Stephen Foster

Margaret CowleyMusic and Culture,

1040Wednesday, 5.30pm

Class

America's First Composer

-SongWriter’s Hall of Fame

Life• Born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826

• Ninth of Ten Children

• Worked as a bookkeeper for his older brother’s company, Irwin & Foster Steamboat in Cincinnati

• Married Jane Denny McDowell on July 22, 1850Daughter, Marion, born a year laterSeparate many times before their final separation in 1854

‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’ was inspired by his wife during a separation

Musical Career‘A melodic genius with tender, sympathetic lyrics and infectious rhythm, …and widely regarded as one of the first who made professional songwriting profitable. Fosters' songs were the first genuinely American in theme, characterizing love of home, American temperament, river life and work, politics, battlefields, slavery and plantation life.’

-SongWriter’s Hall of Fame•

•Never formally studied music composition•Loved music and taught himself to play:

FluteClarinetViolinGuitar

•Began Writing music at the age of 14‘The Tioga Waltz’

•‘Open thy Lattice, Love’ was published in 1844 at the age of 18

First Hit: ‘Oh Susanna’• Published in 1848

• Launched his career as a songwriter

• Only received the small fee of $100 from publisher

• Led to a serious contract with New York Publisher, Firth & Pond in 1849

• Became a favorite song of Minstrel Troops and an anthem for the Goldrush

• Wrote mostly Minstrelsy and Parlor Music• Wrote 160 songs between 1850 and 1856, including:

Autumn Waltz (1846)De Camptown Races (1850)Old Folks At Home (1851)In the Eye Abides the Heart (1851)My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night (1853)Willie We Have Missed You (1854)Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair (1854)Hard Times Come Again No More (1854)The Village Maiden Comrades Fill No Glass for Me (1855)Gentle Annie (1856)

Foster’s Minstrelsy ‘His work mirrored a kind, modest and sympathetic personality.

In a sentimental style inspired by the simplicity of southern plantation music,…[Foster’s] songs... brought recognition and validity to Negro songs.’-Songwriter’s Hall of Fame

• Early 1850s, writing was mostly for Minstrelsy• Songs from beginning of career had:

simple melodies and accompanimentsdepicted slaves as ‘simple, good natured creaturesdialect of black slaves

• Arranged to have his music performed by Edward Christy of Christy Minstrels, the most successful Minstrel troop of the time

• Wanted to reform Minstrelsy by writing texts suitable to refined tastes, instead of ‘trashy and really offensive words’

• Began ‘depicting the black as a human being experiencing pain, love, joy, even nostalgia.’

‘Nelly Was a Lady’ (1849)http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=0UczcRiXUhUA slave mourning the death of his wifeProbably the first song written by white

composer for a white minstrel audience showing a black man and women as a loving husband and wife

• Referred to his new songs as ‘plantation songs’ and later ‘American Melodies’ instead of ‘Ethiopian’

• Directed Christy to perform his songs to ‘engender compassion’ instead of in the comic style

• Songs referring to blacks treated them better and with more dignity and sensitivity than others of the time

Parlor Songs• After 1854, began concentrating on parlor ballads• Music was accepted in all social classes• Sales ran well into the hundreds of thousands and higher

‘In the Eye Abides the Heart’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=6s5nlGrc1mk&playnext=1&list=PL58A272EA10327BDE&feature=results_main

Later Life• Separation from wife in 1854 signaled downward trend• Both Parents and close friend, Charles Shiras died in 1855

Wrote only 4 songs in the 2 years following• Sold the rights to his existing song catalog to his publisher to

meet his debts• Moved to New York in 1860• Was not able to sign a new contract due to the war• All song sales were for cash• Wrote 98 songs in 3 years

parlor, hymns, and music hall numbersmusic was less distinguished during this period

• ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ was written during this time and published after death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U1l5y2rkzAabout escape from bitter reality

Death• Died January 13, 1864 at 38 years old.

• Said to have died with less than 40 cents and a paper reading ‘Dear Friend and gentle hearts’ in his pocket

• Music struck a chord with Southern Whites because of sentimentality of his songs (separation from home and loved ones, feelings of nostalgia)

• Blacks liked his music because it was good and because it was inoffensive by the standards of the day

Interesting Facts• Kept his own account books, kept track of he was paid for

each song; Calculated possible future earnings on each song

• Contracts were written in his own hand

• First person to make a living off of sales of his song writing

• Old Folks at home (Swanee River) became the official state song of Florida in 1935

• My Old Kentucky Home became the state song of Kentucky in 1928

• Lived and worked in north east; only once traveled south of the Mason Dixon line in 1852

• If he had written in the 20th century, would have been a millionaire

• Only earned $15, 091.08 in royalties during his lifetime

• His Heirs, wife and daughter, earned $4,199 in royalties after his death

Sourceshttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035701/default.html

 http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/foster_stephen/bio.jhtml

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C10

http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/FosterProfessionalcareer.html

Music is from my Itunes CollectionPictures are from Google Images