Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] 83

Fairlight C(omputer) M(usical) I(nstrument).

A digital Synthesizer with a sampling facility designed by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie and manufactured from 1979 by Fairlight Instruments in Sydney. Following bankruptcy in 1988, Fairlight ESP was founded in Broadway, New South Wales, in 1989. See Electronic instruments, §IV, 5(iii).

Fairport Convention.

British folk-rock group. The group was formed in mid-1967 by Ashley Hutchings (b 1945; bass), Judy Dyble (b 1949; vocals), Martin Lamble (b 1949; drums), Richard Thompson (b 1949; guitar and vocals), Simon Nicol (b 1950; guitar and vocals) and drummer Shaun Frater; they were joined shortly afterwards by Iain Matthews (Iain Matthews MacDonald; b 1946; vocals). Their first album, Fairport Convention (Pol., 1968), showed an interest in blending folk music with rock and was influenced by American bands such as the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane, as well as by the folk singers Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Sandy Denny (1946–78; vocals, guitar and keyboards) replaced Judy Dyble, and together with Thompson and a changing cast of musicians, the group released a series of albums that established them as the most influential practitioners of a distinctive style of British folk-rock that draws especially on English traditional lyrics and melodies. Unhalfbricking, their third album, and especially Liege and Leaf (both Isl., 1969), were both successful in the British charts and marked the group’s greatest musical achievement. The departure of Denny did not diminish the band’s commercial appeal, as Full House (Isl., 1970) was a hit in the UK charts; similarly, Angel Delight (Isl., 1971), released after Thompson left, was the group’s only album to reach the top ten of the UK charts. Despite their popularity in England, the group had little commercial success in the USA.

With constantly changing personnel, Fairport Convention remained active until 1979, though never again enjoyed their earlier popularity or musical influence. In the early 1980s various members of the band reunited annually to perform at a festival in Cropredy, Oxfordshire – an event that has since become a fixture on the British folk scene. Since 1986, versions of the group have released albums from time to time, including Gladys Leap (Woodworm, 1986), Red and Gold (New Routs, 1989) and Jewel in the Crown (Woodworm, 1995).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

K. Dallas: ‘Suddenly Folk Rock is Respectable Again’, Melody Maker (7 Feb 1970), 7 only

P. Humphries: Meet on the Ledge: a History of Fairport Convention (London, 1982, 2/1997 as Meet on the Ledge: the Classic Years)

JOHN COVACH

Fairy bells.

See under Bell harp.

Faisandat, Michel.

See Fezandat, Michel.

Faisst, Immanuel (Gottlob Friedrich)

(b Esslingen, 13 Oct 1823; d Stuttgart, 5 June 1894). German organist, teacher, conductor and composer. At his father’s wish he trained for the ministry at Schönthal (1836–40) and Tübingen (1840–44), but then decided to make music his career. He went to Berlin, but except for a few lessons from Mendelssohn, Haupt (organ) and Dehn (theory) he was a self-taught musician. He settled in Stuttgart as an organ teacher in 1846 and soon became head of the Verein für Klassische Kirchenmusik (1847–91). In 1857 he helped found the Stuttgart Musikschule; under his directorship (from 1859) it became one of the most famous in Germany. In 1865 he was appointed organist and choirmaster of the collegiate church of the Heilige Kreuz. He directed several choral groups and was prominent throughout Germany both as an adjudicator and as an organ recitalist. Faisst’s compositions, almost all vocal or choral, are forgotten, except for a recently revised Gavotte and March for timpani and orchestra. He also composed a set of Stuttgarter Synagogengesänge (Stuttgart, 1911) for cantor and SATB chorus with organ. His writings include ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte der Claviersonate’ (Caecilia, xxv, 1846, pp.129–58, 201–31; xxvi, 1847, pp.1–28, 73–83; repr. in NBJb, i, 1924, pp.7–85), for which he received the PhD from Tübingen University in 1849, and (with L. Stark) Elementar- und Chorgesangschule für hohere Lehranstalten (Stuttgart, 1880–82). His system of teaching theory and composition by copious use of examples was codified and widespread, particularly in the USA, in the books of his pupil Percy Goetschius, for example The Material Used in Musical Composition (Stuttgart, 1882, rev. 14/1913).

BRUCE CARR

Faitello, Vigilio Blasio

(b Bolzano, 30 Jan 1710; d Hall am Inn, nr Innsbruck, 14 March 1768). Italian composer. His brother Candido Faitello (d Bolzano, 5 Oct 1761) was chaplain at the parish church at Bolzano in 1725, and is known as a composer. Vigilio may have been a choirboy at the same church; he was a tenor and violinist there from 1732 to 1747. On 18 March 1747 he moved to Hall in Tyrol as Kapellmeister to the royal nunnery there. This was one of the most famous and best-equipped musical institutions in the Tyrol, and Faitello had at his disposal better singers and instrumentalists than almost any of the other composers publishing sacred music at the time.

Faitello’s music is much more Italianate in style than that of his German contemporaries, especially in the sacred arias opp.1 and 2, evidently written for the castratos at Hall. His vocal lines, full of wide leaps, long complicated melismas and chromaticisms, are much too difficult for the average singers at whom most published sacred music was aimed. The pieces are most interesting for the unusually detailed phrase markings which Faitello inserted in the voice parts.

WORKS

Giubilo sacro e festivo, op.1, 1v, 2 vn, va, vc, org (Augsburg, ?1745)

Octo dulcisona modulamina, op.2, 1v, str, org (St Gallen, 1752)

Illustris corona stellarum duodecim, off, op.3, 4vv, orch (Augsburg, 1754)

2 cant., 1 orat, A-Imf

15 masses, 12 orat, 40 cant., 7 lit, 8 off [listed in Hall am Inn Stadtsarchiv]

Incidental music to Jesuit plays, 1748–65, lost

BIBLIOGRAPHY

W. Senn: Aus dem Kulturleben einer süddeutschen Kleinstadt: Musik, Schule und Theater der Stadt Hall in Tirol in der Zeit vom 15. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert (Innsbruck, 1938)

‘Pfarrschule und Kirchenchor’, Haller Buch: Festschrift zur 650-Jahrfeier der Stadterhebung (Innsbruck, 1953), 434–58, esp. 454

ELIZABETH ROCHE