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ETD Abstract Container

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A Longing for What Once Was¿¿¿¿¿¿¿or Was It?: Nostalgia in the Songs of Stephen Collins Foster

Frost, Jessica L.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1336412862

Abstract Details

2012, M.M., University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Music History.
During the Industrial Revolution (c. 1820–1870), many Americans experienced feelings of nostalgia and longed for the simple life of plow and hearth after their move to industrial centers. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, Stephen Foster immortalized his own sentiments in his songs, which struck a chord for many Americans. In order to synthesize the subject of nostalgia found in Foster’s songs, including the longing for a place, person, or time, this study draws on current nostalgia scholarship from comparative literature, including Svetlana Boym’s theory of restorative and reflective nostalgia found in her 2001 book, The Future of Nostalgia. Mapping this theory onto Foster’s songs contextualizes their sentiments, and places them within the cultural framework of time and place. Susan Key’s 1995 American Music article, “Sound and Sentimentality: Nostalgia in the Songs of Stephen Foster,” represents the only previous scholarship on this topic. My research expands Key’s consideration of how Foster’s musical style invokes nostalgia by demonstrating that the lyrics and topics of these songs illustrate nostalgia as well.
bruce mcclung, PhD (Committee Chair)
Valerie Hardcastle, PhD (Committee Member)
Jonathan Kregor, PhD (Committee Member)
96 p.
Music
Stephen Foster; nostalgia; antebellum; parlor song; minstrel song; ;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Frost, J. L. (2012). A Longing for What Once Was¿¿¿¿¿¿¿or Was It?: Nostalgia in the Songs of Stephen Collins Foster [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1336412862

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Frost, Jessica. A Longing for What Once Was¿¿¿¿¿¿¿or Was It?: Nostalgia in the Songs of Stephen Collins Foster. 2012. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1336412862.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Frost, Jessica. "A Longing for What Once Was¿¿¿¿¿¿¿or Was It?: Nostalgia in the Songs of Stephen Collins Foster." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1336412862

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1336412862
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12