STEPHEN C. FOSTER  

Though Foster can be considered the father of American popular music, his life was rather modest by the frenzied standards of today’s pop stars. Born on the United States’ fiftieth birthday, 4 July 1826, he spent the greater part of his life in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, well away from the cultural and entertainment centres on the East coast, moving to New York only when his career was already in decline. Known for celebrating the Deep South, he travelled there only once, and briefly, during his life.

From an early age music was one of the few constants in Foster’s life. His entrepreneurial father made risky ventures in both politics and business, and though middle class his large and musically inclined family was in recurring financial distress. They lost their beloved home the “White Cottage” in Foster’s infancy and rarely had a settled home life after that time.

Foster’s education was as uneven as his home life. Largely self-taught in music, he received some guidance from family members and from Henry Kleber, one of the many fine German immigrant musicians who graced American cities during the nineteenth century. His first known composition was written when he was fourteen. His first published song Open Thy Lattice Love dates from his eighteenth year and is typical of the period’s genteel parlour ballads appropriate for the young ladies and gentlemen of the bourgeoisie. His first success as a song-writer, however, came with a much earthier style of music, the ‘Ethiopian’ or ‘Plantation’ songs associated with minstrel shows.