Varney, Pierre Joseph Alphonse

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Varney, Pierre Joseph Alphonse

Varney, Pierre Joseph Alphonse, French composer and conductor, father of Louis Varney; b. Paris, Dec. 1,1811; d. there, Feb. 7,1879. He studied with Reicha at the Paris Cons., then was active as a theater conductor in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. From 1840 to 1850 he was director of the French Opera Co. in New Orleans, where he married Jeanne Aimée Andry. The family returned to Paris in 1851. Varney set to music a poem by Rouget de Lisle, Mourir pour la patrie,which became popular during the Paris revolution of 1848.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire