Historical information

This piece of music is the varsoviana dance piece from the Giacomo Meyerbeer opera, ‘L’Etoile Du Nord’ arranged by Camille Michel. The varsoviana was a slow graceful dance originating in Poland in 1850 and appearing in Australia in 1856. ‘L’Etoile Du Nord’ was a comic opera in three acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer in 1854. Meyerbeer was the most successful stage composer of the 19th century but his works are rarely performed today. Camille Michel was an editor, composer, author and arranger working from the 1840s to the 1880s. The varsoviana music arrangement probably dates from the late 1850s or 1860s. It is not clear who ‘Minnie Henty’ was but it is most likely that she was Minnie Adair who married George Henty, the son of Stephen and Jane Henty, pioneer settlers in Western Victoria

Significance

This sheet music is most important mainly because of the ‘Minnie Henty’ signature. The Henty family members, founders of the first permanent Victorian settlement at Portland, were influential in the history of the Warrnambool area because of their connections with surrounding properties and with coastal shipping. The music also has social significance as an example of music popular in 19th century drawing rooms.

Physical description

This is a two-page piece of sheet music (cover and two pages of music notation) with the material printed in black on cream paper. The back cover is blank and the front cover has the title and names of the composer and the arranger with ornate scrolls around the printing. The edges and fold of the pages are much tattered and torn in some places. There is also a Warrnambool and District Historical Society stamp on the front cover and the signature of Minnie Henty.

Inscriptions & markings

Front Cover: ‘Minnie Henty’
‘Varsoviana sur L’Etoile Du Nord de G. Meyerbeer pour le piano par Camille Michel, Ent.Sta.Hall., Price 1s/-, London, Cramer, Beale & Co., 201,Regent Street & 67, Conduit Street and at 167, North Street, Brighton.’