A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Warnots, Henry
WARNOTS, Henry, born July 11, 1832, at Brussels, was taught music first by his father, and in 1849 became a pupil at the Brussels Conservatoire, in harmony, pianoforte-playing, and singing. In 1856 he appeared in opera at Liège as a light tenor, and was engaged for a short period at the Opera Comique, Paris. He next sang at Strassburg, and on Jan. 24, 1865, an operetta of his composition, 'Une Heure du Mariage,' was performed there. In 1867 he was engaged at the National Theatre, Brussels, and in October sang in Flemish the hero's part in De Miry's 'Franz Ackermann.' In December of the same year he obtained a professorship at the Conservatoire, and retired from the stage. In 1869 he was appointed Director of the orchestra of the Brussels City Musical Society, and in 1870 he founded a school of music at St. Josse-ten-Noode-Schaernbeeck, a suburb of Brussels, and of which he is still Director. In addition to the operetta, M. Warnots has composed a patriotic cantata performed in 1867 at Ghent. His daughter and pupil,
Elly Warnots, born 1857, at Liège, made her début in 1878, at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. In 1881 she was engaged at the Pergola, Florence, and on May 17 of the same year made her first appearance in England at the Royal Italian Opera, as Marguirite de Valois, in the Huguenots. During the season she also played the part of the same Queen in Hérold's Pré aux Clercs, and was favourably received. Since then Miss Warnots has been frequently heard at the Promenade Concerts, at the Crystal Palace, and elsewhere.