A forgotten composer, a fascination that wouldn’t fade

There are really three parts to the answer to that question. 

First, of course, is the music itself that Fairchild composed. While the appreciation and assessment of classical music is admittedly a very subjective thing, we found as we explored and performed Fairchild’s music that it was attractive not only to us but also to other musicians and to audiences. The pianist Dina Kosten called his music “beguiling” and we agree! We’d be happy to discuss Fairchild’s music—which ranges from songs to chamber music to orchestral works—in more detail if you like.

Second, there is the musicological perspective. Fairchild first studied composition under John Knowles Paine at Harvard but for 30 years was closely embedded in the musical milieu of Paris during the first decades of the 20th century. He had close associations with the composers working there, and we were surprised to discover that influential figures like Nadia Boulanger and Reynaldo Hahn considered Fairchild the best American composer of the time. 

And finally, there is a fascinating story to be told about Fairchild’s life and family, about the friendships he cultivated not only with musicians but with artists such as John Singer Sargent and writers including Robert Louis Stevenson and Edith Wharton, and his lifelong appreciation of Persian and other cultures. Rarely an advocate for his own music, he was a devoted mentor and financial sponsor of other musicians, particularly during the First World War.

As we began to understand the full picture of Blair Fairchild’s life and music, and especially his unique contributions to the history of twentieth-century music, it was not difficult to take the step of committing to a long-term project of bringing Fairchild and his music into the light!

In 2013, near the beginning of the project’s life, we tracked down Blair Fairchild’s closest living relative– Lucia Miller, a Chicago-based artist named after Blair’s own sister, who was Lucia’s grandmother. The initial snail-mail letter we sent to her, introducing the project and our interest in it, was met by this heartfelt response: “Your letter, your wonderful letter, finally reached me here on an island in Maine yesterday… I am startled delighted, and interested by your letter… It sounds to me as if you already know more than anyone else, anywhere, about Blair Fairchild! ... I am deeply impressed by your letter and by your choice of this subject.” 

So began a relationship with Lucia that included visits not only to her Chicago apartment but to her home on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine. She told stories, provided photos and letters, listened to Fairchild’s music played live in her living room, and became a true friend to us in the process. Our relationship with her began in 2013 and lasted until her passing in 2019. Meeting Lucia, and getting to know her, has been the most unexpectedly delightful part of this project. Her lively encouragement of our efforts continues to inspire us to share her family’s story with the world.

While, of course, we can only speculate based on our musicological knowledge and understanding of the Western  classical canon, there are some key factors that seem to have influenced his currently unknown status in music history.

Fairchild spent much of his adult life abroad, serving as a diplomat in several places including Tehran, and later settling in Paris. He wasn’t part of a national school or movement, and he didn’t promote his music aggressively. Instead, he uplifted and supported those musicians around him– composers, performers, and artists alike. Many would be surprised to know just how large a part he played in the success of many influential musicians, both directly and indirectly– from Samuel Dushkin and Igor Stravinsky, to Nadia Boulanger and Aaron Copland. The thread of Fairchild’s influence within the fabric of life during that time is a long and intricate one, though while looking at the tapestry at large, he’s hidden and easy to miss.

His music can be described as late-Romantic while employing various features of the music that surrounded him in Paris (especially that of Debussy). At the same time (about 1910-1930), classical music was quickly transitioning away from late-romantic styles toward more experimental approaches (Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, Varese…). The general excitement about innovation meant that composers like Blair Fairchild were given little attention after the 1920s. And after his death in 1933, performances of his music waned significantly.

In some ways, he also existed in the margins of multiple worlds: too international to be fully embraced by the American musical establishment of his time, and, while highly regarded in Paris, he wasn’t French enough to be a direct part of French musical history. His compositional style and personal life was grounded in atmosphere, narrative, and cross-cultural inspiration—qualities that may not have fit neatly into the categories historians tend to use.

For us, that’s part of what makes his music so compelling today. While his placement in the convergence of Romanticism, Modernism, and Impressionism wouldn’t have struck historians as trailblazing, when looking back at the music of that time there is certainly value in its confluence. It invites us to expand our understanding of what the American and international classical tradition has been, and who gets remembered within it.