According to oldflutes.com/american , Stephen Foster owned and played a Firth & Pond flute. That may explain why some of his songs seem to work so well on a simple flute."Sweet Little Maid of the Mountain" , "Slumber My Darling" , "For Thee Love" , " Gentle Annie " come to mind. Not at all difficult , possibly a little shmaltzy for those who find the sentimentality of the period cloying . Interesting for the historically minded.
Bruce
OT: Stephen Foster played flute...
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BmacD
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OT: Stephen Foster played flute...
We have enough youth. How about a "fountain of smart".
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Doug_Tipple
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I like Stephen Foster, as well. Sitting at my computer, I just recorded a one minute mp3 clip of "Hard Times Come Again No More". Since April 15 is behind us (just barely), I thought that the tune would be appropriate. I am playing the guitar, Irish flute, and octave fiddle.
http://home.earthlink.net/~life2all/sit ... dtimes.mp3
From "A Treasury of Stephen Foster", first edition, 1946 Random House, "Stephen Foster was the 10th of 11 children. The Fosters were prominent people in Western Pennsylvania; they were active in both political and commercial affairs. However, Stephen was different from the rest of the children. He was a dreamer, and, above everything else, he loved music. He learned to play the flute and the violin, and he could pick out tunes on the piano. The other members of the family liked music, too, but they did not think that a man should spend too much time at it. There was more important work to be done in a flourishing pioneer community; music should be kept withing reasonable limits as a pleasant pastime."
"'Hard Times' was the second of the two songs which were based on fragments of folk songs which Stephen heard as a child in the Negro church where the family nurse, Olivia Pise, worshipped. 'Hard Times' was published in January of 1855, four and a half years later than the other song of Negro derivation, 'Oh, Boys, Carry Me 'Long', and its words were tragically prophetic, for it became one of the songs the Foster sang most frequently in his last days, when 'hard times' were on him in full force indeed.
A journalist friend, George Birdseye, wrote two articles of memoirs about Foster for the New York Musical Gazette of 1869, which were widely reprinted. One of the articles contained this story about 'Hard Times Come Again No More':
On more than one occasion, in a grocery barroom, I have heard Stephen Foster sing that good old song of his, with a pathos that a state of semi-inebriation often lends the voice; whiile his pockets were in the peculiarly appropriate condition of emptiness not unusual to them, and the forlorn habitues of the place joined dismally in the chorus."
Verse one of four:
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor:
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
Chorus:
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary;
Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more;
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
http://home.earthlink.net/~life2all/sit ... dtimes.mp3
From "A Treasury of Stephen Foster", first edition, 1946 Random House, "Stephen Foster was the 10th of 11 children. The Fosters were prominent people in Western Pennsylvania; they were active in both political and commercial affairs. However, Stephen was different from the rest of the children. He was a dreamer, and, above everything else, he loved music. He learned to play the flute and the violin, and he could pick out tunes on the piano. The other members of the family liked music, too, but they did not think that a man should spend too much time at it. There was more important work to be done in a flourishing pioneer community; music should be kept withing reasonable limits as a pleasant pastime."
"'Hard Times' was the second of the two songs which were based on fragments of folk songs which Stephen heard as a child in the Negro church where the family nurse, Olivia Pise, worshipped. 'Hard Times' was published in January of 1855, four and a half years later than the other song of Negro derivation, 'Oh, Boys, Carry Me 'Long', and its words were tragically prophetic, for it became one of the songs the Foster sang most frequently in his last days, when 'hard times' were on him in full force indeed.
A journalist friend, George Birdseye, wrote two articles of memoirs about Foster for the New York Musical Gazette of 1869, which were widely reprinted. One of the articles contained this story about 'Hard Times Come Again No More':
On more than one occasion, in a grocery barroom, I have heard Stephen Foster sing that good old song of his, with a pathos that a state of semi-inebriation often lends the voice; whiile his pockets were in the peculiarly appropriate condition of emptiness not unusual to them, and the forlorn habitues of the place joined dismally in the chorus."
Verse one of four:
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor:
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
Chorus:
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary;
Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more;
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
Last edited by Doug_Tipple on Sat Apr 16, 2005 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cynth
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Doug----That is one of my favorite songs---what a treat. Thank you!
BmacD---I remember in grade school almost hating the songs we sang by Stephen Foster, I don't know why. But now I find the melodies very beautiful and the words very touching. They are sentimental, but it seems refreshing somehow, not cloying. Some of them seem just piercingly sad. I guess I'm getting old!
Chang He---I have not heard of Raul Malo but he certainly does have a beautiful voice. I'm going to see what sorts of recordings he has made. He sounds sort of country, but...I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard of him.
BmacD---I remember in grade school almost hating the songs we sang by Stephen Foster, I don't know why. But now I find the melodies very beautiful and the words very touching. They are sentimental, but it seems refreshing somehow, not cloying. Some of them seem just piercingly sad. I guess I'm getting old!
Chang He---I have not heard of Raul Malo but he certainly does have a beautiful voice. I'm going to see what sorts of recordings he has made. He sounds sort of country, but...I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard of him.
He is country actually. (Actually he's Hispanic, and sings country, but that can become your identity too) He's the lead singer for the group "The Mavericks." Very Roy Orbison flavor to their music. And wow, this really is off topic.Cynth wrote:Chang He---I have not heard of Raul Malo but he certainly does have a beautiful voice. I'm going to see what sorts of recordings he has made. He sounds sort of country, but...I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard of him.
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Cynth
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Chang He, we can't help it if things go a certain direction. It's still about music. Thanks for your info. I will have to see what I can find by The Mavericks. I like the old type of C&W a lot. I don't like the new stuff that just seems like rock music to me. And to get this back to the topic, I like flute music a lot too. 
Doug I had read something about Foster's life taking a turn for the worse. I wonder what made things go so wrong for him? It sure sounds sad.
Doug I had read something about Foster's life taking a turn for the worse. I wonder what made things go so wrong for him? It sure sounds sad.
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colomon
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- Tell us something.: Whistle player, aspiring C#/D accordion and flute player, and aspiring tunesmith. Particularly interested in the music of South Sligo and Newfoundland. Inspired by the music of Peter Horan, Fred Finn, Rufus Guinchard, Emile Benoit, and Liz Carroll.
I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html - Location: Midland, Michigan
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PBS did a show on him; I've just been scanning the transcript looking for info on his situation. It looks to me like the quick summary is this -- once he saw how popular "Oh! Susanna" was ("greatest hit ever to occur in America" in the 1840s), he decided to become a full time songwriter. Only thing was, such a profession was unheard of, the copyright laws were not set up very well to support it, and he was not much of a businessman.Cynth wrote:Doug I had read something about Foster's life taking a turn for the worse. I wonder what made things go so wrong for him? It sure sounds sad.
Sol's Tunes (new tune 2/2020)
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Doug_Tipple
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"The Treasury of Stephen Foster", Random House, which I alluded to before, indicates that his publisher, Firth, Pond & Company had paid him $9,596 in about 6 years of his most productive song-writing years. "In the 1850's an income of a little less than $2,000 a year was adequate for comfortable living, but it did not constitute wealth, nor anyting approaching what a song-writer today would earn if his works achieved popularity equal to those of Stephen Foster. Anyway, the Fosters spent a little more than Stephen earned each year, and his account book shows debts to landlords and tailors and borrowings from his brothers William and Morrison."
From that point it was pretty much all downhill for Stephen. The best years of his creative life were behing him. "During his last four years he turned out more than a hundred songs, but the quantity was not accompanied by quality. He often collaborated with lyric writers who provided him with the words he no longer wrote himself, and generally the results were mere potboilers." During this time Stephen was using liquor as an escape from his worries, and he soon became an incurable alcoholic. Stephen's wife and extended family did everything that they could to help him recover, realizing that they had to get him out of New York. But Stephen didn't want to move.
"In January 1864, he was living in a lodging house on the corner of Baynard Street and the Bowery, then known as the North American Hotel. He was ill and suffering from a 'fever and ague.' He may have been tuberculous; several of the Fosters are known to have had the disease. On the morning of January 10th, George Cooper received a message to come quickly to the hotel. Stephen was lying on the floor of his room. He had risen from his bed and fallen on a piece of crockery. Along his neck, near the jugular vein, was a long, bloody cut. A doctor came and sewed the cut with black thread. Then they dressed Stephen and took him to Bellevue Hospital." Stephen died three days later on January 13, 1864.
"At the hospital the warden handed Morrison an inventory of Stephen's possessions: 'Coat, pants, vest, hat, shoes, overcoat.' One item was not mentioned - a little purse containing thirty-eight cents in coin and scrip, and a slip of paper with these penciled words: 'Dear friends and gentle hearts.' Perhaps this was to be the title for a song, but whatever it was, it described quite accurately the man who added 'Old Folks at Home' to the spiritual riches of the world.
The little purse and its contents are preserved today at the Foster Hall Collection of the University of Pittsburgh, together with the manuscript book which Stephen used for working out the words of all the songs he wrote from 1850 to 1860......And in 1940 the problem-child of the Foster family became the first musician to be elected to the Hall of Fame of New York University"
"Foster composed almost two hundred songs and a few instrumental pieces. Of the songs, a half dozen rank with the world's greatest ballads, and at least twenty-five of them have become American folksongs."
"Stephen Foster achieved a truly American expression. Born and bed in Pittsburgh, he was not influenced by the foreigh music that enslaved the composers who lived in the more cosmopolitan seaboard cities. The voices Stephen heard were those of the minstrel shows, the singing and dancing of Negroes on the wharves of the Ohio River, and the sentimental songs of mid-century that were carried through the country by the 'singing family' troups, and were sung by demure yound ladies who played the accompaniments on square pianos covered with brocade and lace.
While the minstrel shows helped to produce Stephen Foster by providing a market for his songs, they were also a medium which Stephen himself reformed. He found their songs crude, vulgar ditties which struck the popular fancy, and he made into a folk-literature something that had reeked of the alley and the barroom. Foster's songs are full of the spirit of pioneers, full of the carefree impertinence that snaps its finger at fate and the universe. Unconsciously, and without any attempt to be a nationalist, Stephen Foster wrote into his songs the subtle traits that characterize Americans."
From that point it was pretty much all downhill for Stephen. The best years of his creative life were behing him. "During his last four years he turned out more than a hundred songs, but the quantity was not accompanied by quality. He often collaborated with lyric writers who provided him with the words he no longer wrote himself, and generally the results were mere potboilers." During this time Stephen was using liquor as an escape from his worries, and he soon became an incurable alcoholic. Stephen's wife and extended family did everything that they could to help him recover, realizing that they had to get him out of New York. But Stephen didn't want to move.
"In January 1864, he was living in a lodging house on the corner of Baynard Street and the Bowery, then known as the North American Hotel. He was ill and suffering from a 'fever and ague.' He may have been tuberculous; several of the Fosters are known to have had the disease. On the morning of January 10th, George Cooper received a message to come quickly to the hotel. Stephen was lying on the floor of his room. He had risen from his bed and fallen on a piece of crockery. Along his neck, near the jugular vein, was a long, bloody cut. A doctor came and sewed the cut with black thread. Then they dressed Stephen and took him to Bellevue Hospital." Stephen died three days later on January 13, 1864.
"At the hospital the warden handed Morrison an inventory of Stephen's possessions: 'Coat, pants, vest, hat, shoes, overcoat.' One item was not mentioned - a little purse containing thirty-eight cents in coin and scrip, and a slip of paper with these penciled words: 'Dear friends and gentle hearts.' Perhaps this was to be the title for a song, but whatever it was, it described quite accurately the man who added 'Old Folks at Home' to the spiritual riches of the world.
The little purse and its contents are preserved today at the Foster Hall Collection of the University of Pittsburgh, together with the manuscript book which Stephen used for working out the words of all the songs he wrote from 1850 to 1860......And in 1940 the problem-child of the Foster family became the first musician to be elected to the Hall of Fame of New York University"
"Foster composed almost two hundred songs and a few instrumental pieces. Of the songs, a half dozen rank with the world's greatest ballads, and at least twenty-five of them have become American folksongs."
"Stephen Foster achieved a truly American expression. Born and bed in Pittsburgh, he was not influenced by the foreigh music that enslaved the composers who lived in the more cosmopolitan seaboard cities. The voices Stephen heard were those of the minstrel shows, the singing and dancing of Negroes on the wharves of the Ohio River, and the sentimental songs of mid-century that were carried through the country by the 'singing family' troups, and were sung by demure yound ladies who played the accompaniments on square pianos covered with brocade and lace.
While the minstrel shows helped to produce Stephen Foster by providing a market for his songs, they were also a medium which Stephen himself reformed. He found their songs crude, vulgar ditties which struck the popular fancy, and he made into a folk-literature something that had reeked of the alley and the barroom. Foster's songs are full of the spirit of pioneers, full of the carefree impertinence that snaps its finger at fate and the universe. Unconsciously, and without any attempt to be a nationalist, Stephen Foster wrote into his songs the subtle traits that characterize Americans."
Stephen Foster cost me dearly as a boy. We sang all his songs in school. On my paper route I would bellow out his songs, or whistle them, or play them on my harmonica (we called it a mouth harp). In a trance, I would sing right by customers. Then I would have to make up the difference by working at other jobs, so the paper route was a looser. Some crazy kid traded me the paper route for a job inside the newspaper office. I had to stamp the addresses on half-page of foolscap with a machine. Glue it around a paper and take the whole bag full to the train station to mail. I could sing Stephen Foster's songs all the time, over the din of the press. The mail sack did not wiegh much but it was bulky. One day I had it on top of my head, down over my eyes..."Old Black Joe--wham, a car came out of an alley and hit me. It did not hurt me at all and it felt so good laying on top of the mail sack, I just closed my eyes and pretended unconsciousness. My eyes were closed but I knew there was a crowd around me—I started my singing back, …”I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low, I here the gentle voices calling, Old Black Joe.” Some one kicked me.
Two weeks ago I had 4 grandchildren up to my farm and they, to my shock, learn no songs in school. They had to learn a song every day or not eat, two Stephen Foster’s and “I’m In The Jail House Now”.
Sometimes I get the feeling that technology has changed the social fabric of the Western World so much in disadvantages ways that outweigh the advantages. E.g. Stephen Foster’s songs and the folk songs of thousands of years that are not handed down any more and will end with me. But, on the other hand, I looked at one of my old text books the other day and they were recommending lobotomies for gay men (not women).
Thank you, Stephen Foster.
Two weeks ago I had 4 grandchildren up to my farm and they, to my shock, learn no songs in school. They had to learn a song every day or not eat, two Stephen Foster’s and “I’m In The Jail House Now”.
Sometimes I get the feeling that technology has changed the social fabric of the Western World so much in disadvantages ways that outweigh the advantages. E.g. Stephen Foster’s songs and the folk songs of thousands of years that are not handed down any more and will end with me. But, on the other hand, I looked at one of my old text books the other day and they were recommending lobotomies for gay men (not women).
Thank you, Stephen Foster.
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Whistlin'Dixie
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Nelson wrote:"Old Black Joe-- …”I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low, I here the gentle voices calling, Old Black Joe.”
Thank you, Stephen Foster.
My Grandpa used to sing this one occasionally when my (somewhat bossy) Granny would tell him to do something. It used to crack us up.
so now I sing it occasionally for my kids ~ most of whom are not the least musically inclined.....
Mary
A vast musical tradition is lost to us because it was
racist--Al Jolson, anybody remember him?
One of the great vocalists of the last century,
used to perform in blackface. Minstrel shows,
etc. There are Bing Crosby movies where
he performed in blackface. When I went
to college people performed in blackface
in school events. What place is there
in America for such music now,
if it note that 'the darkies are gay'?
racist--Al Jolson, anybody remember him?
One of the great vocalists of the last century,
used to perform in blackface. Minstrel shows,
etc. There are Bing Crosby movies where
he performed in blackface. When I went
to college people performed in blackface
in school events. What place is there
in America for such music now,
if it note that 'the darkies are gay'?
My brother had this good friend that would drop to one knee and start singing "Swanny, how I love you, how I love you, my dear old Swanney. I'd give the world to be......" Just like Al Joleson. He was a Joleson clone. He lived in Grafton, WV, a railroad turntable and maintenance center. When Al Joleson died, he was sitting on the Court House steps crying. A railroader said, "What's wrong, Bob?" "Al Joleson died." The man turned to the other railroaders and said, "Did he break or fire?"
After that I used to argue with him, "Really, Bob, all railroaders are not stupid".
We sang and played in lots of genre. There was a bastion of Italians (coal miners) centered around Bridgeport WV. Large enough to support an opera production every winter. One brother was the lead tenor in La Traveatta, and several others. We hitchhiked there every weekend for practice. We also had the Appalachian folk, I can go to the Library of Congress and hear my Aunt Lucy play and sing. My grandfather, Bruce McIntosh on the other side of the family gave us Celtic. We had the likes of Mario Lanza in movies and of course, all the popular songs. The genre we hated was, what we called, “Drugstore Cowboy”. It sounded so phony to us. It became Nashville. When we would go into peoples houses that were playing Drugstore Cowboy music on the radio, we looked down our noses at them. But we did not look down our noses at the Blacks. We also had Negro music which we loved. In West Virginia there was a different relationship between whites and blacks than in other parts of the USA. It was much like the relationship of Blacks in Sweden, a novelty. Even though Blacks were required to travel up to 50 miles to high school because there were so few of them. Socially, we mixed, and sang their songs. Strange, WV became a state because they did not succeed from the Union, yet they segregated the schools. Outside of school, they were bosom buddies, equals, we shared their music and loved each other.
After that I used to argue with him, "Really, Bob, all railroaders are not stupid".
We sang and played in lots of genre. There was a bastion of Italians (coal miners) centered around Bridgeport WV. Large enough to support an opera production every winter. One brother was the lead tenor in La Traveatta, and several others. We hitchhiked there every weekend for practice. We also had the Appalachian folk, I can go to the Library of Congress and hear my Aunt Lucy play and sing. My grandfather, Bruce McIntosh on the other side of the family gave us Celtic. We had the likes of Mario Lanza in movies and of course, all the popular songs. The genre we hated was, what we called, “Drugstore Cowboy”. It sounded so phony to us. It became Nashville. When we would go into peoples houses that were playing Drugstore Cowboy music on the radio, we looked down our noses at them. But we did not look down our noses at the Blacks. We also had Negro music which we loved. In West Virginia there was a different relationship between whites and blacks than in other parts of the USA. It was much like the relationship of Blacks in Sweden, a novelty. Even though Blacks were required to travel up to 50 miles to high school because there were so few of them. Socially, we mixed, and sang their songs. Strange, WV became a state because they did not succeed from the Union, yet they segregated the schools. Outside of school, they were bosom buddies, equals, we shared their music and loved each other.
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Cynth
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Nelson, you have some very interesting reminiscences. I always wondered what "Drugstore Cowboy" meant. I was wondering, not having any children, if and what they were singing in school these days. We used to sing from books about 3 times a week in the '50's when I was in 4th grade. I liked it alot, although I realize now I didn't understand much of what we were singing really. I was too little to really understand how really heart-rending "Tenting Tonight" is, just for an example. I remember I hated "The Spanish Cavalier", except when half the class sang that and the other half sang "Solomon Levi". I didn't learn many songs compared to the earlier generations, but I'm glad I got exposed to them because now I can pick up an old song book and find something in there I know. And then you can learn a couple more----like "Juanita"! I just discovered I like that song a few years back.
colomon, that PBS website was very interesting.
Here is a nice website for getting sheet music, and seeing the great covers, for songs from before 1925:
colomon, that PBS website was very interesting.
Here is a nice website for getting sheet music, and seeing the great covers, for songs from before 1925: