Eaton Faning

Joseph Eaton Faning (20 May 1850 – 28 October 1927), known as Eaton Faning, was an English composer and teacher. The son of a music teacher, he became the organist of a church at the age of twelve. He attended the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Arthur Sullivan. He was an outstanding student, winning many awards. He joined the staff of the Academy in 1874 and later taught at the Guildhall School of Music, the Royal College of Music and Harrow School.

As a composer, Faning's works ranged from operettas, including a one-act Savoy Opera, to church music, including a Mass and a Magnificat. He also composed orchestral music including a symphony, and was best known for his songs, of which the most popular was the part-song The Vikings.

Faning was born in Helston, Cornwall, where his father, Roger Faning, was a music teacher. Faning received his first instruction in music (piano and violin) from his parents. At the age of five he made his first public appearance at a local function, when he played a violin solo on a tiny fiddle. When he was nine years old, his father died, and the family moved to Ipswich, Suffolk. Faning sang alto in the choir of a local church and studied the organ and the violin with local teachers. At the age of twelve, he became organist of All Saints' Church Holbrook, a village seven miles from Ipswich, where he had to walk when the carrier's cart was not available. He subsequently studied under Lindley Nunn, organist of St. Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, who appointed Faning his deputy. This post was of the greatest practical value to the young musician. He played at the daily evening service for five years, and was deputy trainer of the choir, which consisted of sixty voices.

In April 1870, just before his twentieth birthday, Faning entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student. He studied composition under Sterndale Bennett (then Principal) and Arthur Sullivan, and, with other professors, singing, piano, cello and organ. He later recalled how much he learnt from Bennett about form, and from Sullivan about orchestration. His first appearance at an Academy concert was as a pianist, when he played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in October 1870. In 1871 he was awarded the Academy's bronze medal, and the silver medal the following year. As a student, he sang in the chorus at the Royal Albert Hall when Richard Wagner conducted, and he visited Bayreuth and Dresden. He later prepared the Royal Choral Society in Wagner's Parsifal for two concert performances at the Royal Albert Hall in 1884.

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