Henry Brougham Farnie
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.
[3] 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".
"[6] 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.
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.
"[14] 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.
"[15] 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.
[20] 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 violoneux) (1870; later played on tour as a companion piece with The Sorcerer),[21] Geneviève de Brabant (1871),[22] Barbe-bleue (1872, Bluebeard), Fleur de Lys, with music by Leo Delibes (based on La cour du roi Pétaud), starring Selina Dolaro and Emily Soldene (1873),[23] a version of Dick Whittington and His Cat with music by Offenbach (1875),[24][25] The Rose of Auvergne, or, Spoiling the Broth (based on La rose de Saint-Flour),[26] The Barber of Bath (based on Apothicaire et perruquier),[27] 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);[28] 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 Le petit Faust (Little Faust!
[31] He collaborated with Robert Reece on 15 of his libretti or adaptations, including Up the River, or the Strict Kew-Tea (1877),[32] 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.
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.
Farnie's shows that were performed on Broadway as well as in London include: Sinbad the Sailor (1869), Pluto (1869), The Forty Thieves (1869), Little Faust (1870, revived 1871), Bluebeard (1872), Nemesis Not Wisely But Too Well (1874),[34] Indiana (1887),[35] and Nell Gwynne (1901).
