Stephen Foster (1)

Back in the nineteenth century, the leading way of distributing songs was little books called "songsters" -- texts without tunes, because most people could read but few could understand a musical score. If they had heard a song enough, they would know a tune, and so could sing it if they only had the words. And, because the books could be printed in small format, they could be quite cheap.

So we had "dime song books," and "Merchant's Gargling Oil songsters" (given away for advertising show more purposes), and edition after edition of "The Forget-Me-Not Songster" and others. Many of the books used safely traditional songs, but others ripped off popular copyrighted works, safe in the knowledge that no one really enforced legal protections, plus the infringers probably couldn't be caught anyway.

Songsters were a useful device at the time -- many a church had songster-like books for hymnals, and many was the home that had no books except a Bible and a few practical guides and a songster or two.

This book is a sort of a modern-day songster. Texts only, no music. No information about the songs, either, except for a few words in the chapter headings. Authors and dates of publication are listed, no more.

There is nothing wrong with the idea; there are still plenty of people who can't read sheet music, after all, so all they need is song texts. A book like this with the right set of nineteenth century songs would be a useful thing to have.

But note those words "the right set of nineteenth century songs." As in, songs people have heard of. A completely obscure song with no tune is completely useless. And -- let's face it -- a lot of the songs in here are completely obscure. Author Ken Emerson has written a book about Stephen Foster, and having spent all that time with Foster's works, apparently he thinks people have heard trash like "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!" and "The Little Ballad Girl." But there is a reason Foster ended up dying in squalor: It's because he lost the ability to write! Just because a hairball was coughed up by Stephen Foster doesn't change the fact that it was a hairball. There are about eighty songs here. I count only fifty that were genuinely popular or made their way into oral tradition. So about 40% of this book is waste. If you're willing to accept that much waste paper -- go for it. But the ideal songster would have fewer Foster failures and more genuinely singable songs. show less

Being facsimiles of period editions of Foster sheet music. It's a good selection which is easy to use except that the book doesn't lie flat on a keyboard prop very well.

1 Opening Solo Violin 0:26
2 Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair (1854) 4:17
3 Hard Times Come Again No More (1854) 5:14
4 The Voice Of Bygone Days (1850) 4:56
5a Foster Favorites Medley: Ring, Ring The Banjo (1851) 3:51
5b Foster Favorites Medley: Oh! Susanna (1848)
5c Foster Favorites Medley: Camptown Races (1850)
6 Open Thy Lattice, Love (1844) 2:43
7 Beautiful Dreamer (1864) 3:53
8 That's What's The Matter (1862) 3:18
9a Old Home Medley: Old Folks At Home (1851) 4:56
9b Old Home Medley: My Old show more Kentucky Home (1853)
9c Good Night (1853)
10 Molly! Do You Love Me? (1850) 3:23
11 Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair (1851) 3:27
12 Comrades, Fill No Glass For Me (1855) 4:08
13a Dancing On The River: Nelly Bly (1850) 4:25
13b Dancing On The River: The Glendy Burk (1860)
13c Dancing On The River: Angelina Baker (1850)
14 My Wife Is A Most Knowing Woman (1863) 3:47
15 Gentle Annie (1856) 3:27
16 Linger In Blissful Repose (1858) 3:07
17 Ah! May The Red Rose Live Alway 5:19
Credits
Baritone Vocals – Thomas Hampson
Composed By – Stephen Foster
Guitar – Molly Mason
Piano – David Alpher
Violin – Jay Ungar show less

24-page pamphlet