Copied in life, celebrated in death
Stephen Collins Foster, America’s troubadour, was born on the
Fourth of July, 1826, as the United States was celebrating its 50th
birthday. Two presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died
that day, but the Foster family of Lawrenceville (now Pittsburgh),
Pa. had little else on their mind.
Copied in life, celebrated in death
Stephen Collins Foster, America’s troubadour, was born on the Fourth of July, 1826, as the United States was celebrating its 50th birthday. Two presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died that day, but the Foster family of Lawrenceville (now Pittsburgh), Pa. had little else on their mind.
The parents greeted their l0th child with unbridled joy. He was the pride of the family. One might have expected he would have been a brat but Stephen was an exceptionally good-natured boy whose disposition won friends from early childhood.
His formal education appears sparse by today’s standards, but it was sufficient for a youth of his times. One advantage young Stephen had was his love of music, encouraged by a music teacher, Henry Kleber. Foster practiced scales and learned to translate to various instruments the melodies that formed in his mind.
Kleber saw in him a potential Bach or Mozart. But while the instructor’s mind conjured images of his pupil composing symphonies, Foster instead was picking up the songs of his time, including minstrel tunes. He was 18 when his first song, “Open Thy Lattice, Love,” was published.
But early success did not mean he was on the verge of fortune. No one made a living by song writing without a wealthy sponsor. But Foster kept composing.
By sheer chance, a song published when he was 24 coincided with one of the great events in American history, and Foster was gratified as “O, Susanna” became the unofficial song of the ’49ers as they flocked by the thousands to California for gold.
He struggled to earn a living at a time while publishers pirated his sheet music with impunity. Foster became a writer of minstrel songs and instructed the troupes who sang them to feel sympathy for the subjects and not mock them. While he turned out tune after tune he supported himself as a bookkeeper.
Songs like “My Old Kentucky Home, “The Old Folks at Home,” “Nellie Was a Lady,” and, inspired by his marriage to Jane McDowell, “Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair” followed in rapid succession.
A daughter was born and they might have been happy except for the alcoholism that arose from his frustration at making little money from the songs. She left him but relented because of his misery at separation, but finally left him for good after he backslid many times.
Foster moved to New York City to be close to the sheet music publishers but no money came. Shortly after he submitted “Beautiful Dreamer,” a maid in his Bowery hotel found him unconscious with a gash across his head. He had a total of three cents and a scrap of paper with the scribbled words “Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts” in his pocket.
Foster died two days later on Jan. 13, 1864, not yet 38 years old.
He thought of himself as a failure but America and the world still sing many of his songs 150 years after they flowed from his heart and mind.
