Farwell trained as an engineer at Massachussetts Institute of Technology,
graduating in 1893, but was turned towards a musical career by contact with the
eccentric Boston-based composer Rudolf Gott. After study in Boston he became a
pupil of Humperdinck in Berlin and Guilmant in Paris. Returning to the US, he
lectured in music at Cornell University from 1899 to 1901, and founded the
Wa-Wan Press, a periodical that ran until 1911, publishing the work of
‘progressive’ American composers who used indigenous materials (cowboy,
black and especially Native American Indian). The press was the
principal outlet for various ‘Indianist’ composers including Loomis, Cadman,
and especially Farwell himself.

From 1910-13 he directed municipal concerts in New York City, including
massed performances of choral works, including his own, by up to 1,000 voices.
He directed the Settlement Music School in NY from 1915-18 before moving to
California, where his private pupils included the young Roy Harris. Acting Head
of music department at the University of Berkeley, California, 1918-19, he
founded the Santa Barbara Community Chorus, was first holder of the composer’s
fellowship of the Music & Art Association of Pasa
dena (1921-25), taught theory at Michigan State College (1927-39) and
eventually settled in New York. Nicolas Slonimsky 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".