Richard Faith

Richard Faith (March 20, 1926 - February 28, 2021) was an American composer who has been known primarily in university music circles as a concert pianist, professor of piano, and a published composer of piano pedagogy literature, orchestral and chamber works, opera and most prolifically, song. A neo-romantic, Faith has always been first and foremost a melodist.

Biography Richard Bruce Faith was born in Evansville, Indiana. His mother was a homemaker active in community affairs, and his father, a dentist. Both parents were very supportive of his choice to become a musician as they too came from musical backgrounds. Faith's mother studied piano before her five children were born; his father picked up musical skills without a teacher and played piano, violin and sang in the church choir. Around age eight, Richard began to study piano with his fifteen-year-old cousin and he soon began improvising melodies on the keyboard. Between the ages of eleven and twelve he began writing down his piano compositions, one of which later became a work for women's chorus entitled "Daffodils" (I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud) with poetry by William Wordsworth.

Before his natural bent toward composing could take root and grow, Faith embarked on a career as a concert pianist. In 1940 at age fourteen, he appeared with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and after a few years of study he entered Chicago Musical College, where he received both undergraduate and master's degrees in piano performance. At age nineteen he placed in a collegiate contest and was given the opportunity to perform in Chicago's Orchestra Hall. The work was Chopin's Concerto in F Minor (Op. 21). This was followed in 1947 by his professional debut at Kimball Hall (Chicago) and, in 1948, by a return to Orchestra Hall for a solo recital and an engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During the early fifties Faith concertized as a recital accompanist for both singers and instrumentalists in programs that included his own compositions.

Musical style and songs Faith's music displays a freely modulating harmonic language within the boundaries of tonality that combines neo-romantic and impressionistic qualities. With Debussy, Ravel, and Rachmaninoff as important influences on his music, and Brahms as a model with respect to form, Faith also shares musical traits with Vaughan Williams, particularly in the areas of modality and harmonic color and with Roger Quilter, the Victorian whose songs displayed a trait known as "decorous Romanticism." Faith's English flavor is even further highlighted by the composer's choice of poetry, much of which comes from English and Irish authors. Having developed a somewhat dry wit and an infectious, silly humor, Faith infrequently reflected these personality traits in his music, leaning more toward a sound that exudes a deep longing and romantic spirit.

Faith's song output spans the years 1944 to the present—his entire life as a composer. The over 120 settings run the stylistic gamut from sophisticated concert pieces to simple miniatures, duets, vocalises and selections with obbligato instruments, including flute, cello, viola and harp. His settings are generally for medium voice. Some have been written for specific singers to whom he has dedicated the music. Many of the songs are grouped according to subject matter, but are not necessarily musically connected. They may be sung as sets or separately, and may be transposed to suit the singer. Faith's tempo indications use traditional Italian terminology and the metronome markings are only suggestions. He is a gracious composer who allows individuals to develop their own interpretations of his music.

Because Faith himself is a pianist, many of the songs have sophisticated accompaniments. Sometimes the piano doubles the voice, though hardly ever through an entire piece. At other times the piano will play a countermelody to the voice to form a kind of obbligato. Like Debussy, Faith has a fondness for triplets, because of the movement and flow they add to a song. Thomas Nashe's "Spring, the Sweet Spring" (1950) is an exercise in perpetual motion for the accompanist, with only brief repose at the end of each stanza. This inventive, florid accompaniment, along with Faith's strict use of ABA form, thin texture, and a definite key signature (G) lend a neo-baroque character to this Elizabethan poem. The harmony, however, remains contemporary, with Faith's use of incidental chromatics and added-note chords. Earlier experiments in progressive styles met with little success, and if anything beyond the romantic exists in Faith's music, it may be the influence of Hindemith which was furthered by his studies at Indiana University with Bernhard Heiden, himself a Hindemith pupil. Traces of this influence can be discerned in the appearance of quartal/quintal harmony in many of the songs. This is seen in "The Blackbird" by the Victorian author William Ernest Henley composed in 1955. The accompaniment begins with broken ninth and tenth intervals supported by mildly dissonant chords; it is then followed by a hocket-like passage. This underlying texture continues through the first half of the song, contrasting with legato vocal melody.

Faith's use of arch form or "coming full circle" reflects the influence of Brahms, whose many songs fall into this structural category. He may end with a literal repeat, a transposed portion, or only a fragment of A, and may repeat text, music, or both in the process. Arch form is also reflected in the use of dynamics. Many songs begin quietly, reach a climax in an interior section, and then end as they began.

The composer's selection of poetry brings to the foreground some of literature's most famous writers in works that in this day and age have been unjustly neglected by the general public: Conrad Aiken, Edward Lear, Charles Cotton, and Christina Rossetti, to name a few. In his later years Faith began to set more diverse poets, including Moorish, Islamic and Chinese authors. That Faith is well-read is apparent not only in his choice of fine poetry to set to music, but also in his allusions to literature in many of his instrumental works. In addition, he often selects longer poems than would be considered usual for a song and writes few miniatures. The success of setting a lengthy piece of verse seems to depend upon Faith's ability to delay the listener's climactic expectations by moving through harmonic ambiguity until reaching an emotionally charged section that merits a cadence—usually on open sonorities without the thirds. This event may repeat itself many times with a greater or lesser dynamic level, thereby expanding his music resources.

Many of Faith's songs have themes related to the sea, and there are a number of others in which the sea figures as an integral element in the poem. This stems from the composer"s extreme fascination with water, having been raised near the high banks of the wide Ohio River in Evansville, Indiana. "Sea Fever" (John Masefield), one of Faith's few biographically influenced songs, displays such a depth of emotion rare for a nineteen-year-old. It is an important early song because it established many compositional techniques to which the composer returned throughout his lyrical output. Another "sea" example is "Ships" an English translation of "Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés" by Jean de la Ville de Mirmont :fr:Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, the French World War I poet killed in action in 1914. This poem was also set by Fauré in that composer's final song cycle L'horizon chimérique. Faith's song is scored for cello obbligato, piano, and female voice.

Faith skillfully translates into music the emotions behind the words of the world's greatest authors. Although many of his songs display common characteristics, each reveals an approach that allows the poem's individuality to shine through. Performers of art song, both singers and pianists, will appreciate Faith's output, considering the variety of poems he set to music and the gracious way he treats the voice and piano in his neo-romantic/impressionistic manner. Somewhat reticent of theoretical discussions, however, Faith considers himself only to be a composer of the heart, who relies on his musical gifts to bring joy to others. O, the Month of May (Thomas Dekker (writer)), 1982 Sonnet 54 (O, how much more does beauty beauteous seem, William Shakespeare), 1982 In the Land of Sleeping Seeds for two high voices (Mary Stigers), 1982* It was a Lover and his Lass (William Shakespeare), 1982 The Song of Wandering Aengus (William Butler Yeats), 1982 I Hear the Shadowy Horses (William Butler Yeats), 1982 If I Were (poet unknown), 1982 Ships for voice, cello (and violin) and piano (Jean de la Ville Mirmont :fr:Jean de La Ville de Mirmont; trans. by Martha Belen), 1983 Stanzas Written in Dejection near Naples (Percy Bysshe Shelley), 1984* Flight (James Wood), 1984* Why Must I Go (James Wood), 1984* Perhaps (James Wood), 1984* Though I Speak (Corinthians I, 13, St. Paul), 1985* Annabel Lee (Edgar Allan Poe), 1985 The Passionate Shepherd to his Love (Christopher Marlowe), 1985 Serenade (anon. medieval Latin; trans. by Helen Waddell), 1985 Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds, William Shakespeare), 1986* The City in the Sea (Edgar Allan Poe), 1989 To Jane or The Keen Stars were Twinkling (Percy Bysshe Shelley), 1989 Echo (Christina Rossetti), 1991 Spring Quiet (Christina Rossetti), 1991 No Music in the Wind (Lou Anna Thomas), 1991* My Heart is like a Singing Bird (Christina Rossetti), 1992 Scenes from Macbeth for Soprano, Baritone and Piano (William Shakespeare), 1992* Apollo and Daphne for Mezzo, Baritone and Piano (Richard Faith), 1992* Return of Spring ( trans. by Launcelot Cranmer-Byng), 1992 Absence (Abū Bakr al-Turushi; trans. by Cola Franzen), 1993* Serene Evening (Muhammad ibn Ghālib al-Rusāfi; trans. by Cola Franzen), 1993* Split my Heart (Ibn Hazm; trans. by Cola Franzen), 1993* Leavetaking (Ibn Jakh; trans. by Cola Franzen), 1993* Oh, Fateful Night (Ibn Safr al-Marīnī; trans. by Cola Franzen), 1993* Winter Journey (William Lavonis), 1993 All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters (James Joyce), 1993* To Chloris (Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet), 1993* Where are you going to, my pretty maid? (Mother Goose), 1994 Jenny Wren (Mother Goose), 1994 I saw three ships (Mother Goose), 1994 The Queen of Hearts (Mother Goose), 1994 God Be in My Head (Sarum Primer), 1994 What Sweeter Music (Robert Herrick), 1994 So all day long the noise of battle rolled (Alfred, Lord Tennyson), 1994* Crossing the Bar (Alfred, Lord Tennyson), 1994 Wisdom is Sweeter than Honey (Makeda, Queen of Sheba), 1994; publ.as INCANTATIONS, Musik Fabrik, France Come, my Beloved (Song of Songs: The Shulammite), 1994; publ.as INCANTATIONS, Musik Fabrik, France I Bind you by Oath (A Roman Spell), 1994; publ.as INCANTATIONS, Musik Fabrik, France I Cannot Dance, O Lord (Mechtild of Magdeburg), 1994; publ.as INCANTATIONS, Musik Fabrik, France So, we'll go no more a roving, duet for tenor and baritone (Lord Byron), 1995; Classical Vocal Reprints Remember Me: Songs by Richard Faith. Lesley Manring, soprano; Julie Simson, mezzo-soprano; William Lavonis, tenor; Kurt Ollmann, baritone; Elizabeth Rodgers, piano; Richard Faith, piano. eDream Studios, Milwaukee, WI. Remember Me: Songs by Richard Faith. Brenda Baker, soprano; Richard Faith, piano. Rhapsody-Chamber Music of Richard Faith Songs of Love and Longing, Valerie Errante, soprano The Songs of Richard Faith. Joseph Hopkins, baritone; Richard Faith, piano. Hopkins Recording Company Incantations and Rhymes. Trio Ariana The Ensemble da Camera of Washington. Fantasy Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano New Works for Bassoon. Suite for Bassoon and Piano The Catalina Chamber Orchestra. Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra