Stephen Foster

[JPChurch]

You might like this one, too, @JPChurch . The Smithsonian Folkways recordings are fantastic!

Richard Dyer-Bennet 11: Stephen Foster Songs | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Richard Dyer-Bennet (1913–1991) played a major role in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. He founded his own record label in 1955 in order to maintain artistic control over the sound quality, repertory, and style of his performances. (For an extended biography of Dyer-Bennet, written...

folkways.si.edu

You might enjoy this program from WFMT, the classical music station in Chicago that is the sister station to WTTW, the PBS station in Chicago. The Hampsong Foundation was founded by Thomas Hampson, an American opera baritone. I've been fortunate enough to see/hear him perform with the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Stephen Foster - Song of America

songofamerica.net

@JPChurch 's recommended recording was available on the Internet Archive when it was working.

Songs of Stephen Foster : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive

Charles Amirkhanian introduces a selection of songs by one of America’s earliest and most renowned composers, Stephen Foster. Although Foster’s works were...

archive.org

 

[JPChurch]

Thanks for your links!!!!! You found my LP too!!! Neat stuff. I took several courses in music history during my college days back in the late 70's. All of our American heritage composers come to mind.

 

[donna]

I have this old book that was my Dad's It is "Songs of Stephen Collins Foster" and was compliments of the Kentucky Home Mutual Insurance Company, Louisville, Kentucky. It has 23 of his songs.

Some interesting facts from booklet:

It was probably Foster's wife Jane that song "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" written for.

"Old Uncle Ned" was given to W.C. Peters of Cincinnati and Louisville to publish. "Oh! Susanna" was published by same company in 1848. It became the marching song of the "Forty-Niners".

"Old Dog Tray" was inspired by a setter dog which was Foster's constant companion.

"Old Black Joe" was a servant at the home of Mrs. Foster during courting days.

"Old Folks at Home" earned more than any other song. "My Old Kentucky Home " was next.

 

[TallTallMan]

 

[Allyn]

I'm so glad someone else remembers "Old Dog Tray." I learned it in grade school. But to hear Hampson's rendition of "Hard Times" is truly one of the best. !

 

[John Winn]

I have this old book that was my Dad's It is "Songs of Stephen Collins Foster" and was compliments of the Kentucky Home Mutual Insurance Company, Louisville, Kentucky. It has 23 of his songs.

Some interesting facts from booklet:

It was probably Foster's wife Jane that song "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" written for.

"Old Uncle Ned" was given to W.C. Peters of Cincinnati and Louisville to publish. "Oh! Susanna" was published by same company in 1848. It became the marching song of the "Forty-Niners".

"Old Dog Tray" was inspired by a setter dog which was Foster's constant companion.

"Old Black Joe" was a servant at the home of Mrs. Foster during courting days.

"Old Folks at Home" earned more than any other song. "My Old Kentucky Home " was next.

That's a good keeper ! Back then everybody thought Foster had actually visited Bardstown but current scholarship does not support that notion. My first wife's grandfather was the first manager of what became the state park that features the Federal Hill house and I know that into the 60s they claimed Foster had visited there (but don't now). I distinctly remember them having a small writing desk that they claimed was the one on which Foster wrote My Old Kentucky Home. Bardstown has a great collection of period homes, most of them well-maintained (now anyway; my wife said in the 50s many weren't).

Visited or not I like Foster's tunes. It's sad that he died in poverty and didn't really see any royalties.

 

[2nd Dragoon]

We had 78rpm records with all of Foster's songs. Family would sing them, sort of like a family version of "Sing along with Mitch", a.k.a Mitch Miller. Just reading this thread has started the Swannee River running in my head. thanks guys.

 

[rebed19th]

Hard Times is my favorite. It was written 170 years ago and the many of the greatest musical artists in America have recorded it. Emmy Lou Harris, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, The Chieftans, Willie Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Mary J Blige, McGarrigle Sisters and Nancy Griffith, and there are many more. Wonder what Stephen Foster would have thought about this song still being sung and its relevance to this day.

 

[John Winn]

Hard Times is my favorite. It was written 170 years ago and the many of the greatest musical artists in America have recorded it. Emmy Lou Harris, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, The Chieftans, Willie Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Mary J Blige, McGarrigle Sisters and Nancy Griffith, and there are many more. Wonder what Stephen Foster would have thought about this song still being sung and its relevance to this day.

Yep - that's my favorite, too. And it is something that all those folks chose to record the tune. Stevie Foster would be rolling in royalties were he still with us.

 

[Library Lady]

Stevie Foster would be rolling in royalties were he still with us.

Now, this makes me wonder: Did the music business work that way back then or did the artist sell his work to a publisher for a one-time payment?

 

[John Winn]

Now, this makes me wonder: Did the music business work that way back then or did the artist sell his work to a publisher for a one-time payment?

I don't really know exactly how it worked then but I'm sure there weren't royalties as we know them because there weren't any recordings. I think (and emphasize think) what happened is that companies that published music paid the composer; probably some fixed sum up front rather than so much per piece sold (a guess as there'd not be any way to track sales very well). I'd also not be surprised if people just stole the music and published it without paying the composer anything.

Back in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s (even to some extent into the 60s) recording contracts often just paid artists a lump sum and they didn't see any profits from sales percentages. It was common with black artists (read up on Leonard Chess) but also with others who weren't all that sophisticated (e.g. country artists). Folks also stole music and musicians dodged contracts by using aliases; old story.

I'm sure that in Stevie's day many got screwed (from today's perspective). I think that also happened to Edgar Allen Poe.

 

[R. Porter]

That's a good keeper ! Back then everybody thought Foster had actually visited Bardstown but current scholarship does not support that notion. My first wife's grandfather was the first manager of what became the state park that features the Federal Hill house and I know that into the 60s they claimed Foster had visited there (but don't now). I distinctly remember them having a small writing desk that they claimed was the one on which Foster wrote My Old Kentucky Home. Bardstown has a great collection of period homes, most of them well-maintained (now anyway; my wife said in the 50s many weren't).

Visited or not I like Foster's tunes. It's sad that he died in poverty and didn't really see any royalties.

But that guy did fall out of a second story window and break his neck while staying up one night to tend to his child with yellow fever, right?

 

[John Winn]

But that guy did fall out of a second story window and break his neck while staying up one night to tend to his child with yellow fever, right?

I think his child had diphtheria, but yeah, the son of the builder did fall out of a window to his death.

 

[donna]

In Song book I have, states Foster received $100 for "Oh Susanna" and the publisher made $10,000. It did say that in Foster's years 1849-1860 he made over $15,000.

As to his death Song book I have states that in Jan. 1864 he was staying in hotel in New York. Foster was attacked with ague and fever and went to bed. He was separated from his family and had no one to care for him. He got up and fell to floor, striking a wash basin which broke and cut a deep gash in face and neck. Suffuring from much loss of blood, he was discovered and taken to Bellevue Hospital where he died on Jan. 13, 1864.

 

[Claude Bauer]

Stephen Foster wrote songs during the 1800s and during the 1860s. He was renowned in the United States for his artistic poetic lyrics such as Camptown Races, Hard Times, Oh, Susanna, etc. He died before the Civil War even ended.

What is your Favorite Stephen Foster tune? mine is "Beautiful Dreamer".

Great thread! Thanks for starting!

 

[WestCoastSB]

"Hard Times" when I'm feeling melancholy. "Oh! Susanna" when feeling peppy. I was looking at his litany of compositions, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't familiar with many of them. As an aside, I didn't realize he died so young! He was only 37.

 

[Manassas 1861]

Stephen Foster wrote songs during the 1800s and during the 1860s. He was renowned in the United States for his artistic poetic lyrics such as Camptown Races, Hard Times, Oh, Susanna, etc. He died before the Civil War even ended.

What is your Favorite Stephen Foster tune? mine is "Beautiful Dreamer".

Foster has alot of great songs, to many to choose a favorite for me. "Beautiful Dreamer" was actually published after Foster's death in 1864, I believe it became one of his more popular songs.