Eaton Faning

Joseph Eaton Faning (20 May 1850 – 28 October 1927), known as Eaton Faning, was an English composer and teacher. The son of a music teacher, he became the organist of a church at the age of twelve. He attended the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Arthur Sullivan. He was an outstanding student, winning many awards. He joined the staff of the Academy in 1874 and later taught at the Guildhall School of Music, the Royal College of Music and Harrow School.

As a composer, Faning's works ranged from operettas, including a one-act Savoy Opera, to church music, including a Mass and a Magnificat. He also composed orchestral music including a symphony, and was best known for his songs, of which the most popular was the part-song The Vikings.

Biography

Early years

Faning was born in Helston, Cornwall, where his father, Roger Faning, was a music teacher. Faning received his first instruction in music (piano and violin) from his parents. At the age of five he made his first public appearance at a local function, when he played a violin solo on a tiny fiddle. When he was nine years old, his father died, and the family moved to Ipswich, Suffolk. Faning sang alto in the choir of a local church and studied the organ and the violin with local teachers. At the age of twelve, he became organist of All Saints' Church Holbrook, a village seven miles from Ipswich, where he had to walk when the carrier's cart was not available. He subsequently studied under Lindley Nunn, organist of St. Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, who appointed Faning his deputy. This post was of the greatest practical value to the young musician. He played at the daily evening service for five years, and was deputy trainer of the choir, which consisted of sixty voices.

In April 1870, just before his twentieth birthday, Faning entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student. He studied composition under Sterndale Bennett (then Principal) and Arthur Sullivan, and, with other professors, singing, piano, cello and organ. He later recalled how much he learnt from Bennett about form, and from Sullivan about orchestration. The success of Faning's piece led the faculty of the Academy to establish an operatic class. It ran in tandem with Patience and then Iolanthe until March 1883. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company also toured the piece in the British provinces. In 1882 Faning wrote his third short operetta The Head of the Poll, presented by the German Reeds, with a libretto by Arthur Law. The reviews were good, though they concentrated on the libretto, praising the music in passing as "very spirited", "pretty" and "merry and melodious". In the same year Faning's overture The Holiday was played at the promenade concerts, Covent Garden. Faning composed a comic "Savage Dance" (intermezzo) for orchestra, and he conducted it, dressed "in the garb of a savage", for The Savage Club entertainment at the Royal Albert Hall in July 1883. This was a fund-raising concert for the Royal College of Music in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales. His other compositions ranged from Buttercups and Daisies, a pastoral cantata for children's voices (1892), a Mass in B minor, works for solo piano, and a variety of songs and choral works. His two most popular songs were "I've something sweet to tell you," and a part song (originally with piano accompaniment, later orchestrated), "The Vikings".

He retired to Brighton, where he died at the age of 77.