Edoardo Farner

Edoardo Farner was a Swiss composer in the first half of the 20th century. Although some of his compositions were published and recorded, I could not find very much about him, his life and work. And so I present here his piecemeal biography and the content of his estate for information purposes. If you know more about Edoardo Farner, I would be pleased if you will share this information with me.

Edoardo Farner (also Edouard Farner) was born around 1895 most likely in the canton Ticino in Switzerland. He studied dentistry at the University of Geneva and earned a doctor's degree in this profession in 1927. He was founding member of the "Association des Medecins Dentistes de Geneve".

Edoardo Farner must have been musically educated because around 1940 he started to compose. At that time he still lived in Geneva at the "18, rue de Carouge".

He created a pseudonym for his compositions from the first letters of his given and family name and signed his works as "Faredo". He mainly composed songs and chansons, a few piano and instrumental works. Some of these works were published by a Genevan publisher called "Edition Vogert". And his composition "Peppina bella!" was recorded by the Orchestra Allegro with tenor Libero de Luca and released on a shellac record. The manuscripts show no composition that was composed after 1950, so Edoardo Farner must have stopped composing at that time for unknown reason.

In the 1940s Edoardo Farner was president of the association "Pro Ticino" in Geneva.

Edoardo Farner died on 20 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 (?-?): C'est un bapteme, for piano (1943). Autograph manuscript. Dedicated to Edoardo Farner.
• A. Merault (?-?): Fa Re Do, for piano. Autograph manuscript
• G. Melilli (?-?): Inno Goliardico, for voices and piano. Text by Gizzi-Rava. Handwritten score most likely by a copyist.
• Ernest Viollier (?-?): Valseuse – Fantaisie pour chant et piano (1880). Text by Jules Cougnard. Handwritten score most likely by a copyist.
• Jean Ruata (?-?): Sei bella Patria mia, for voices and guitar. Private copy of the score.
• Unknown composer: Canzone dei Vendemmiatori, for SATB chorus
• I own the four parts for soprano, alto, tenor and bass and none of them bears a composer name. The handwriting is slightly different to the other manuscripts by Edoardo Farner, so it is uncertain if the composition is by him.