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 mainly self-taught. He received violin lessons from his uncle, but was not allowed to study music at a public institution during the time of the Nazi regime due to a "Non-Arian" grandmother.

After World War II Walter Faith first worked as a orchestra violinist in the Hessisches Sinfonie-Orchester and Frankfurter Opern-Orchester, then as a kapellmeister in Würzburg. At that time Walter Faith had already composed several works which he sent to Karl Amadeus Hartmann for consideration. In 1945 Hartmann had founded the concert series "Musica Viva" in cooperation with the Bavarian Broadcasting which was especially dedicated to avant-guard music. Hartmann enjoyed the compositions by Walter Faith and he invited him to come to Munich to the Bavarian Broadcasting. Walter Faith followed the invitation and since autumn 1946 he worked as a pianist and kapellmeister at the Bavarian Broadcasting in Munich.

As a composer Walter Faith became quite successful since the last 1940s. In 1949 he received a composition commission for the "International Wekk for New Music" in Frankfurt am Main in 1949. He could also participate with his own works at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1949 and 1950. In 1949 he conducted his own Music op.18 and in 1950 his Sinfonietta was premiered by the renowned conductor Hermann Scherchen. This Sinfonietta received an uproar in the audience which forced Hermann Scherchen to break his baton and address some fiery words to the listeners as legend has it. Since then Walter Faith was considered one of the leading protagonists of the New Music in Germany.

Walter Faith continued to compose, but did not take part of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse again and curiously his star was waning in the next years. And for unknown reasons Walter Faith quit composing completely in 1958. Since that year Walter Faith only worked as a musician at the Bavarian Broadcasting and participated in many broadcasted concerts and recording performances.

Walter Faith died on 3 August 1984 in Lenggries (Germany).


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)
  • Symphonic ouverture "Prinz Kukkuck" (1950)
  • 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)
  • stage music for "Herodes und Marianne" (1955)
  • Ballet suite "Revanche" for orchestra (1955, 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).

The best and invaluable source for information on Walter Faith is the book "Compendio Jim Grimm - Protocollo Walter Faith" by Dario Agazzi (published by Oedipus in 2017, ISBN 9788873412700). Half of the book (48 pages) is dedicated to Walter Faith.

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