– U.S.
Stephen
Foster (who died on this date in 1864) is known as the Father of
American Music. (Perhaps it is appropriate, then, that he was born on
the Fourth of July – in 1826.) He wrote songs such as “Oh!
Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Swanee River,” “My Old
Kentucky Home,” and “Beautiful Dreamer.”
According
to Wikipedia, these songs are still popular today, more than 150
years after Foster wrote them. But...I wonder, have YOU ever heard of
them? I'm not sure that they are still all that popular or known...
Foster
had a pretty wide-ranging education but little instruction in music.
However, he was influenced by a classically trained musician who
emigrated from Germany and became one of Foster's only music
teachers. Also, Foster was influenced by an entertainer who acted as
a clown and a blackface singer who traveled with a circus. (Blackface
was theatrical makeup that white performers wore in order to create
stereotyped caricatures of black people. It was popular for a century
in the U.S. and overseas, but eventually people came to see it as
racist.)
Foster
tried to make a living as a songwriter, but although his songs were
very popular during his lifetime, he wasn't able to make much money
with them. The music copyright laws and composer royalties of the
time were not very fair to creative artists. For example, one highly
popular song that became a sort of theme song for the Gold Rush, “Oh!
Susanna,” earned Foster only $100. Publishers of sheet music raked
in most of the profits for Foster's creative work!
Listen
to samples of Foster's songs here.
Also
on this date:
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