Wa-Wan Press

The Wa-Wan Press was an American

History

Farwell was inspired by

The press was launched without financial backing, and operated out of the Farwell family home;[3] its only employees were Farwell and his father, George. Its first issue in 1901 contained Farwell's American Indian Melodies and two works by Edgar Stillman Kelley.^[2] Farwell hoped that the creation of the Wa-Wan Press would hail the beginning of a classical music revolution that would rebel against what he deemed a "German domination" of the nation's music. The American public, he believed, "saw everything through German glasses", and, "a revolt against this domination was an absolute historical necessity".^[3]

For the first five years, the Wa-Wan Press published two books per quarter—one vocal and one instrumental—at an annual subscription rate of eight dollars.^[3] Subscriptions continued to grow, and in 1907, the company began printing monthly.^[4] That same year, Farwell founded the Wa-Wan Society for the "advancement of the work of American composers, and the interests of the musical life of the American people."^[2] The Wa-Wan Press later began publishing compositions in sheet music form. Farwell provided introductions, program notes, and essays to accompany the aesthetic volumes, whose covers and typographical innovations were often designed by himself. Farwell took particular pride in his work, noting later that many publishers adapted his ideas.^[3]

In 1908, the firm started losing subscriptions and ran into financial troubles. By 1912, Farwell's enthusiasm for the press had waned, and he had become chief