ARTHUR FARWELL • SELECTED WORKS
The Gods of the Mountain (for orchestra, 1928)

Like Alan Hovhaness and other visionary American composers before and after him, Arthur Farwell maintained a lifelong spiritual veneration of the mountain landscape. Owasco Memories (1899), Symbolist Study no. 6 "Mountain Vision" (1911), The March of Man (1925), The Gods of the Mountain (1928), Sourwood Mountain (1930), In the Tetons (1930), Mountain Song (1931)--each of these works focuses on the mountain as a spiritual metaphor for Divine ascenscion. Mountains too had a strong presence in many of Farwell's dreams. Originally written for chamber ensemble in 1917, The Gods of the Mountain scored for orchestra in 1928 is surely one of Farwell's greatest orchestral efforts. This four movement work was composed as incidental music for the play of the same name by Lord Dunsany. The content of the play revolves around beggars, bemoaning the laziness of the Gods. With the help of some accomplices, the beggars dress up as Gods, fooling the townspeople and are worshipped as Gods. This ultimately angers the true Gods, who come down from the mountain and turn the enthroned beggars to stone. In composing this work Farwell symbolically used various modes, such as the ancient Greek phrygian mode (for its innate ability to express "wildness"), and he derived his own scale, called the "Maya" scale. 
Vale of Enitharmon (1928) for solo piano, is one of Farwell's most unique piano compositions. Farwell was deeply inspired by writings and artfully rendered visions of William Blake--Farwell's hand printed scores and design also echo Blake's work. Farwell would compose numerous pieces inspired by Blake, including Love's Secret, The Wild Flower's SongThe Lamb, The Tyger, A Cradle Song. In Vale of Enitharmon, Farwell sought to musically depict the mythic figure Enitharmon, who "in the unique mythology of William Blake, has been interpreted in one phrase, as Spiritual Beauty." 

The Night of Enitharmon's Joy, by William Blake (1795)

In the exercise of imagination without the intuitive possibility, I would merely be fishing around for images in a mind of which I ought to be thoroughly tired. But in the request for intuitive revelations I would be offering myself as a candidate for unlimited mental expansion. Blake was evidently continually tired of what he knew his conscious mind to contain, and so was frequently praying for more visions. The continuous revelation of continually new images of truth is undoubtedly what hu justifiably though of and so greatly exalted as "imagination," and not the former limited and wearying procedure. Hence the amazing divergence nad variety of his designs... Blake is right: "One thought fills immensity."  -- Arthur Farwell

WHAT'S IN AN OCTAVE (1930)

What's in an Octave (1930) is a late work for solo piano. Farwell had long viewed the octave as a symbol of the relationship between individual and universal consciousness, which he writes about thoroughly in his intuitive writings. He quoted Pythagoras at the top of the score: "All the knowledge of music is to be found within the octave." And, taking this literally, Farwell composed this entire piece within a single octave between two F's.