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Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today.

For other uses, see Stephen Foster (disambiguation).

Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster

(1826-07-04)July 4, 1826
Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, U.S.

January 13, 1864(1864-01-13) (aged 37)

New York City, U.S.

Allegheny Cemetery

Stephen Foster Memorial

  • Composer
  • lyricist
  • poet[1]

1844–1864

Various sheet music publishers and brother, Morrison Foster

First American full-time songwriter[2][3]

"Beautiful Dreamer"
"Camptown Races"
"Hard Times Come Again No More"
"My Old Kentucky Home"
"Oh! Susanna"
"Old Black Joe"
"Old Folks at Home
among others...

Jane McDowell Foster Wiley

Marion

Professor of Folklore and musician John Minton wrote a song titled "Stephen C. Foster's Blues".

[28]

Walt Kelly recorded an a cappella rendition of Foster's "Old Dog Tray" on the 1956 album, Songs of the Pogo. Kelly regularly referenced "Old Dog Tray" as the theme song for his character, Beauregard Hound Dog, from his comic strip, .

Pogo

Erika M. Anderson, of the band EMA, refers to Foster's "Camptown Races" in the song "California", from past Life Martyred Saints (2011): "I bet my money on the bobtail nag/somebody bet on the bay."

[29]

The Firesign Theatre makes many references to Foster's compositions in their CD, Boom Dot Bust (1999, Rhino Records)

Larry Kirwan of mixes the music of Foster with his own in the musical Hard Times, which earned a New York Times accolade in its original run: "a knockout entertainment". Kirwan gives a contemporary interpretation of Foster's troubled later years and sets it in the tumultuous time of the New York draft riots and the Irish–Negro relations of the period. A revival ran at the Cell Theater in New York in early 2014, and a revised version of the musical called Paradise Square opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2018.

Black 47

wrote a song in 1970 titled "Your Love's Return (Song for Stephen Foster)"

Gordon Lightfoot

's 1970 album 12 Songs contained Newman's song "Old Kentucky Home" (originally titled "Turpentine and Dandelion Wine"), which is based on Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" Newman told Billboard magazine, "It's a good song because Stephen Foster wrote the hook, that's why."[30] Under various titles, Newman's "Old Kentucky Home" was covered by the Beau Brummels, the Alan Price Set and Johnny Cash.

Randy Newman

recorded a comedy send-up "I Dream of Brownie with the Light Blue Jeans".

Spike Jones

Humorist imagined a 1950s style version of Foster's music in "Rock Around Stephen Foster" and, with Harry Shearer, had a sketch about Foster having writer's block in a bit from his "United States of America" project.

Stan Freberg

Songwriter mentions Stephen Foster meeting up with Eminem's alter ego "Slim Shady" on the Bowery in Shaner's song "Rock & Roll is A Natural Thing".

Tom Shaner

The music of Stephen Foster was an early influence on the Australian composer , who stated that hearing "Camptown Races" sung by his mother was one of his earliest musical recollections. He went on to write a piece entitled "Tribute to Foster", a composition for mixed choir, orchestra, and pitched wine glasses based on the melody of "Camptown Races".[31]

Percy Grainger

Art Garfunkel was cast as Stephen Foster and sang his songs in an elementary school play in Queens, New York

[32]

Foster's name is included in the rapid fire litany of musicians and songs that make up the lyrics of the 1974 pop novelty song "" by Reunion.

Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)

wrote and recorded a song about Foster and released it on his 1975 album, The Hungry Years.

Neil Sedaka

duo The Handsome Family's song "Wildebeest", from their 2013 album Wilderness, is about Foster's death.[33]

Alternative country

wrote and recorded a song in 1998 titled "The Ghost of Stephen Foster".

Squirrel Nut Zippers

The Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh contains two theaters

The Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh contains two theaters

Although most of Foster's original lyrics and manuscripts are lost, a sketchbook of his artwork is preserved at the Memorial's research library at the Pitt.

Although most of Foster's original lyrics and manuscripts are lost, a sketchbook of his artwork is preserved at the Memorial's research library at the Pitt.

Painting of Foster at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

Painting of Foster at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

Statue controversy and later views[edit]

A 1900 statue of Foster by Giuseppe Moretti was located in Schenley Plaza, in Pittsburgh, from 1940 until 2018. On the unanimous recommendation of the Pittsburgh Art Commission, the statue was removed on April 26, 2018.[36] Its new home has not yet been determined. It has a long reputation as the most controversial public art in Pittsburgh "for its depiction of an African-American banjo player at the feet of the seated composer. Critics say the statue glorifies white appropriation of black culture and depicts the vacantly smiling musician in a way that is at best condescending and at worst racist."[37] A city-appointed Task Force on Women in Public Art called for the statue to be replaced with one honoring an African American woman with ties to the Pittsburgh community. The Task Force held a series of community forums in Pittsburgh to collect public feedback on the statue replacement and circulated an online form which allowed the public to vote for one of seven previously selected candidates or write in an alternate suggestion.[38] However, the Task Force on Women in Public Art and the Pittsburgh Art Commission have not reached an agreement as to who will be commemorated or if the statue will stay in the Schenley Plaza location.[39]


The musicologist Ken Emerson has suggested the presence of racism in some of Foster's lyrics.[40]

Stephen Foster Collection and archive

Emerson, Ken, ed. (2010). . New York: The Library of America. ISBN 978-1-59853-070-4. OCLC 426803667.

Stephen Foster & Co.: Lyrics of the First Great American Songwriters

Hamm, Charles (1983). . New York City: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393300628.

Yesterdays: Popular Song in America

Hodges, Fletcher Jr. (1939). . Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. ASIN B01A8YVHHM.

A Pittsburgh Composer and His Memorial

Hodges, Fletcher Jr. (1948). The Research Work of the Foster Hall Collection. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Hodges, Fletcher Jr. (1958). The Swanee River and a Biographical Sketch of Stephen Collins Foster. Whitefish, Montana: Literary Licensing.  978-1258193980.

ISBN

Howard, John Tasker (March 1944). "The Literature on Stephen Foster". Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. 1 (2): 10–15. :10.2307/891301. JSTOR 891301.

doi

Howard, John Tasker (1945). . New York City: Tudor Publishing Company. ASIN B0007ELPPI.

Stephen Foster: America's Troubadour

Milligan, Harold Vincent (1920). Stephen Collins Foster: A Biography Of America's Folk-Song Composer. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing.  978-0548971864.

ISBN

Morneweck, Evelyn (1973). Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family. Associated Faculty Press.  978-0804617420.

ISBN

O'Connell, JoAnne (2016). The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster: a Revealing Portrait of the Forgotten Man Behind Swanee River, Beautiful Dreamer, and My Old Kentucky Home. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. p. 321.  9781442253865.

ISBN

. Center for American Music; University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved March 24, 2017.

"Foster Hall Collection"

(PDF). Musical Courier. 1930. Retrieved March 24, 2017.

"Pictorial Biography of Stephen Collins Foster"

at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Free scores by Stephen Foster

at Internet Archive

Works by or about Stephen Foster

at IMDb

Stephen Foster

at Find a Grave

Stephen Foster

of Stephen Foster at the University of Kentucky

Archives

discography at Discogs

Stephen Foster

Archived March 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine

Pittsburgh Music History

Hymns and songs by Stephen Foster

at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

Stephen Collins Foster recordings

Music scores