] and "Time's Up" (with Rosenbloom).

Farnie's adaptations include the English libretti for Offenbach's "Breaking the Spell (Le Violoneau)" (1870; later played as a companion piece with "The Sorcerer"), [ [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/companions/break_spell/index.html Description of "Breaking the Spell"] ] "Barbe-bleue" (1872, "Bluebeard"), "Geneviève de Brabant" (1873), "Dick Whittington and his Cat" (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), "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) and "La mascotte" (1881); 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 Francois Chassaigne's "Falka" (1883); and for Hervé's "Little Faust!" (1870) [ [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=438896 Information about the Broadway production of "Little Faust!"] ] and "Chilpéric" (1884). With Genee, in 1880 at the Globe, he wrote "The Naval Cadets". With Englishman Edward Solomon, Farnie wrote "Rothomago or The Magic Watch" in 1879. With William Marshall Hutchison, he wrote "Glamour" in 1886.

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), [ [http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/icons/playbills/bristololdtheatreroyal.htm Information about "Nemesis"] ] "Indiana" (1887), [ [http://library.kent.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/WILLPOST.HTM Information about "Indiana"] ] and "Nell Gwynne" (1901).

Farnie wrote some original libretti, including "Nemesis" (see image at right). He also collaborated with Robert Reece on 15 of his libretti or adaptations, including "Up the River, or the Strict Kew-Tea" (1877) [ [http://www.operetta-research-center.org/main.php?task=archart&cat=4&sub_cat=10&id=00090 Information from the Operetta Research Center] ] "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". [Adams, William Davenport. "A Dictionary of the Drama (1904) 1904 Chatto & Windus, London]

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 her own marriage with the defendant 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 at the age of 53 in Paris, France. [ [http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100060818 Gives death date and place for Farnie] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://musicaltheatreguide.com/composers/planquette/plaquette_robert.htm Information about several Farnie and Planquette works] from musicaltheatreguide.com
* [http://www.gilbertandsullivanonline.com/programm.htm Information about several additional Farnie works] from musicaltheatreguide.com
* [http://www-catalog.cpl.org/MARION/*FARNIE%20H%20B%20HENRY%20BROUGHAM%201836%201889/f85211005100/0 Listing of 60 Farnie works]
*ibdb name|id=415852
* [http://www.gilbertandsullivanonline.com/vocalsco.htm Information about two Farnie works]
* [http://musicaltheatreguide.com/composers/solomon/solomon_edward.htm Information about a work by Solomon and Farnie]