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American composer Richard Faith (born 1926) 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 on March 20, 1926, 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 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.〔Lavonis, William. "The Songs of Richard Faith." DMA Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1992〕 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.〔Lavonis, William. "The Songs of Richard Faith." DMA Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1992〕 Faith's first instructor in composition was Max Wald, with whom he worked from 1947-49. 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."〔Lavonis, William. "The Songs of Richard Faith." DMA Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1992〕 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 1982-1988 he received annual awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Since his retirement from teaching in 1988, Richard Faith relocated from Tucson a number of times: to Washington, D.C., California, back to his home town of Evansville, to Denver and now he makes his home again in Tucson. During the last 20 years performances, publications, dissertations and recordings of his works have flourished. To date he has written over 57 chamber works, 21 choral arrangements, 4 operas, 16 orchestral pieces, 61 keyboard works and over 121 songs, including an unofficial contribution to the AIDS Quilt Songbook with his "Winter Journey," with poetry by William Lavonis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richard Faith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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