Faroes.
See Færoes.
Farquhar, David (Andress)
(b Cambridge, North Island, 5 April 1928). New Zealand composer. He graduated in music at Victoria University, Wellington, studying composition with Lilburn, and then studied at Cambridge University and the GSM, London, where he was one of a talented group of young New Zealand composers who studied with Frankel. He returned to New Zealand and became lecturer (1953) and, in 1976, professor at Victoria University. The wit and spontaneity he brings to theatre music first emerged in his Dance Suite (1953) for Christopher Fry’s adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon, and qualities of spare and stylish craftsmanship won him first prize for his Partita for piano in the Australasian Performing Rights Association’s composers’ competition (1957). A Symphony (1959) and a rhythmically exuberant Piano Concertino (1960) were followed by the first New Zealand opera since those of Alfred Hill, A Unicorn for Christmas (1962), to a libretto by Ngaio Marsh. This was followed by two more operas: Shadow (1970), in one act, for four singers, based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale and adapted by the composer and Edward Hill, and Enchanted Island (1997), in three acts, based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. He has written over 100 other works, including an Elegy and Serenade for strings, two Anniversary Suites for orchestra and several choral and chamber works, notably Bells in their Seasons for double chorus and orchestra (1974). He has a continuing interest in song cycles and writing for the piano. His Symphony no.2 (1982) was first performed by the New Zealand SO the following year; the first of his two works for string quartet (1989) has often been performed by the New Zealand String Quartet. A committed advocate of New Zealand music, he was founder-president of the Composers’ Association of New Zealand (1974) and in 1984 was awarded their Citation for Services to New Zealand Music. A formidable supporter of composers’ rights, he has a distinguished place in the country’s musical life. His writings include ‘A Song and Dance’, Massey University Composer Address (Palmerston North, 1997), 3–12.
O. Johnson: ‘First Performance: David Farquhar's Symphony (1959)’, Landfall, xiv (1960), 392–3
W. Dart: ‘A Unicorn for Christmas: a Right Royal Opera’, Music in New Zealand (1988–9), sum., 6–17
J.M. Thomson: Biographical Dictionary of New Zealand Composers (Wellington, 1990), 58–61
A. Simpson: ‘David Farquhar’, Soundscapes (1996), Oct–Nov, 46–7
J.M. THOMSON
Farr, Gareth
(b Wellington, 29 Feb 1968). New Zealand composer and percussionist. After dividing his time between Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University (BMus, performance diploma 1991), he undertook postgraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. In 1993 he became Chamber Music New Zealand's youngest ever composer-in-residence. From that time, his music has been widely performed and broadcast, both in New Zealand and abroad. In 1996 he was the subject of a major Television New Zealand documentary and in 1997 a collection of his works was issued on recording. Most of his compositions result from commissions.
Farr acknowledges the music of Pacific Rim cultures, Shostakovich's orchestral writing, the work of percussion ensembles such as the New Zealand group From Scratch, and the energy and rhythmic excitement of Balinese gamelan and Cook Island drumming as major influences on his style. His belief that composers should communicate personally with their audience has led him to balance his compositional activity with a performing career as a percussionist. He has also appeared regularly in cabaret, assuming the flamboyant alternate persona of the drag queen Lilith, a character he sees as increasingly central to his work.
WORKS
(selective list)
-
Orch: Pembukaan [Opening pieces], 1990; Kebyar moncar [Glowing Fire], Javanese gamelan, 1993; Reongan, conc., reong, Javanese gamelan, 1994; Waipoua, cl, str, 1994; Lilith's Dream of Ecstasy, 1995; Tabuh Pacific, gamelan, orch, 1995; Le temps est à la pluie, hn, perc, cel, hp, str, 1995; From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs, 1996; Nagababa, chbr orch, 1997; Queen of Demons, 1997; Ruaumoko, 1997; Hikoi, conc., perc, large orch, 1998
|
Vocal: Only the Rocks Remain (S. Smith, anon.), S, wind octet, 1991; Pagan Prayer (C.P. Baudelaire), S, 4 trbn, 4 perc, 1992; El señor cucharita se pone enfermo (anon.), S, sax, pf, 1995; Still Sounds Lie (C. Mills), S, hp, 1996
|
Chbr and solo inst: Music from a High Altitude, cl, vc, pf, perc, 1988; Kendhang kalih [Two Drums], 2 perc, 1990; Suara barung [Low Voice], db, pf, 1990; Ramayana, pf, 1991; Kebyar [Fire], pf, 1992; Taniwha [Monster], bn, perc, 1992; Cadenza, fl, cl, vn, vc, pf, perc, 1993; Madrigal, cl, pf, 1993; Str Qt no.1, [orig. no.4] ‘Owhiro’, 1993; From Forgotten Forests, hp, 1994; Saxcession, sax qt, 1994; Kambang suling [Flute of Flowers], fl, mar, 1995; Sepuluh jari [Ten Fingers], pf, 1995; Meditation, va, pf, 1996; Formalities, mar, 1997; Str Qt no.2 ‘Mondo Rondo’, 1997; Mousehole, pf, 1998; Taiko Tango, 6 taiko drums, 1998; Tuatara, mar, pf, 1998
| BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Body: ‘Gareth Farr: Gamelan & Decibels’, Music in New Zealand, xxiv/aut. (1994), 13–16, 61
W. Dart: ‘A Walk on the Farr Side’, Philharmonia News, xvi/1 (1997), 10 only
ADRIENNE SIMPSON
Farrant [Farunt], Daniel
(b c1575; bur. Greenwich, 24 July 1651). English composer, string player and instrument maker. He may have been the son of Richard Farrant, Master of the Choristers at St George’s Chapel, Windsor and Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. A birthdate of about 1575 would make Daniel Farrant a contemporary of John Coprario and Alfonso Ferrabosco II, who John Playford mentioned with Farrant in 1661 as ‘The First Authors of Inventing and Setting Lessons’ for lyra viol. On 23 November 1607 Farrant was given a place in the royal violin band at the court of James I. He is listed as a player of the viol in several documents of 1624 and 1625.
Farrant was an instrument maker as well as a player. On 27 February 1626 he was paid £109 for six ‘Artificiall Instruments’ ‘made and finished’ for royal service. Playford wrote that he was ‘a person of such ingenuity for his several rare inventions of instruments, as the Poliphant and the Stump, which were strung with wire’ and ‘a lyra viol, to be strung with lute strings and wire strings, the one above the other’. This cannot be taken at face value since Farrant would have been too young to have invented the poliphant or poliphon, which (Playford claimed elsewhere) Queen Elizabeth played, and at least three other individuals are connected with the invention of the lyra viol with sympathetic metal strings – the ancestor of the baryton. Nevertheless, it is likely that Farrant was involved in some way with the development of novel types of stringed instruments in Jacobean England.
Farrant served at court, still apparently in the dual role of viol player and violinist, until 1642. He made his will on 20 March 1643 and died in 1651; he was buried at St Alfege, Greenwich on 24 July. Only three pieces survive; a pavan for lute (GB-Cu Dd.5.78.3, ed. in suppl. to Lute News, March 1998) and a pavan and a toy for solo lyra viol. A five-part pavan based on a four-note ostinato (ed. in MB, ix 1955, 2/1962) as well as two further lyra viol pieces are also probably by him (see DoddI).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AshbeeR, i, iii, iv, v, viii
BDECM
DoddI
P. Holman: ‘“An Addicion of Wyer Stringes beside the Ordenary Stringes”: the Origin of the Baryton’, Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought, ed. J. Paynter and others (London, 1992), ii, 1098–15
P. Holman: Four and Twenty Fiddlers: the Violin at the English Court 1540–1690 (Oxford, 1993, 2/1995)
PETER HOLMAN
Share with your friends: |