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Richard Halley wrote four ''[[concerto|concerti]]'' for [[piano]] and [[orchestra]]. He ''also'' wrote a full-length opera, ''Phaëthon'', based on the Greek mythic figure who tried to drive the chariot of the sun and nearly wrecked it, forcing [[Zeus]] to kill him out-of-hand. But in Halley's version, Phaethon kept control of the chariot and drove it successfully across the sky.

Richard Halley wrote four ''[[concerto|concerti]]'' for [[piano]] and [[orchestra]]. He ''also'' wrote a full-length opera, ''Phaëthon'', based on the Greek mythic figure who tried to drive the chariot of the sun and nearly wrecked it, forcing [[Zeus]] to kill him out-of-hand. But in Halley's version, Phaethon kept control of the chariot and drove it successfully across the sky.

Halley premiered ''Phaethon'' in 1989, at the age of 24. Audiences howled with rage. How dare he rewrite the classics! He would spend the next nineteen years in abject poverty, scraping for a living wherever he could. This was one of the most tumultuous eras in American history up to that time, with the initial impeachment of [[Mr. Thompson]], and then a runaway [[Constitution]]al convention that destroyed the government and put in place a new government of which Mr. Thompson was now Head of State for close to life. But Halley paid no attention.

Halley premiered ''Phaëthon'' in 1989, at the age of 24. Audiences howled with rage. How dare he rewrite the classics! He would spend the next nineteen years in abject poverty, scraping for a living wherever he could. This was one of the most tumultuous eras in American history up to that time, with the initial impeachment of [[Mr. Thompson]], and then a runaway [[Constitution]]al convention that destroyed the government and put in place a new government of which Mr. Thompson was now Head of State for close to life. But Halley paid no attention.

He premiered his fourth concerto to very good critical reviews and box-office receipts. Yet his overwhelming sense was that he had won a hollow victory. The critics said that his music was great only because he had suffered much in the creating of it. Halley considered that the critics missed the message. Worse yet, he strongly sensed that the critics would never accept the message even if they understood. Nor did he imagine that his audience understood his music any better than had the critics. His audience, in short, offered him pity, and pity was a thing he found patronizing, and even insulting.

He premiered his fourth concerto to very good critical reviews and box-office receipts. Yet his overwhelming sense was that he had won a hollow victory. The critics said that his music was great only because he had suffered much in the creating of it. Halley considered that the critics missed the message. Worse yet, he strongly sensed that the critics would never accept the message even if they understood. Nor did he imagine that his audience understood his music any better than had the critics. His audience, in short, offered him pity, and pity was a thing he found patronizing, and even insulting.