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Stephen Foster and American Song: A Guide for Singers

Mowery, Samantha Renee
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1234810817

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Musical Arts, Ohio State University, Music.
While America has earned a reputation as a world-wide powerhouse in area such as industry and business, its reputation in music has often been questioned.Tracing the history of American folk song evokes questions about the existence of truly American song. These questions are legitimate because our country was founded by people from other countries who brought their own folk song, but the history of our country alone proves the existence of American song. As Americans formed lives for themselves in a new country, the music and subjects of their songs were directly related to the events and life of their newly formed culture. The existence of American song is seen in the vocal works of Stephen Collins Foster. His songs were quickly transmitted orally all over America because of their simple melodies and American subjects. This classifies his music as true American folk-song. While his songs are simple enough to be easily remembered and distributed, they are also lyrical with the classical influence found in art song. These characteristics have attracted singers in a variety of genres to perform his works. Foster wrote over 200 songs, yet few of those are known. The songs that are known, such as “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Oh! Susanna,” and “Camptown Races,” are incredibly popular, but there are many other songs that are just as worthy of performance. This document discusses the existence of American folk song and the details of Stephen Foster’s life, and also provides a catalogue and performance guide for Foster’s vocal works that contains valuable information for the classically trained singer. This catalogue is meant to bring awareness to Foster’s vast repertoire of songs, and also to encourage more classical singers to perform his works.
Robin Rice, PhD (Advisor)
Peter Kozma, M.M. (Committee Member)
Wayne Redenbarger, PhD (Committee Member)
Loretta Robinson, M.M. (Committee Member)
94 p.
Music
Stephen Foster; American Folk Song; American Art Song

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mowery, S. R. (2009). Stephen Foster and American Song: A Guide for Singers [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1234810817

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mowery, Samantha. Stephen Foster and American Song: A Guide for Singers. 2009. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1234810817.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mowery, Samantha. "Stephen Foster and American Song: A Guide for Singers." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1234810817

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1234810817
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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.