Faith, Walter

Walter Faith

Walter Faith was born 14 April 1921 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He completed school in 1939 and was drafted for military service from 1940 to 1945. As a musician Walter Faith was self-taught. After World War II Walter Faith first worked as a orchestra violinist in the Hessisches Sinfonie-Orchester and Frankfurter Opern-Orchester. Since autumn 1946 he worked as a pianist and kapellmeister at the Bavarian Broadcasting in Munich. He participated in many broadcasted concerts and recording performances. Walter Faith also composed music and in 1949 and 1950 two of his works were part of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. Walter Faith died in 1984.


There is little known about Walter Faith and even less about his work catalogue. From different ressources I could compile the following work list:

  • Sonatine for piano op.2
  • Symphonic songs for medium voice and orchestra op.9
  • Nocturnes for alto, 2 violas and 2 cellos op.10 (1943)
  • Sonata for violin and piano op.12
  • Four songs for baritone and piano op.13 (1. Vorfrühling; 2. Pfingstliches Adagio; 3. Es ist lang; 4. Herbst)
  • Symphonic ouverture "Prinz Kuckuck" op.14
  • String quartet in F op.15
  • Symphony in C op.16
  • stage music for Leo Weismantel's "Die Parabel vom Weinberg" for soprano, choir and orchestra (1945)
  • Music for winds, piano and percussion op.18 (1949, world premiere at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse)
  • Concertino for piano and orchestra op.19 (1949, world premiere 4.4.1951 with Bernhard Böttner (piano) and the Munich Philharmonic)
  • Sinfonietta in one movement (Hommage a Richard Strauss), for orchestra (1950, world premiere at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, conducted by Hermann Scherchen)
  • Geistliches Konzert, for alto, narrator and orchestra (1951)
  • Divertimento for saxophone, harpsichord, string orchestra with trumpet (1951) (premiered by saxophonist Jules de Vries)
  • Cello chamber concerto for solo cello, winds and percussion (1952)
  • Ballet suite "Revanche" for orchestra (1956, libretto by Kiu Eckstein)
  • Variations upon an Ohio folk song op.25 (1957)
  • 4 hymns of Saint Gregory the Great with concertante intermezzi for alto and orchestra (1957)
  • Sonatine for violin and piano
  • opera on Andersen's "The Little Match Girl"


Some information from the biography and the work list are taken from a letter Walter Faith sent to the Darmstädter Ferienkurse on 08.02.1951. This letter is archived at the International Music Institute Darmstadt (IMD).

In my possession are five autograph manuscripts of compositions by Walter Faith. These compositions are the Nocturnes op.10, the stage music to "Die Parabel vom Weinberg", the piano concertino op.19, the "Geistliches Konzert" and the Cello chamber concerto. None of these works was ever published.



1) Piano concertino op.19


The Concertino for piano and orchestra op.19 was composed in 1949 and received its premiere two years later with Bernhard Böttner (piano), the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Walter Faith. A recording of this performance is preserved in the archives of the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Faith_PianoConcertino.pdf


2) Nocturnes op.10


The Nocturnes are a cycle of 11 songs for alto, 2 violas and 2 cellos. The work was composed between 1943 and 1948 and contains the following songs:

  1. Sternennacht (text by Karl Henckell)
  2. Winterabend (text by Wilhelm von Scholz)
  3. Aus meinem Tagebuch (text by Karl Hauptmann)
  4. Traumsommernacht (text by Otto Julius Bierbaum)
  5. Stimmen im Walde (text by Stefan Zweig)
  6. Lied (text by Otto Julius Bierbaum)
  7. Frühsommernacht (text by Hermann Hesse)
  8. Die kleine Waise (text by Friedrich Fischer-Friesenhausen)
  9. Zur Nacht (Richard von Schaukal)
  10. Aus dem "Nachtlied" (Zarathustra) (text by Friedrich Nietzsche)
  11. Abendgang (text by August Stramm)


I have no information about a world premiere of the work.

Faith_Nocturnes.pdf
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