Stephen Foster, or Stephen Collins Foster, lived from 4 July 1826 and 13 January 1864. He is known to many as the “father of American music.” Stephen Foster, it has been agreed upon by many historians and American musicologists, was the pre-eminent American songwriter in the 1800s. Many of his songs, such as “Oh! Susanna” are still popular songs today. Other famous Stephen Foster songs include “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Camptown Races,” “Beautiful Dreamer”, and “Old Black Joe.” His famous song “Old Folks at Home” is known to most as “Swanee River.”
Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, which is now officially a part of the city of Pittsburgh. Foster was the youngest of ten children in a working class family. When his father’s alcoholism took over, the family became nearly destitute. Foster’s education, which included just one month at Washington & Jefferson College, was not largely based in music. Although he had very little formal training, Foster published a number of songs before his twentieth birthday.
In 1846, he moved to Ohio to work as a bookkeeper for his brother’s steamship company. There, he wrote “Oh! Susanna,” which became a hit song and was quite popular among those people who were swept up in the California Gold Rush in 1848 and 1849. He also wrote the hit “Nelly Was a Lady” which became famous as performed by the Christy Minstrels. He signed a contract with the group and returned to Pennsylvania. He wrote may of his best known songs as a result of this contract. Although many of his songs were intended for blackface minstrel shows, which were very popular at the time, he told performers and fans alike that he wrote the songs not to mock slaves, but to create compassion for them in audiences.
At the time, musical copyrights were not nearly as stringent as they are today. Because of this, Stephen Foster had a difficult time making a living as a songwriter. Publishers of musical line sheets were known to change a song ever so slightly so that they would not have to pay the author for the rights.
In 1860, Stephen Foster moved to New York city. One year after the move, his wife returned to Pittsburgh with their daughter, leaving Foster behind. This marked the beginning of the end for Stephen Foster. The popularity of his songs declined, and he died at the age of 37.
He had become impoverished and was living at the North American Hotel on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. At the time of his death, Stephen Foster had exactly 38 cents to his name. Foster had experienced a serious fever. Upon rising to call out to the chambermaid for help, he fell and suffered a head wound. After three days in the hospital, he perished.
