Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "father of American music," was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. His songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River") remain popular over 150 years after their composition. Stephen Foster may refer to: Stephen Foster (sculpture), a public statue in Pittsburgh of the American songwriter Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1864), an American Songwriter Stephen C. Foster (politician) (1822–1898), the first mayor of Los Angeles Stephen Symonds Foster, American abolitionist and social activist. ... Stephen Foster (19th century photo) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Stephen Foster (19th century photo) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... Oh! Susanna is a song written by Stephen Foster in 1847. ... Camptown Races, sometimes referred to as Camptown Ladies, is a comic song in broad, stereotyped negro dialect by Stephen Foster (1826 – 1864), known as the father of American music, who was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. ... My Old Kentucky Home (also titled My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!) is the state song of Kentucky. ... Old Black Joe is an American folk song composed by Stephen Foster (1826-1864) in 1860. ... Beautiful dreamer / Currier and Ives, (between 1856 and 1907). ... Old Folks at Home as sung by Christys Minstrels in 1851. ...

Early life

Foster was born in Lawrenceville, now part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up as the youngest of ten children in a middle-class family that would eventually become near destitute after his father's fall into alcoholism. Foster's education included one month at college (Washington & Jefferson College) but little formal music training. Despite this, he published several songs before the age of twenty. His first, "Open Thy Lattice Love," appeared when he was 18. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... “Pittsburgh” redirects here. ... Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ... Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college located in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, in the city of Washington, Pennsylvania. ...

Stephen was greatly influenced by two men during his teenage years: Henry Kleber (1816-1897) and Dan Rice. The former was a classically trained musician who immigrated from the German city of Darmstadt and opened a music store in Pittsburgh, and who was among Stephen Foster’s few formal music instructors. The latter was an entertainer –- a clown and blackface singer, making his living in traveling circuses. These two very different musical worlds created a tension for the teenage Foster. Although respectful of the more civilized parlor songs of the day, he and his friends would often sit at a piano, writing and singing minstrel songs through the night. Eventually, Foster would learn to blend the two genres to write some of his best work. stephen foster alson was born into a family of 10 children Dan Rice circa 1840s. ... For other uses, see Darmstadt (disambiguation). ... Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ...

Adulthood

In 1846 Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and became a bookkeeper with his brother's steamship company. While in Cincinnati Foster penned his first hit songs, among them "Oh! Susanna". It would prove to be the anthem of the California Gold Rush in 1848/1849. In 1849 he published Foster's Ethiopian Melodies, which included the hit song "Nelly Was a Lady", made famous by the Christy Minstrels. 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... “Cincinnati” redirects here. ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... Paddle steamers - Lucerne-Switzerland Left: original paddlewheel from a paddle steamer on the lake of Lucerne. ... The term company may refer to a separate legal entity, as in English law, or may simply refer to a business, as is the common use in the United States. ... The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutters Mill. ... Year 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... the christy minstrels were and all black singing group ...

Then he returned to Pennsylvania and signed a contract with the Christy Minstrels. It was during this period that Foster would write most of his best-known songs: "Camptown Races" (1850), "Nelly Bly" (1850), "Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Suwannee River," 1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853), "Old Dog Tray" (1853), "Hard Times Come Again No More" (1854) and "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair" (1854), written for his wife Jane Denny McDowell. Camptown Races, sometimes referred to as Camptown Ladies, is a comic song in broad, stereotyped negro dialect by Stephen Foster (1826 – 1864), known as the father of American music, who was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. ... For the game, see: 1850 (board game) 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Old Folks at Home as sung by Christys Minstrels in 1851. ... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... My Old Kentucky Home (also titled My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!) is the state song of Kentucky. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Hard Times Come Again No More is an American folk song written by Stephen C. Foster as early as 1859. ... 1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Many of Foster's songs were of the blackface minstrel show tradition popular at the time. Foster sought, in his own words, to "build up taste...among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order." He instructed white performers of his songs not to mock slaves but to get their audiences to feel compassion for them. Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ...

Although many of his songs held Southern themes, Foster only visited the South once, on a river-boat trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans in 1852 on his honeymoon. New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A honeymoon is the traditional trip taken by newlyweds to celebrate their marriage with seclusion and sexual intimacy. ...

Foster attempted to make a living as a professional songwriter and may be considered a pioneer in this respect, since this field did not yet exist in the modern sense. Consequently, due in part to the poor provisions for music copyright and composer royalties at the time, Foster saw very little of the profits which his works generated for sheet music printers. Multiple publishers often printed their own competing editions of Foster's tunes, paying Foster nothing. For "Oh, Susanna", he received $100. Sheet music is written representation of music. ...

Foster moved to New York City in 1860. About a year later, his wife and daughter left him and returned to Pittsburgh. Beginning in 1862 his fortunes would decline, and as they did, so did the quality of his new songs. He began working with George Cooper early in 1863 whose lyrics were often humorous and designed to appeal to musical theater audiences. The Civil War helped ruin the commercial market for newly written music. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

Death and Memorials

Sculpture of Stephen Foster near the entrance of Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Stephen Foster died on January 13, 1864, at the age of 37. He had been impoverished while living at the North American Hotel at 30 Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (possessing exactly 38 cents) when he died. His brother Henry described the accident in the New York theater-district hotel that led to his death: confined to bed for days by a persistent fever, Stephen tried to call a chambermaid, but collapsed, falling against the washbasin next to his bed and shattering it, which gouged his head. It took three hours to get him to the hospital, and in that era before transfusions and antibiotics, he succumbed after three days. In his worn leather wallet when he died, there was a scrap of paper that simply said "dear friends and gentle hearts". Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x3072, 1414 KB) Monument to w:Stephen Foster at w:Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh Photo by myself. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x3072, 1414 KB) Monument to w:Stephen Foster at w:Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh Photo by myself. ... Public sculpture of Stephen Foster in Pittsburgh Stephen Foster is a landmark public sculpture in bronze by Giuseppe Moretti on Schenley Plaza in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. ... The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are operated by the Carnegie Institute and located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The Bowery is a well-known street in Manhattan that more or less marks the boundary between Chinatown and Little Italy on one side and the Lower East Side on the other—running from Chatham Square in the south to Astor Place in the north. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... A chambermaid is a maid who cleans and cares for bedrooms. ...

Georgia named Stephen Foster State Park in his honor.

The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida is a Florida State Park named in his honor. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park is a Florida State Park located in White Springs off U.S. 41, along the Suwannee River. ... White Springs is a town located in Hamilton County, Florida, on the Suwannee River. ... The Florida State Parks are all the lands that fall under the authority of Floridas Department of Environmental Protection. ...

Stephen Foster Lake at Mount Pisgah State Park in Pennsylvania is named in his honor as well. Mt. ...

In Alms Park in Cincinnati, overlooking the Ohio River, there is a seated statue of Stephen Foster. The Frederick H. Alms Memorial Park is a Cincinnati park in the community of Mt. ... Cincinnati, Ohio viewed from the SW, across the Ohio River from Kentucky. ...

In My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, Kentucky, a musical, called The Stephen Foster Story has been performed since 1958. There is also a statue of him next to the Federal Hill mansion, where he visited relatives and is the inspiration for My Old Kentucky Home. My Old Kentucky Home State Park is a state park in Kentucky. ... Bardstown is a city located in Nelson County, Kentucky. ... My Old Kentucky Home Federal Hill is an historic Greek Revival home in Bardstown, Kentucky. ...

He is buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of his best loved works, "Beautiful Dreamer" would be published shortly after his death. Allegheny Cemetery is one of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanias largest, oldest, and most picturesque cemeteries. ... “Pittsburgh” redirects here. ... Beautiful dreamer / Currier and Ives, (between 1856 and 1907). ...

His brother, Morrison Foster, is largely responsible for compiling his works and writing a short but pertinent biography of Stephen. His sister, Ann Eliza Foster Buchanan, married a brother of President James Buchanan. James Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the 15th president of the United States (1857–1861). ...

Foster is honored on the University of Pittsburgh campus with the Stephen Foster Memorial, a landmark building that houses the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum, the Center for American Music, as well as two theatres: the Charity Randall Theatre and Henry Heymann Theatre, both performance spaces for Pitt's Department of Theater Arts. The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related, doctoral/research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. ... Stephen Foster Memorial is a landmark building along Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. ...

Stephen Foster was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. ...

Eighteen of Foster's compositions were recorded and released on the "Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster" collection. Among the artists that are featured on the album are John Prine, Alison Krauss, Yo Yo Ma, Roger McGuinn, Mavis Staples and Suzy Bogguss. The album won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2005. John Prine (born October 10, 1946 in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s. ... Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971)[1] is an American bluegrass-country singer and fiddle player. ... Classic Yo-Yo album cover Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友 Pinyin: Mǎ Yǒuyǒu) (born October 7, 1955) is a world-famous French-Chinese-American cellist. ... James Roger McGuinn (known professionally as Roger McGuinn and born James Joseph McGuinn III on July 13, 1942) is a popular rock American singer-songwriter and guitarist of the 1960s and 1970s. ... Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rhythm and blues singer. ... Suzy Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American country music singer and one of the most acclaimed female country singers of the 1980s and 90s. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

References

• Emerson, Ken (1998). Doo Dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. De Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80852-8.
• Charles Hamm (1979). Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (Chapter 10, "Old Folks at Home, or, the Songs of Stephen Foster"). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-01257-3.

Trivia / References in Popular Culture

• Three Hollywood movie biographies have been made of Foster - Harmony Lane (1935) with Douglass Montgomery, Swanee River (1939 film) (1939) with Don Ameche, and I Dream of Jeanie (1952), with Bill Shirley (who years later was Jeremy Brett's singing voice in My Fair Lady). The first and third of those screen biographies were low budget affairs made by B film studios, although the '52 version was in color, but the 1939 film was one of Twentieth Century Fox's more ambitious efforts, also in Technicolor.
• Journalist Nellie Bly took her pseudonym from the title character of Foster's song "Nelly Bly".
• The alt-country song "Tennessee", written by Virginia poet David Berman and performed with his band the Silver Jews, includes the line: "Her doorbell plays a bar of Stephen Foster; her sister never left and look what it cost her."
• Foster is referenced in a memorable exchange between Doc Holiday and a cowboy in the film Tombstone.
• The Squirrel Nut Zippers track "Ghost of Stephen Foster" name-checks many of his songs.
• De La Salle University-Manila, a university in the Philippines uses his song "Beautiful Dreamer" as the tune of the school bell during regular days.
• "My Old Kentucky Home" is the official state song of Kentucky, adopted by the General Assembly on March 19, 1928.
• "Old Folks at Home" is the official state song of Florida, designated in 1935
• "Stephen Foster Super Saturday" is a day of thoroughbred racing during the Spring/Summer meet at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. During the call to the post, selections of Stephen Foster songs are played by the track bugler, Steve Buttleman. The day is headlined by the Stephen Foster Handicap a Grade I turf race for older horses.
• Jackie Gleason, playing Ralph Kramden on the television series The Honeymooners, incorrectly answers Ed Norton as the writer of Swanee River on the gameshow 99,000 Answer.

Douglass Montgomery (October 29, 1907 – July 23, 1966) was an American film actor. ... Not to be confused with former NBA player John Amaechi. ... Peter Jeremy William Huggins (November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995), better known as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor famous for his portrayal of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the British television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ... My Fair Lady is an Academy Award-winning 1964 film adaptation of the stage musical, My Fair Lady, based in turn on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... Related articles FOX Television Network Fox Searchlight Pictures Fox Entertainment Group List of Hollywood movie studios List of movies Variant of current 20th Century Fox logo External links 20th Century Fox Movies official site Twentieth Century Fox is also the punning title of a song by The Doors on their... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... Nellie Bly (May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922) was an American journalist, author, industrialist, and charity worker. ... Alternative country can refer to several ideas. ... David Berman at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. ... Silver Jews are an indie rock group, formed in 1989 by writer David Berman along with Pavements Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. ... John Henry Doc Holliday (Aug. ... Tombstone is a 1993 Western movie written by Kevin Jarre and directed by George P. Cosmatos. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Website www. ... Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... Beautiful dreamer / Currier and Ives, (between 1856 and 1907). ... A bell is a signal in a school, either a real bell, a ditributed ringer or heard over the intercom that tells the students when it is time to go to class in the morning and when it is time to change classes during the day. ... My Old Kentucky Home (also titled My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!) is the state song of Kentucky. ... Composite image of Churchill Downs on Derby Day, 1901 Churchill Downs, located on Central Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky, is a thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby. ... “Louisville” redirects here. ... The Stephen Foster Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses age three and up. ... Herbert John Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor, and musician. ... Cover of a book about the Honeymooners. ... For the 2005 film, see The Honeymooners (film). ... Old Folks at Home, as sung by Christys Minstrels in 1851. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Stephen Foster

• Stephen Foster free scores in the International Music Score Library Project
• Levy Sheet Music Collection at The Johns Hopkins University Digital copies of Foster's music are in Boxes 67-70
• Full reprint of 1908 book, The Melodies of Stephen C. Foster, contains sheet music and lyrics to over 150 Stephen Foster songs
• Stephen Foster free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Stephen Foster at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Stephen Collins Foster - American Dreams (includes a midi collection)
• Simple music and lyrics, chronologically
• Stephen Foster Memorial
• Online Song Sketchbook of Stephen Foster Handwritten draft texts for sixty-four songs
• Extensive Foster site
• Recommended books on Foster
• Myths about Foster
• Stephen Foster - The Musical
• Recording of "Old Folks at Home" at the 1955 Florida Folk Festival; made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida
• Florida State Parks Website for the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida
• A Stephen Foster Collection Songs with sheet music & midis, biographies etc.