Carl Faelten was born in Ilmenau, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany, on December 21, 1846.

[1][2] He was primarily self-taught, but did study music as a school boy and at Frankfurt from 1868 until 1882 (from 1878 in the Hoch Conservatory).

[1] He was engaged at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore from 1882 until 1885, and at the New England Conservatory in Boston from 1885 until 1887.

[1][4] He became a naturalized American citizen, and resided in Holliston, Massachusetts.

[2][3] Faelten drowned at Maranacook Lake in Readfield, Maine on July 20, 1925.