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.
Faith's first instructor in composition was Max Wald, with whom he worked from 1947 to 1949. In the Fall of 1954 he began doctoral work in composition at Indiana University in Bloomington with Bernhard Heiden. Two years later Faith received his first full-time teaching appointment at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. Although he was devoted to teaching piano, his great love for composition continued to flourish. In 1960 he went to Rome as a Fulbright Scholar, studying both piano and composition with Guido Agosti at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He chose Italy because of his interest in Italian history and its early Renaissance art. He also was seeking the "clarity of Italian musical expression."
Faith spent the greatest part of his life at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he assumed the position of Assistant Professor of Music (Piano) in 1961. He remained at the school until 1988, with an interim year at Morningside College in 1968. Many of his most popular compositions are the fruits of his tenure at Arizona: songs, choral works, piano concertos, orchestral and chamber works and opera.
Faith's first published work was the "Legend for Piano," printed by Summy-Birchard in 1967. Shawnee Press began publishing his compositions in 1968, followed by G. Schirmer Inc. in 1971 and Belwin Mills in 1974. In the late 1970s Faith's music achieved significant recognition with performances in London, Washington, D.C., and Tucson, and commercial recordings were released. From 1982 to 1988 he received annual awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Following his retirement from teaching in 1988, Richard Faith relocated from Tucson a number of times. Ever the itinerant musician, he was not content to settle in one place for very long. To freely quote the Yeats poem that he eventually set to music, Faith can be described as a "wandering Aengus" with a "fire in his head." He lived in Reston, Va., in California, Bloomington, In., returning to his home town of Evansville in the late 1990s, and in Denver. In 2015 he made his home in Savoy, Illinois where he gave piano recitals at his independent retirement community and continued to compose up until two weeks before his death. During the last 30 years performances, publications, dissertations and recordings of his works have flourished. His vast musical output includes over 60 chamber works, 21 choral arrangements, 4 operas, 16 orchestral pieces, 61 keyboard works and over 120 songs, including an unofficial contribution to the AIDS Quilt Songbook with his "Winter Journey," with poetry by William Lavonis. Faith's musical works and documents are being housed at the Fred Fox School of Music in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona-Tucson.
Richard Faith died at his home on February 28, 2021 in Savoy twenty days shy of his 95th birthday.
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.
Like many composers who rely on modality rather than tonality, Faith rarely uses key signatures. His harmonic idiom displays a changing palette of colors marked by simultaneous cross-relations, the Lydian sharped fourth, and combinations of this sharped fourth and Mixolydian flatted seventh. Faith has denied any desire to pursue more avant-garde idioms. 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.
Faith's songs adhere strictly to the rhythm dictated by the text of the poem. In fact, he simultaneously composes both melody and accompaniment by singing the text and playing the keyboard and immediately writing it down. Faith's adherence to the text rhythm results in shifting meters to accommodate phrases of varying length and text-derived rhythmic figures often provide the basis for his accompaniments
For subject matter Faith prefers nature imagery over love poetry and until 1994 with his Mother Goose Rhymes, there had been only one comical song—Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat," written in 1960. Many of Faith's settings reflect the nationality of the poet and the time period in which the poem was written. For example, Four Love Songs on Elizabethan lyrics (1982) display thin textures, balanced forms, and traditional harmonic progressions, while the Jean de La Ville de Mirmont :fr:Jean de La Ville de Mirmont songs have a French character that reveals Faith's debt to Ravel and Debussy. More recently, Faith's songs on Moorish poetry evoke an exotic, middle eastern quality. In the beautiful setting of Ben Jonson's "To Celia" (commonly known as "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes"), Faith, by stressing the poem's inherent passion, brings a fresh outlook to a lyric which had become too familiar in arrangements of the old English setting. He achieves this through an operatically conceived vocal line: high and sustained, and encompassing a range of an octave and a fifth.
Two works that do not necessarily fall into specific stylistic categories, but deserve mention nonetheless, are Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Music When Soft Voices Die" and the miniature "Remember Me" by the Victorian Christina Rossetti. The spontaneous quality of the Shelley song reveals the poem's great effect on Faith, who, after nearly two years without song writing (1957), produced one of his most frequently performed pieces. The introduction's angular, twisting melody, taken later by the vocal line, lends a troubled, unsettling quality to the lyric. "Remember Me" was written in 1954 and is unusual for its brevity. The poet, Christina Rossetti, was an Englishwoman of Italian descent and is best known for her words to the hymns "In the Bleak Mid-Winter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas." Faith set three more of her poems which are included in the first published volume of songs by Leyerle Publications.
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.
Selected works
Chamber and instrumental music
Air, for saxophone and piano
Andante and Allegro, for bassoon and piano, 2011*
Chant and Movement, for viola and piano, 2002*
Concerto for Clarinet and Piano, 1989; Southern Music Co.
Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion
Doric Dances, for cor anglais (or alto saxophone) and piano, 2000
Elegy, for clarinet and piano, 1950*
Elegy, for clarinet choir
Essays, for oboe and piano, 1964
Evocation, for trombone and piano, arr. from "Music I Heard With You", 1987*
Evocations, for trumpet (Bb or C) and piano, 2006
Fables, for viola and piano, 1974*
Fantasy, for violin and piano
Fantasy Trio No. 1, for violin, clarinet or oboe and piano, 1982
Fantasy Trio No. 2, for violin, clarinet and piano, 1988
Four Duets, for violin and cello
Harvest Song, for baritone and woodwind quintet
Highland Sketches, for baritone saxophone and piano, 2011*
Incantations, for soprano, viola and piano, 1994
Miniatures, for clarinet and piano, 1992; Belwin Mills
Miniatures, for oboe and piano, 1988; Belwin Mills
Moorish Dances, for violin, percussion and piano, 2002
Movements, for horn and piano, 1966; Shawnee Press
Oboe Concerto, 1982
Pastorale, for cor anglais (or alto saxophone) and piano, 2000
Phantasies, for saxophone and piano, 1985
Poems, for cello and piano (based on Four Faith Songs), 1984
Quintet for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Harp, 1956
Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, 1960*
Rhapsody for Flute and Piano, 2007
Rhapsody for Violin and Piano in Four Movements, 1954-55*
Romance, for violin and piano, 1952*
Second Fantasy Trio, for violin, clarinet and piano, 1995
Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano, 2001
The Solitary Reaper, for baritone and woodwind quintet
Sonata for Cello and Piano, 1985
Sonata for Flute and Piano, 1957
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, 1957
Sonata No. 2 for Trumpet and Piano, 1985
Sonata for Viola and Piano
Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1948*
String Quartet, 1955*
Suite for Bassoon and Piano, 1989; Southern Music Co.
Suite for Clarinet and Piano, 2007
Three Duets for Violin and Viola
Three Nocturnes for Violin and Piano, 1970*
Three Pieces for Oboe and Piano
Trio for Flute, Cello and Harp, 1984
Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, 2003
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, 1965
Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano
Two Pieces for Brass
Two Poems, for voice, violin, cello and piano (Mirmont), arr. 2010
Two Romances, for violin and piano
Two Songs, for violin and piano, 2000*
Two Sea Pieces, for clarinet and piano, 1966
Various pieces for clarinet and piano (Air, Eventide, Harlequin, Serenade), 1987*
Woodwind Quintet
* unpublished
Choral
All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters, for SSA and piano (James Joyce), 1966
The Blackbird, for SATB and piano (William Ernest Henley), 1965
Creation, cantata for soloists and SSATBB, 1993
Daffodils, for SSA and piano (William Wordsworth), 1970
God Be in my Head, for SATB and piano, 1990
Hymn of Praise, for SATB and piano or organ, 1989
Indian Summer, for SATB and piano (Wilfred Campbell), 1964
Kyrie, for SATB and string orchestra (organ version), 1990
Mass (Missa Hominum), for SATB, soloists and piano,1986
Music I Heard With You, for SATB and piano (Conrad Aiken), 1968; G. Schirmer
O Spirit of the Summertime, for SATB and piano or string quartet (William Allingham), 1970
On the Isle of Skye, for TTBB (Richard Faith), 1986
Remember Me, various vocal arrangements (Christina Rossetti), 2003, 2006
Sea Fever, for TBB and piano (John Masefield) 1965; for SATB and piano, 1980
Sleep Child, from The Little Match Girl, for SATB and piano (Michael Ard), 1994
Sonnet 54, for TTBB (William Shakespeare), 1986
Spring, the Sweet Spring, for TTBB (Thomas Nashe), 1986
Though I Speak, for SATB and piano (St. Paul), 1991
The Waters of Babylon, cantata in 4 movements, for baritone solo, SATB chorus and piano (Jeremiah, Isaiah), 1976
The Wayfarer, for SATB and violin, viola, cello, horn and piano (Rainer Maria Rilke), 1996
What Sweeter Music, for SATB and piano (Robert Herrick), 1993
Opera
Beauty and the Beast, 3 acts, for piano, orchestra or small chamber orchestra (Michael Ard), 1992
The Little Match Girl, 1 act, for piano or chamber orchestra (Michael Ard), 1979; orchestration 1990-91
Sleeping Beauty, 2 acts, for piano or orchestra (Michael Ard), 1970
The Wydah's Gold, 5 scenes, for piano or chamber orchestra (Robert Weller), 1997
Orchestra
Aureole, 1981
Concert Overture, 1988
Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra
Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, 1969; kermitpeters.net
Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra, 1975; chamber arrangement, 1998
Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra, 1982
Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra, 1987
Elegy, 1966
Festivals, 1980; originally Concerto for Two Pianos, 1972
Idylls, for oboe and chamber orchestra, 1982
Lydian Overture, 1984
Odyssey, 1965
A Pastoral Overture, 1964
Phantasie, for piano and orchestra, 1977
Processional, for string orchestra, 1994
Sonata No. 1 for piano; orchestrated 1995
Piano and organ
Allegheny Serenade, for two pianos, 1998*
Andante and Allegro for Two Pianos, 1998*
Arabesques, 2000*
Carousels, 1991; Belwin Mills
Carousels, for two pianos, 1972*
Celebration
Concerto for Two Pianos, 1973-74; Shawnee Press, Hal Leonard
Dance Suite, for 4 hands, 1990
Dances, 1977; Shawnee Press, Hal Leonard
Differencias, 1969*
Elegy, for organ (arr. of "Elegy for Orchestra"), 1991*
Etude "Stratification", 1984
Family Portraits, 2006
Fantasy No. 1, 1968*
Fantasy No. 2, 1987; Shawnee Press
Finger Paintings, 1966; Shawnee Press, Hal Leonard
Five Preludes and a Nocturne, 1967; Shawnee Press
Floating
Four Cameos, 1971; Shawnee Press
Four Timbres, 2009
Gaelic Suite, 1993*
Gallantries, 2009
The Highwayman
Islands, 1970, 1985; Shawnee Press
Le Mont Saint Michel, 2008*
Legend, 1967; Summy Birchard
Little Preludes, 1966*
Masquerades, 1988; Belwin Mills
Moments in a Child's World, 1968; Shawnee Press
Night Piece
Nocturne, 1975
Pastoral Suite, 1989, revised 2009; Shawnee Press
Piano Concerto No. 1, 1969
Piano Concerto No. 2, 1975
Piano Concerto No. 3, 1982
Performance Practices in Late 20th-Century Piano; Alfred Publishing Co.
Piano Transcriptions of Songs, 2005-10*
Pipes, 1987; Belwin Mills
Recollections. Nine Short Pieces, 1969, 1974; Shawnee Press
Rhapsody, 1980*
Russian Folk Tales, 1990; Belwin Mills
Service Sonata, for organ, 1970*
Six Preludes and a Nocturne
Skandian Suite, 2008
Sketches, 1987; Belwin Mills
Sonata No. 1, 1962, revised 2010
Sonata No. 2, 1957
Sonata No. 3, 1958
Sonatina, 1987
Sonatina, 1987; Belwin Mills
Souvenir from 12 by 11, 1979; Alfred Publishing Co.
Suite "Trouveres", for harpsichord, 2002*
Tableaux, 4 hands 1987; Belwin Mills
Three Etudes, 1978, revised 2009
Three for Two, for two pianos 1998*
Three Night Songs, 1964, 1980, 2010
Three Sonatinas
Toccata "The Dark Riders", 1969; Shawnee Press
Travels, 1970; Shawnee
Two Nocturnes, 1976
Voyages, 2001*
Woodland Adventures, 1988*
* unpublished
Songs
(published by Leyerle Publications unless otherwise indicated)
Noon (Robinson Jeffers), 1944-45; revised 2004*
Sea Fever (John Masefield), 1945
Music I Heard With You (Conrad Aiken), 1946-47
Granite (Lew Sarett), 1948*
She Weeps Over Rahoon (James Joyce), 1950*
Dark Hills (Edward Arlington Robinson), 1950
Spring, the Sweet Spring (Thomas Nashe), 1950-51
Tumultuous Moment (Lew Sarett), 1951*
Desire in Spring (Francis Ledwidge), 1952
Evening (Rupert Brooke), 1952*
To Helen (Edgar Allan Poe), 1953
Remember Me (Christina Rossetti), 1954
The Blackbird (William Ernest Henley), 1955
Music When Soft Voices Die (Percy Bysshe Shelley), 1957
Dry Spell (Lizzi Morrison), 1957*
River Roses (D.H. Lawrence), 1958*
Dover Beach (Matthew Arnold), 1958
In the Evening of Inhabiting Mists (Linda Joy), 1959*
Spring (Jack Wertz), 1960*
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (Edward Lear), 1960
Bobby Shafto (Mother Goose), 1961
Laura Sleeping (Charles Cotton), 1962
Hymn of Praise (The Jewish Union Prayerbook), 1962
The Sun has Set (Emily Brontë), 1964-65
The Solitary Reaper with flute and piano (William Wordsworth), 1966
Harvest Song with flute and piano (Joseph Campbell (poet)), 1967*
Caterpillar (Lillian Vaneda), 1967; revised in 1992 as Firefly (June Presswood)
Night Piece (Joseph Campbell (poet)), 1970*
The River (Patrick MacDonogh), 1971, revised 2009*
On the Isle of Skye (Richard Faith), 1973
I have Embarked, for voice, cello (and violin) and piano;(Jean de la Ville Mirmont :fr:Jean de La Ville de Mirmont; trans. by Martha Belen), 1975
Chant with cello and piano (vocalise), 1976
It is a Beauteous Evening (William Wordsworth), 1976
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (William Butler Yeats), 1980
The Wild Swans at Coole (William Butler Yeats), 1981
The Wind Blows Out of the Gates of the Day (William Butler Yeats), 1981
To Celia (Drink to me only with thine eyes, Ben Jonson after Philostratus), 1982
He Remembers Forgotten Beauty (William Butler Yeats), 1982; Classical Vocal Reprints
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 L. 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
The Isles of Greece (Lord Byron), 1995
A Sailor's Song (Audrey Weinreis), 1995
The Isle of Pines (Po chü-i trans. by L. Cranmer Byng), 1995
Time does not bring relief (Edna St. Vincent Millay), 1995*
To a Waterfowl (William Cullen Bryant), 1996
The Death of a Conqueror (Jared Freedeen), 1996*
Though the Way be Dark (Carl A. Dallinger), 1996
Autumn Memories (Carl A. Dallinger), 1996
A Moment in Time (Carl A. Dallinger), 1997
Old Mother Goose (Mother Goose), 1997
My Mother Said (Mother Goose), 1997
Sing a Song of Sixpence (Mother Goose), 1997
Old Woman, Old Woman (Mother Goose), 1997
Love is not all (Edna St. Vincent Millay), 1998*
And you as well must die, beloved dust (Edna St. Vincent Millay), 1998*
Low Moon Land (Francis Ledwidge), 1998*
Apollo and Daphne for Mezzo, Baritone and Piano (Richard Faith), 2000*
Water (Michael Ard), 2000; revised 2010; Classical Vocal Reprints
The Stolen Child (William Butler Yeats), 2001; Classical Vocal Reprints
Prelude (John Millington Synge), 2001*
Vocalise, 2001*
Fire (Michael Ard), 2001; revised 2010; Classical Vocal Reprints
Air (Michael Ard), 2002; revised 2010; Classical Vocal Reprints
Earth (Michael Ard), 2002; revised 2010; Classical Vocal Reprints
The Dead Poet, duet for tenor and baritone (Lord Alfred Douglas), 2002*
O Spirit of the Summertime for High Voice, Cello and Piano (William Allingham), 2003*
At the Mid Hour of Night (Thomas Moore), 2005*
Sudden Light (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), 2005*
The Fiddler of Dooney (William Butler Yeats), 2007; Classical Vocal Reprints
Verses from Lamentations (Jeremiah), 2007*
Sonnet 104 (William Shakespeare), 2007*
Drifting (Li Po (Li Bai) trans. by L. Cranmer Byng), 2009*
The Rose of Tralee (William Pembroke Mulchinock), 2009*
Echoes: Two Songs in One (John Todhunter, Thomas Moore), 2010*
Poems from the Voices of Gaia (Michael Ard), 2010; Classical Vocal Reprints
The Ancient Wind (Po chü-i trans. by L. Cranmer Byng), 2010*
Sonnet 116, new setting (William Shakespeare), 2011; Classical Vocal Reprints
There Will Be Rest (Sara Teasdale); for Karen Krueger, 2011; Classical Vocal Reprints
On first looking into Chapman's Homer (John Keats), 2012 Classical Vocal Reprints
Much have I travell'd in realms of gold (John Keats), 2014*
From House of Dust, duet for tenor and baritone (Conrad Potter Aiken), 2014*
* unpublished
Discography
Incantations & Rhymes: Music for Soprano, Viola, and Piano. Karen Peeler, soprano; Henrietta Neeley, viola; Robin Guy, piano. Superdups, Tewksbury, MA.
Music I heard With You — David Jimerson Sings Songs of Richard Faith
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
Further reading
ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, 4th ed. (New York: Jaques Cattell Press, 1980).
Anderson, Ruth: Contemporary American Composers. A Biographical Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1982).
Kimball, Carol: Song. A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006).
References
1926 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American pianists
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American pianists
21st-century classical pianists
American classical composers
American classical pianists
American male classical pianists
American male classical composers
Piano pedagogues
People from Evansville, Indiana
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni