Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1864) was an American songwriter known as "The Father of American Music". He was America's first professional pop composer and was the first American songwriter to contract with multiple publishers for royalty payments. Foster composed over 250 songs, all hand-written and sent to publishers using the U.S. Postal Service of the mid 1800's. Many of his songs were autobiographical, and two of his songs became official state songs: "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (the state song of Kentucky) and "Old Folks at Home" (the state song of Florida). Some of his songs were used in Minstrel Shows (the first American Musicals) where his lyrics unveiled the harsh realities of slavery. One such song, "Uncle Ned" was used in Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign. In 1966 the U.S. Congress designated the day of Foster’s death, January 13, as Stephen Foster Memorial Day, a United States National Observance.
Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826, the day that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. During his formative years he concentrated on music composition and a thorough analysis of harmonies. When he was 17 he published his first song “Open Thy Lattice, Love”, starting a composing streak of songs which became popular songs of the day. In the mid 1940s Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to work as a bookkeeper for his brother, Dunning, and in 1948 wrote his first major hit “Oh! Susanna”. There being little in the way of Copyright laws ”Oh! Susanna" was subsequently published by Holt Music and attributed to the Christy Minstrels, and it wasn't until much later that it was correctly attributed to Foster. After his success with "Oh! Susanna", he decided that songwriting was his profession and in 1849 returned to Pennsylvania to write music full time.
Except for a short stay in New York City, Stephen Foster remained in Pennsylvania for the next ten years composing his best songs. He kept a notebook of thoughts, melodies, and lyrics from which he would get ideas, and published many of his songs using the publisher Firth, Pond & Co, New York with which he had several royalty contracts. According to Stephen's brother Morrison Foster, when working on one particular song in 1851, Stephen needed a river's name with two syllables for his lyrics. Together they looked at a map of the United States and Morrison pointed to a Florida river named "Swanee", to which Stephen replied, "That's it, that's it exactly". The resulting song "Old Folks At Home" (aka "Swanee River") was an immediate success and Stephen sold an advanced copy to the Christy Minstrels who made the song nationally popular. Like "Oh! Susanna", it wasn't until later that "Old Folks At Home" was totally attributed to Stephen Foster.
By the late 1850's Stephen Foster had fewer hits and he was drawing more money from his publisher than he was producing. As a result, in 1860 he reached a new agreement with Firth, Pond & Co which required him to move to New York City. For his first year he had no major hits, but in 1862 Foster wrote one of his top songs, "Beautiful Dreamer", which the publisher engraved for sheet music but, for some unknown reason, did not published. In the same year, to increase his marketability, he partnered with the lyricist George Cooper and in 1863 Foster published 46 songs, 17 with his own lyrics and 29 with Cooper, none of which were hits. In 1864 at the New England hotel in New York, Stephen Foster was found in his hotel room unconscious and bleeding from a head injury caused by a fall. He was revived and transported to Bellevue Hospital where he eventually slipped back into unconsciousness and died three days later on January 13, 1864 at the young age of 37. His 1862 song “Beautiful Dreamer”, which some consider his masterpiece, was finally published two months after his death.
Three Hollywood films have been made of Stephen Foster's life: Harmony Lane (1935) with Douglass Montgomery, Swanee River (1939) with Don Ameche, and I Dream of Jeanie (1952) with Bill Shirley. In 1896 his brother Morrison Foster published a short book about Stephen's life called My Brother Stephen which was republished in 1932 by the Foster Hall Library.
The following list contains what are considered Stephen Foster’s ten best songs, although there are others which might also qualify. Foster was the composer and lyricist on all of these songs.
Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826, the day that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. During his formative years he concentrated on music composition and a thorough analysis of harmonies. When he was 17 he published his first song “Open Thy Lattice, Love”, starting a composing streak of songs which became popular songs of the day. In the mid 1940s Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to work as a bookkeeper for his brother, Dunning, and in 1948 wrote his first major hit “Oh! Susanna”. There being little in the way of Copyright laws ”Oh! Susanna" was subsequently published by Holt Music and attributed to the Christy Minstrels, and it wasn't until much later that it was correctly attributed to Foster. After his success with "Oh! Susanna", he decided that songwriting was his profession and in 1849 returned to Pennsylvania to write music full time.
Except for a short stay in New York City, Stephen Foster remained in Pennsylvania for the next ten years composing his best songs. He kept a notebook of thoughts, melodies, and lyrics from which he would get ideas, and published many of his songs using the publisher Firth, Pond & Co, New York with which he had several royalty contracts. According to Stephen's brother Morrison Foster, when working on one particular song in 1851, Stephen needed a river's name with two syllables for his lyrics. Together they looked at a map of the United States and Morrison pointed to a Florida river named "Swanee", to which Stephen replied, "That's it, that's it exactly". The resulting song "Old Folks At Home" (aka "Swanee River") was an immediate success and Stephen sold an advanced copy to the Christy Minstrels who made the song nationally popular. Like "Oh! Susanna", it wasn't until later that "Old Folks At Home" was totally attributed to Stephen Foster.
By the late 1850's Stephen Foster had fewer hits and he was drawing more money from his publisher than he was producing. As a result, in 1860 he reached a new agreement with Firth, Pond & Co which required him to move to New York City. For his first year he had no major hits, but in 1862 Foster wrote one of his top songs, "Beautiful Dreamer", which the publisher engraved for sheet music but, for some unknown reason, did not published. In the same year, to increase his marketability, he partnered with the lyricist George Cooper and in 1863 Foster published 46 songs, 17 with his own lyrics and 29 with Cooper, none of which were hits. In 1864 at the New England hotel in New York, Stephen Foster was found in his hotel room unconscious and bleeding from a head injury caused by a fall. He was revived and transported to Bellevue Hospital where he eventually slipped back into unconsciousness and died three days later on January 13, 1864 at the young age of 37. His 1862 song “Beautiful Dreamer”, which some consider his masterpiece, was finally published two months after his death.
Three Hollywood films have been made of Stephen Foster's life: Harmony Lane (1935) with Douglass Montgomery, Swanee River (1939) with Don Ameche, and I Dream of Jeanie (1952) with Bill Shirley. In 1896 his brother Morrison Foster published a short book about Stephen's life called My Brother Stephen which was republished in 1932 by the Foster Hall Library.
The following list contains what are considered Stephen Foster’s ten best songs, although there are others which might also qualify. Foster was the composer and lyricist on all of these songs.
- “Oh! Susanna” (1848)
- ”Ah! May The Red Rose Live Alway” (1850)
- "Camptown Races" (1850)
- "Old Folks at Home” (1851)
- “Old Black Joe” (1853)
- "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (1853)
- "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854)
- “Gentle Annie” (1856)
- “Why No One To Love” (1862)
- “Beautiful Dreamer” (1862).