Alphonse VARNEY

Born in Paris, Alphonse Varney studied composition with Reicha at the Paris Conservatoire. A violinist and highly-regarded conductor, he headed the orchestra in several theatres, particularly in Ghent and New Orleans (the place of birth of his son Louis, the future composer of Les Mousquetaires au couvent). From 1848 to 1851, he was employed at the Théâtre-Historique in Paris, founded by Alexandre Dumas père, and composed the music for the stage adaptations of La Reine Margot, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo and Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge. This latter contained the “Chœur des Girondins”, a patriotic song which enjoyed great success. After this, Varney worked in Ghent, The Hague and Rouen, before being approached by Offenbach at the Bouffes-Parisiens in 1857. When that theatre experienced worsening financial difficulties, he moved to Bordeaux. From 1865, he conducted the orchestra at the Grand-Théâtre, and was director at the college of music and the Société Sainte-Cécile. He moved back to Paris in 1878, several months before his death. A composer of romances and songs, and of the “scène Lyrique” Atala to a libretto by Dumas fils (1848), he owed his success mainly to operetta: Le Moulin joli (1849), La Ferme de Kilmoor (1852), La Quittance de minuit (1852), L’Opéra au camp (1854), La Polka des sabots (1859), Une fin de bail (1862), and Une leçon d’amour (1868). Appreciated for his simple, graceful style, the former disciple of Reicha also tried his hand at some surprisingly sophisticated writing, highlighted by Théophile Gautier in his review of L’Opéra au camp: “Until now, [M. Varney] may not have been thought of as a scholarly musician, but the fugues, canons and counterpoint which grace his new score have just earned him that title most legitimately.”