Arthur Farwell
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Arthur Farwell (April 23, 1872 – January 20, 1952) was an American composer, conductor, educationalist, lithographer, esoteric savant, and music publisher. Interested in American Indian music, he became associated with the
Indianist movement The Indianist movement was a movement in American classical music that flourished from the 1880s through the 1920s. It was based on attempts by classical composers to incorporate American Indian musical ideas with some of the basic principles ...
and founded the Wa-Wan Press to publish music in this genre. He combined teaching, composing and conducting in his career, working on both coasts and in Michigan.Chase, Gilbert (revised Neely Bruce). 'Farwell, Arthur', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) The American composer and critic A. Walter Kramer identified Farwell as “probably the most neglected composer in our history - at the turn of the century no one wrote music with greater seriousness of purpose or fought harder for American music”.Horowitz, Joseph. Notes to Naxos CD 8.559900 (2021)
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Biography

Farwell was born in
St Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
, Minnesota. He trained as an engineer at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
, graduating in 1893. But he turned toward a musical career following contact with Rudolf Gott, an eccentric Boston-based composer. After studying in Boston, Farwell traveled to Europe for additional work, becoming a student of Engelbert Humperdinck in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and
Alexandre Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Canto ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. Returning to the U.S., he lectured in music at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
from 1899 to 1901. He founded the Wa-Wan Press, dedicated to publishing the works of the American Indianist composers, among whom Farwell was a leading figure. There was great interest in this period in drawing from Native American forms and songs. From 1910 to 1913 Farwell directed municipal concerts in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, including massed performances of choral works, some of them his own, by up to 1,000 voices. He directed the Music School Settlement (now
Third Street Music School Settlement Third Street Music School Settlement is the longest-running community music school in the United States. Founded in 1894, it is at 235 East 11th Street, New York City. Third Street has three main programs: a music & dance school, a music-infused P ...
) in New York from 1915 to 1918, where his private pupils included the young
Roy Harris Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3. Life Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898. His ancestry ...
. During this period he composed the score for
Percy MacKaye Percy MacKaye (1875–1956) was an American dramatist and poet. Biography MacKaye was born in New York City into a theatrical family. His father, Steele MacKaye, was a popular actor, playwright, and producer, while his mother, Mary, wrote a dr ...
's "Community Masque" ''
Caliban by the Yellow Sands ''Caliban by the Yellow Sands'' is a play by Percy MacKaye, published in 1916. Production information MacKaye devised this piece in celebration for the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Background MacKaye's first technical opportun ...
''. In 1918 Farwell moved to California, assuming the role of Acting Head of the music department at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. In 1918–19, he founded the Santa Barbara Community Chorus, and was first holder of the composer's fellowship of the Music & Art Association of
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
(1921–25). He moved to Michigan, where he taught theory at
Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the c ...
(1927–39) (now Michigan State University in East Lansing).
Nicolas Slonimsky Nicolas Slonimsky ( – December 25, 1995), born Nikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy (), was a Russian-born American musicologist, conductor, pianist, and composer. Best known for his writing and musical reference work, he wrote the ''Thesaurus ...
noted in ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary'' that "Disillusioned about commercial opportunities for American music, including his own, he established in East Lansing, in April 1936, his own lithographic handpress, with which he printed his own music, handling the entire process of reproduction, including the cover designs, by himself." Farwell eventually returned to New York City, where he settled. His notable students include
Roy Harris Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3. Life Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898. His ancestry ...
,
Dika Newlin Dika Newlin (November 22, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was a composer, pianist, professor, musicologist, and punk rock singer. She received a Ph.D. from Columbia University at the age of 22. She was one of the last living students of Arnold Schoenberg ...
, and
Bernard Rogers Bernard Rogers (4 February 1893 – 24 May 1968) was an American composer. His best known work is ''The Passion'', an oratorio written in 1942. Life and career Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloc ...
.


Music and writings

Farwell wrote a copious amount of instrumental, chamber, choral and orchestral music as well as theatre scores, masques and music for community performance. Some of his works reflect his interest in a personal, esoteric form of spirituality. This is also expressed in his lectures and writings on the theme of
Intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning or needing an explanation. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledg ...
. Among his principal compositions are a number of ''Symbolistic Studies'' for orchestra, a Symphony developed from a fragmentary opening left by his mentor Rudolph Gott, the large-scale "symphonic song ceremony" ''Mountain Song'' for orchestra and chorus (after the play by
Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...
), a piano quintet, and many works both vocal and instrumental drawing from the music of Native American peoples. Farwell's String Quartet in A major, Op. 65 ''The Hako'', composed in 1923, only received its world premiere recording in 2021, performed by the Dakota String Quartet. Curt Cacioppo calls it "the composer’s peak achievement" and "the first distinctive and confident step ever taken in American string quartet writing, unique in scope and integrative process". Without explicitly imitating indigenous musical traits the music allows "these and additional cultural aspects to guide and permeate the form on multiple levels". The work was inspired by a ceremony documented in the early 1900s by ethnographer Alice C. Fletcher. A gradual but ceaseless developer as a composer, in his last couple of decades Farwell produced some of his most individual works - including a series of
polytonal Polytonality (also polyharmony) is the musical use of more than one key (music), key simultaneity (music), simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time. Polyvalence or polyvalency is the use of more than one di ...
studies for piano, several concise instrumental sonatas, numerous effective and penetrating settings of the poetry of
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
, and a satirical opera, ''Cartoon'', which contains extended parodies of
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...
and
Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-century classical music, ...
.


Controversy

Following the South Dakota Symphony's Lakota Music Project performance in 2019, a critical piece in ''The Washington Post'' led to social media portrayals of Farwell as an appropriator. The American critic and author
Joseph Horowitz Joseph Horowitz (born 1948 in New York City) is an American cultural historian who writes mainly about the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a concert producer, he promotes thematic programming and new concert f ...
argues that, in the case of ''The Hako'', Farwell "claims no authenticity. Rather, he quartetdocuments the composer’s enthralled subjective response to a gripping Native American ritual".Horowitz, Joseph.
Dvorak's Prophecy: And the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music
' (2021)


Selected works

* ''The Death of Virginia'', symphonic poem, Op. 4 (1894) * ''American Indian Melodies'', Op. 11 (1901) * ''A Ruined Garden'', song, Op.14 (1902) * ''Dawn, Fantasy on Two Indian Themes'' for piano, Op. 12 (1904) *''The Domain of Hurikan'' for piano, Op. 15 * ''Navajo War Dance'' for piano, Op. 29 (1904) * ''Impressions of the Wa-Wan Ceremony of the Omahas'', Op. 21 (1905) *''From Mesa and Plain'' for a cappella chorus, Op. 20 (1905) *''Impressions of the Wa-Wan Ceremony of the Omahas'' for piano, Op. 21 (1905) * ''Symbolistic Study No 3'', after Walt Whitman (1905, rev. 1922) * ''Three Indian Songs'', Op. 32 (1908) * ''The Farewell'', song, Op.33 (1910) * ''Pageant Scene'' (1913) *''The Gods of the Mountains'' – suite for orchestra, Op. 52 (1916) * String Quartet, Op. 65, ''The Hako'' (1922) * Violin Sonata (1928) * ''Sourwood Mountain'' for piano, Op.78 (1930) *''The Vale of Enitharmon'' for piano, Op. 91 (1930) * ''Land of Luthany'' for piano and cello (1931) * Symphony ''Rudolf Gott'', Op. 95 (1934) * ''Four Indian Songs'', Op. 102 (1937) * Piano Quintet in E Minor, Op. 103 (1937) * Polytonal Studies, Op. 109 (1940-1952) * ''Cartoon, or, Once Upon a Time Recently'', opera (1948). * Emily Dickinson songs, Op. 105, Op. 108, Op. 112 * Piano Sonata, Op.113 (1949)


References


Further reading

*Evelyn Davis Culbertson (1915-2006), ''He Heard America Singing: Arthur Farwell, Composer and Crusading Music Educator'', Scarecrow Press, 1992. *Bruce Farwell et al. ''Guide to the Music of Arthur Farwell and to the Microfilm Collection of His Work'' (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., 1971)


External links

*
"To Morfydd, for oboe and piano"
Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Arthur Farwell Collection
at Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Farwell, Arthur 1872 births 1952 deaths American male classical composers American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota MIT School of Engineering alumni Cornell University faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Michigan State University faculty Classical musicians from Minnesota