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presents
Stephen Foster
An American Musical Treasure
The Early Years
• born July 4, 1826, in a white cottage high
on the hillside above the Allegheny River in
Lawrenceville, east of Pittsburgh
• 9th of 10 brothers and sisters
Musical Training
• Foster received some
formal musical training
from a German
immigrant, Henry
Kleber
– an accomplished and
versatile musician
• Kleber was a major
influence on Pittsburgh's
musical life as a:
–
–
–
–
–
Performer
Composer
music merchant
Impresario
teacher
The Beginning
• Stephen, his brother and
a close friend, were all
members of an all-male
secret club called Knights
of the S.T. [probably
Square Table] that met
twice weekly at the
Fosters' home.
– One of their principal activities
was singing, with Stephen
acting first as song leader and
then composer. Some of his
earliest songs were composed
for the group. His first
published song, "Open Thy
Lattice Love", appeared from a
Philadelphia music publisher
when Stephen was only 18.
Learning the Ropes
• At age 20, Stephen sold some of his songs and piano
pieces to a local music publisher in Cincinnati and had
his first big hit with "Oh! Susanna." By 1850, Foster
already had 12 compositions in print.
– After "Oh! Susanna" became a national hit following its
performance by the Christy Minstrels in 1848, the song was
widely pirated by more than two-dozen music publishing
firms, who earned tens of thousands of dollars from sheet
music sales. But Foster received a mere $100 from a single
firm in Cincinnati. In that regard, "Oh! Susanna" was a
financial failure for Foster, but he learned two valuable
lessons: one, his potential to earn significant sums from
songwriting and, two, the need to protect his artistic
property.
• At age 24, Foster returned to Pittsburgh and launched
his career as a professional songwriter.
Launching a Career
• While still an amateur songwriter,
Foster realized that the minstrel
stage was the key to securing an
audience for his songs.
• During 1848 and 1849, eight more
of his minstrel songs were
published, including "Uncle Ned,"
and "Nelly Was a Lady.“
• Foster left his bookkeeping job in
Cincinnati and returned to
Pittsburgh in late 1849 or early
1850.
• On December 3, 1849, he signed a
contract with the New York music
publisher, Firth, Pond, & Co., thus
officially beginning his professional
career.
Making a Living
• Foster's only real income was the royalty he
earned on sheet-music sales.
• Altogether he made $15,091.08 in royalties
during his lifetime and almost nothing in
performing rights (yearly average was $1,371
for his 11 most productive years).
– His heirs, Jane (wife) and Marion (daughter)
equally, later earned $4,199 in royalties, so that the
total known royalties on his songs amounted to
$19,290.
A Treasure Beyond Riches
• In reality, Foster was not an idle street musician
without direction in his life, he was a pioneer. There
was no music business as we know it .
– no system of publishers and agents vying to sell new songs;
– no "performing rights" fees from restaurant singers or minstrels or
theater musicians or concert recitalists
– no way of earning money except through a 5-to-10 percent royalty
on sheet music sales of his own editions by his original publisher, or
though the outright purchase of a song by a publisher
– no way to know whether or not he was being paid for all the copies
his publisher sold
– no attorneys specializing in authors' rights.
– Copyright law protected far less than it does today: Foster earned
nothing for other arrangers' settings of his songs, broadside printings
of his lyrics, or for other publishers' editions of his music.
• In today's music industry he would be worth millions
of dollars a year.
An Established Professional
• Many believe Foster dashed off perfect
masterpieces in a flash of inspiration,
songs expressing the sentiment of
American ante-bellum South.
• As a professional songwriter of
unparalleled skill and technique--not an
untutored musical genius--he had made it
his business to study the various music
and poetic styles circulating in the
immigrant populations of the new United
States.
– His
intention was to write the people's music,
using images and a musical vocabulary that
would be widely understood by all groups.
– Foster worked very hard at writing, sometimes
taking several months to craft and polish the
words, melody, and accompaniment of a song
before sending it off to a publisher.
–His sketchbook shows that he often labored
over the smallest details, the right prepositions,
even where to include or remove a comma from
his lyrics.
Personal Life
• At age 24, Stephen married 20year-old Jane Denny MacDowell on
July 22, 1850.
• In 1851, a year after being
married, Stephen and Jane had a
daughter named Marion.
• In 1853, Foster went to New York
to be near his publishers; Jane
joined him in Hoboken, N.J.,
sometime in 1854. They returned to
Pittsburgh later that year.
• The same year Foster and his wife
Jane separated for a brief period of
time.
• Around 1861, after another move to
New York, Jane and Marion returned
to Pennsylvania. Stephen spent the
rest of his life living on his own in
New York City.
The Final Days
• On January 13, 1864, Foster
died at age 37 with 38 cents in his
pocket and a penciled scrap of
paper that read, "dear friends and
gentle hearts."
– His brother Henry described the
accident in the New York theaterdistrict 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.
Debunking the Myths
• Many stories and myths have been generated about Stephen Foster.
The truth, however, is even more powerful, and of greater interest to
modern audiences. Among the most widely repeated imaginary and
false stories are these:
– Foster was a Southerner
– Foster wrote about the Swanee River and the old Kentucky home after (or
while) visiting those sites
– Foster was an idle dreamer, an untrained musical genius whose songs
were flashes of inspiration
–Foster was incapable of any kind of work, and did not have to labor at
writing music
– Foster got many of his musical ideas by listening to slaves or attending
black church services and then simply writing down what he heard
– Foster was a racist who glorified slavery and the happy life for slaves on
the plantation, and who regretted the abolition of slavery
– Foster earned a great deal of money but was financially inept
– Foster was a carefree, spendthrift artist who neither knew nor cared about
money
– Foster hated school, and was therefore poorly educated
– Foster was gay
– Foster committed suicide
– Foster was a drunkard who died intoxicated in a Bowery gutter
Deserving Recognition
• Because he did not perform music professionally,
as most songwriters did to support themselves,
Foster himself was not well known to the
public. Even during his lifetime, his songs were
often referred to as folk songs.
– For example, during the Gold Rush "Oh! Susanna"
became a kind of theme songs for the Forty-niners,
who improvised countless new lyrics for the jaunty
tune as they made their way to California.
• Today, most school children (as well as adults)
still know the tune, but comparatively few can
identify Stephen Foster as the composer.
• Two of Stephen Foster’s songs now serve as
state songs:
– Florida – Swanee River – (adopted 1935)
• Foster never visited the Swanee River. It is
believed he chose this river because of its twosyllable cadence which fit nicely into the music
he had composed .
– Kentucky – My Old Kentucky Home (adopted 1986)
Information for this presentation
provided by:
• Center for American Music: Stephen Foster
– Foster Hall Collection
Stephen Foster Memorial
University of Pittsburgh
4301 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/foster.htm
• Bob January
– http://www.bobjanuary.com/foster/sf1.htm
Music in this presentation
• Holiday Schottisch – 1853
– Performed by Will Barrow
• Beautiful Dreamer – 1862
– Performed by Raul Malo
• Oh! Suzanna – 1848
– Performed by Michelle Shocked & Pete Anderson
• Autumn Waltz – 1846
– Performed by Henry Kaiser
• No One To Love – 1862
– Performed by Judith Edelman
• Camptown Races – 1850
– Performed by The Duhks