Edoardo Farner

Edoardo Giacomo Farner, also known as Edouard Farner, was born in 1899 in Genoa, Italy. His family was of Ticinese origin. He enrolled at the University of Geneva in the winter semester of 1918/19 and studied at its Dental Institute. He completed his studies in 1927 and subsequently practised as a dentist in Geneva. Farner was also a founding member of the Association des Médecins-Dentistes de Genève.
In 1925 Farner joined Pro Ticino, an association founded to preserve and promote the language, culture and traditions of Ticino among Ticinese people living outside the canton. By the early 1930s he had become conductor of the Geneva Pro Ticino choir. His musical training is unknown, but his work as a choral conductor shows that he had acquired considerable practical musical experience.
By the beginning of the 1940s Farner was also active as a composer. For his compositions he adopted the pseudonym "Faredo", formed from elements of his surname and given name. He wrote mainly songs and chansons, together with a smaller number of piano and instrumental pieces. Some of his compositions were published by the Geneva music publisher Vogert, while others appeared under his own imprint, "Edizioni Faredo".
One of his songs, the popular waltz "Peppina bella!", with words by Gedeone, was published in Geneva under the Faredo imprint. It was also recorded by the Orchestra Allegro with the tenor Libero de Luca and issued on a shellac record. During this period Farner also served as president of the Geneva section of Pro Ticino.
No compositions dating from after about 1950 are known among the surviving manuscripts in Farner's musical estate. It therefore appears that his compositional activity diminished or ceased around this time, although the reasons are unknown.
Edoardo Farner died on 18 February 1979 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Edoardo Farner Archive

In my possession is a large part of the musical estate of Edoardo Farner. The following finding aid provides information about the documents in my archive.

Due to the fact that there is so little known about Edoardo Farner and especially about his compositions I present here a few of his works for information purposes:

Liberi e svizzeri - Mazurka for piano op.2 (1940)

Passa la bicicletta - Canzone-valzer popolare di attualita, for voice and piano op. 5 (1941)

Primole rosse - Mazurka for piano

Other composers

In addition to his own compositions the estate of Edoardo Farner contained the following scores by other composers:

• Ernst Levy (1895-1891): Fifth symphony for violin, piano and orchestra (1925). Autograph piano reduction by Gertrud Kelterborn.
• A. Merault (pseudonym of Theodore Bedouret) (?-1946): C'est un bapteme, for piano (1943). Autograph manuscript. Dedicated to Edoardo Farner.
• A. Merault (?-1946): Fa Re Do, for piano. Autograph manuscript
• Giovanni Melilli (?-?): Inno Goliardico, for voices and piano. Text by Gizzi-Rava. Handwritten score most likely by a copyist.
• Ernest Viollier (1839-1903): Valseuse – Fantaisie pour chant et piano (1880). Text by Jules Cougnard. Autograph manuscript
• Jean (Giovanni) Ruata (fl. 1968–1997): Sei bella Patria mia, for voice(s) and instrumental accompaniment. Words by T. Ferri. Autograph manuscript
• Renato Brogi (1873-1924): Canzone dei Vendemmiatori, from the operetta "Bracco in Toscany", only the manuscript parts for the SATB chorus. Very likely done by a copyist.