Faignient [Faignant], Noë [Noël]
(fl c1560–1600). Flemish composer. According to Vannes he was born in Cambrai. On 23 January 1561 he became a citizen of Antwerp, where he gave music lessons and seems to have kept a shop (1575–80), at an address given as ‘dans la boutique no 53, sous l’Hôtel de ville’. In 1580 he was described as ‘sangmeester van Hertock Erich van Bruynswyck’ in documents of the Confraternity of Our Lady (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap) in ’s-Hertogenbosch.
Faignient’s Chansons, madrigales et motetz contains 44 pieces, including five four-voice Dutch chansons, seven Latin motets (four to six voices), 11 five-voice Italian madrigals and 21 four- and five-voice French chansons. His music was known in England through its publication in Musica transalpina (RISM 158829). Walther wrote that Faignient had modelled his style on that of Lassus (with whom he may have studied in Antwerp) and that he was ‘almost the equal of his master in the sweetness of his harmony’. Faignient’s style is representative of its time, balancing polyphony and homophony, and incorporating madrigalisms. The preponderance of secular works in Faignient’s widely published output suggests that he was better known for these than for his fewer sacred pieces.
WORKS -
Chansons, madrigales et motetz, 4–6vv (Antwerp, 1568/R)
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Sacred music in 15772, 15851, 15976, 160915
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Secular songs: 156911; 157211, 3 ed. in UVNM, xxvi (1903); 15743, 2 ed. in Trésor musical, xxviii (Brussels, 1892); 15773; 158314, 2 ed. in Trésor musical, xiii (Brussels, 1877); 158315; 158829; 15898; 159027, 3 ed. R.B. Lenaerts, Het Nederlands polifonies Lied in de 16de eeuw (Mechelen, 1933); 159710; 16059; 160915; 16137; 16406
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Masses, ?lost, according to Vannes
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2 canzonette, 4vv, formerly in Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie, ?PL-WRu; motet, 8vv, formerly Breslau Stadtbibliothek, ?WRu
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
GoovaertsH
EitnerQ
VannesD
MGG1 (A. vander Linden)
WaltherML
A. Smijers: ‘Music of the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady at ’s-Hertogenbosch’, PAMS 1939, 184–92
C. van den Borren: Geschiedenis van de muziek in de Nederlanden (Antwerp, 1948–51)
F. Noske: ‘The Linköping Faignient-Manuscript’, AcM, xxxvi (1964), 152–65
E. Schreurs: Introduction to Chansons, madrigales et motetz (Peer, Belgium, 1986) [incl. Eng. trans. and bibliography]
LAVERN J. WAGNER
Failoni, Sergio
(b Verona, 18 Dec 1890; d Sopron, 25 July 1948). Italian conductor. He started his career as a cellist, studying in his home town, and in 1908 he became a composition student at the Milan Conservatory. After completing his studies he was Toscanini’s assistant for two years, and made his début at Milan in 1921 conducting Rameau’s Platée. His international career developed quickly, in London, Buenos Aires, in numerous cities of Europe and the USA and in the great Italian opera houses too, including La Scala, Milan, 1932–4. In 1928 he began his work with the Hungarian State Opera, Budapest, where he was principal conductor until his death (only during the Hungarian fascist period from 1944 to 1945 did Failoni, a militant anti-fascist, have difficulty in carrying out his job); he was made a life member of the opera house. After World War II his international career flourished again: from 1946 to 1947 he was conductor at the Chicago Civic Opera and the New York Metropolitan, and in 1946 he opened the series of postwar performances at the Verona Arena. In June 1947, during a rehearsal of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the Budapest Opera House, he collapsed, and although he recovered he could not conduct again. He declared Toscanini his ideal, and with his own temperament and Italian sensibility he belonged among conductors of the Toscanini school. He became the enthusiastic champion of Bartók and Kodály, but his principal merit was the extension and firm establishment of an Italian and Wagnerian repertory at the Hungarian State Opera.
WRITINGS
Hazugságok a művészetben [Lies in art] (Budapest, 1943; It. trans., 1946)
Hangfogó nélkül [Without sordino] (Budapest, 1945; It. trans., 1946)
PÉTER P. VÁRNAI
Fain [Feinberg], Sammy [Samuel]
(b New York, 17 June 1902; d Los Angeles, 6 Dec 1989). American popular songwriter. He worked for music publishers Jack Mills as a staff pianist and in 1928 began to perform in vaudeville and on radio. Between 1927 and 1942 he wrote many popular songs with the lyricist Irving Kahal, such as Let a smile be your umbrella, adopting a popular jazz style. In 1931 he went to Hollywood and for the rest of his career contributed songs to films for performers including Maurice Chevalier, Dick Powell, Doris Day and Dean Martin. He achieved great success with the revue Hellzapoppin’ (1938).
He collaborated with the lyricist Paul Francis Webster on the songs for the Doris Day film vehicle Calamity Jane, which gained great popularity through a score that ranged from the energetic ‘The Deadwood Stage’ through the atmospheric ‘Black Hills of Dakota’ to the romantic ballad ‘Secret Love’, for which he received an Academy Award. The film was revised in a stage version in 1961, and has been in both professional and amateur repertories since. Despite this, most of Fain’s stage musicals proved to be failures. Many of his ballads, however, have become standards, notably ‘That Old Feeling’ (Vogues of 1938, 1937; lyrics by Lew Brown) and the evocative ‘I'll be seeing you’ (Right This Way, 1938; lyrics by Kahal). He contributed title songs to many films, winning an Academy Award for Love is a many splendored thing (1955) and nominations for April Love (1957), A Certain Smile (1958) and Tender is the Night (1961), all with lyrics by Webster.
WORKS
(selective list)
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Stage Musicals (dates those of first New York production unless otherwise stated): Everybody’s Welcome, 1931; She Had to Say ‘Yes’, Philadelphia, 1940; Toplitzky of Notre Dame, 1946; Flahooley, 1951, rev. as Jollyanna, San Francisco, 1952; Ankles Aweigh, 1955; Catch a Star, 1955; Christine, 1960; Calamity Jane, 1961 [after film, 1953]; Around the World in 80 Days, St Louis, 1962; Something More!, 1964
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Contribs to revues, incl. Hellzapoppin’, 1938 [film 1941]; Right This Way, 1938 [incl. I’ll be seeing you, I can dream can’t I?]; George White’s Scandals, 1939 [incl. Are you havin’ any fun?]
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Song scores to films, incl. Alice in Wonderland, 1951 [incl. I’m late]; Peter Pan, 1953 [incl. Second Star to the Right]; Calamity Jane, 1953 [incl. Black Hills of Dakota, The Deadwood Stage, Secret Love]; Mardi Gras, 1958
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Song contribs. to films (film in parentheses), incl. Mia Cara and You brought a new kind of love to me (The Big Pond, 1930); Once a gypsy told me (you were mine) (Dangerous Nan McGrew, 1930); Satan’s Holiday (Follow the Leader, 1930); When I Take my Sugar to Tea (Monkey Business, 1931); By a Waterfall (Footlight Parade, 1933); Easy to Love (Easy to Love, 1933); When You were a Smile on your Mother’s Lips (Dames, 1934); I didn't have you (New Faces of 1937, 1937); That Old Feeling (Vogues of 1938, 1937)
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Please don’t say no, say maybe (Thrill of a Romance, 1945); The Worry Song (Anchors Aweigh, 1945); Love is a many splendored thing (Love is a Many Splendored Thing, 1955); April Love (April Love, 1957); A Certain Smile (A Certain Smile, 1958); A Very Precious Love (Marjorie Morningstar, 1958); Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty, 1959) [after Tchaikovsky]; Tender is the night (Tender is the Night, 1961); Someone's waiting for you (The Rescuers, 1977)
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Other popular songs, incl. I left my sugar standing in the rain, 1927; Let a smile be your umbrella, 1927; Wedding Bells (are breaking up that old gang of mine), 1929; Dear Hearts and Gentle People, 1949
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
GänzlEMT
S. Green: Ring Bells! Sing Songs! (New York, 1971)
D.A. Jansen: Tin Pan Alley (New York, 1988), 201–3
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