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EULOGY - RICK FARBACH, 1922-2005
RICHARD GEORG IVAN FARBACH, known as Rick or Ricky, was born to Harry and Lia Fahrbach in
1922 in Koblenz, Germany, but grew up in Riga, Lativa. Rick came from a musical family and his
ancestors included music teachers and composers, notably Philipp Fahrbach, who stated in his
autobiography that he wrote the Radetzky March and gave it to his friend and colleague Johann Strauss.
When the original manuscript was found some years back, it was not penned by Strauss's hand! The debate goes on!
There were also inventors and engineers in the family. Rick's father Harry was an Engineer who played cello,
and his mother Lia, violin, in a small orchestra. Rick and his only brother Percy studied music together at the Munich
Conservatorium after the war and the brothers played for the American Forces. His first taste of jazz was
when he heard the Nat King Cole trio across the American Forces Network.
He said in his autobiography 'the memory of it was as clear and as inspirational as it was on that night long ago
and I simply had to learn to play like that'. And he did!
Rick migrated to Adelaide, Australia in 1949 with his first wife Nora and their eight month old daughter Sigrid as wartime refugees. He first became involved in the music scene in Adelaide when he wrote some arrangements for bandleader Colin Bergersen, and was later invited to 'sit in' with the Australian Jazz Quartet on their tour to Adelaide with singer Edwin Duff. This opened up the door for him on their return to Sydney, when they arranged for him 6 months work at 'Golds' for 17 pounds a week! From then on Rick was in.
Due to being apart from Nora who stayed with her parents in Canberra while Rick worked in Sydney, it was hard for the young marriage to survive. Many years later when Rick was asked to put a band in at Bruno's Windjammer on the Gold Coast, he met Dawn. They were married nine months later and were together for fifty years, producing three musical children, Pia, Kym and Kenton who was named after the great Stan Kenton whom Rick toured with in the Fifty's. He also leaves ten grandchildren, and one great grandchild - many carrying his musical genes, or as Rick would say
"J. E. A. N. S".
The Farbach Family
Apart from music, Rick was also involved in the Noosa Coast Guard in 1997 as the Vice Commander. He also loved sailing. His father had been the Vice Commodore of the Riga Yacht Club. Rick won many trophies over the years and was often club champion of the Noosa Sailing Club. He also built boats large and small, before Rheumatoid Arthritis put a stop to this at age sixty. This love continues through Kent's family today.
At age eighty-three, Rick's sense of humour stayed with him until the end. The day before he died he was still cracking his current funny to nurses and doctors, who had become very attached to him after years of treating the cancer that eventually claimed him. The joke goes like this. Dean Martin said, "You're not really drunk if you are lying on the ground - without holding on".
His musical exploits are too numerous to mention. He was a professional musician all his life. At one stage he was the Musical Director of three Brisbane television stations. He has also written, recorded and conducted the music for movies, theatre and live shows here and overseas. All this and more is documented in his autobiography "Cleftomania" - (a disease that strikes musicians and makes them do strange things).
We are sure Rick has a new and important position in Heaven, arranging (or rearranging) God's Angel Jazz Band. Tributes to Rick's life continue to flood in to Dawn from all over the world - and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
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