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Remembering Stephen C. Foster

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  • Remembering Stephen C. Foster

    Stephen C. Foster was born on July 4th, 1826. His contributions and musical accomplishments will be sang and remembered for many years to come. He is indeed one of my favorites. Here is a very good link to an extensive listing of some of his music, some complete with lyrics and midi files that some of you may find useful and enjoy.

    Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864) The history of western music in the 19th Century includes many chapters on great European composers who sadly died “too young”. Enormous fascination exists for Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Mendelssohn, none of whom saw their fortieth birthdays. However, whilst the music of these Austrian, PolishContinue reading


    Regards;

    Dan Houde
    Daniel A. Houde - Proprietor
    Orchard Hill Cutlery
    Website: http://www.orchardhillcutlery.com
    On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OrchardHillCutlery

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  • #2
    Re: Remembering Stephen C. Foster

    Thanks Dan.

    I wanted to add this link as well:
    Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter. His melodies are so much a part of American history and culture that most people think they're folk tunes. All in all he composed some 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna" "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Camptown Races." Though he virtually invented popular music as we recognize it today, Foster's personal life was tragic and contradiction-riddled. His marriage was largely unhappy, he never made much money from his work and he died at the age of 37 a nearly penniless alcoholic on the Bowery in New York.

    Its a nice PBS website on Stephen Foster's history, including images of original sheet music, recorded songs, and an interesting 'Special Feature' section on Minstrelsy. This website is a companion piece to the PBS television history documentary series "American Experience".

    Respectfully,
    Last edited by ; 07-07-2004, 08:07 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: Remembering Stephen C. Foster

      Thanks, Dan, for reminding us about the birthday of Stephen Foster.

      I spent the winter arranging sixteen of his minstrel tunes for the minstrel banjo. Centerstream Publishers is publishing these in the fall. The book should be very useful to the historical musician. It will include the standard notation and banjo tablature for the arrangements, the original lyrics, historical notes for each song, and other background information about Foster and the minstrel banjo. Ed Sims is busy doing the research for the notes. We'll also have an extensive bibliography.

      Ed and I (dba The Free and Accepted Minstrels of Old New Orleans) are going to record a CD of these songs next month (August). The recording should be available by the New Year.

      Daniel Partner
      American Music 1830-1865

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