Stephen FosterStephen FosterAn American Musical TreasureAn American Musical Treasure

presents

• 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

The Early YearsThe Early Years

Musical TrainingMusical 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 BeginningThe 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 LivingMaking 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 RichesA 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 20-year-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 DaysThe 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 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.

Debunking the MythsDebunking 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 two-syllable 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 MemorialUniversity of Pittsburgh4301 Forbes Ave.Pittsburgh, PA 15260http://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

““We have our national hero in Stephen Foster. More songwriter than composer, and with a naturalnessWe have our national hero in Stephen Foster. More songwriter than composer, and with a naturalnessof feeling that places his melodies with the folk song, his simplicity and honesty are not easy to imitate.of feeling that places his melodies with the folk song, his simplicity and honesty are not easy to imitate.But this same simplicity and naturalness inspired a definite type of our own music.”But this same simplicity and naturalness inspired a definite type of our own music.”

Aaron CoplandAaron Copland