PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Stephen Foster

PEOPLE IN AMERICA -October 20, 2002: Stephen Foster¹

By Shelley Gollust

(Photo - University of
Pittsburgh)
VOICE 1:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE 2:

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program People in America. Today, we
tell about Stephen Foster, America's first popular professional songwriter.

(music Bridge)

VOICE 1:

You may have heard the old traditional American songs "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races"
and "My Old Kentucky Home. " But, do you know who wrote them. Stephen Foster. He
wrote those and more than two hundred other songs during the eighteen-forties and eighteen-
fifties.

His best songs have become part of America's cultural history. They have become American folk songs. Many
people in America learned³ to sing these songs when they were children. Most Americans can sing these songs
today.

VOICE 2:

Stephen Collins Foster was born on July fourth, eighteen-twenty-six, in what is now part of the city of Pittsburgh,
in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania. He was the ninth child of William and Eliza Foster. He did not have
much musical training. But he had a great natural ability for music. He taught himself to play several musical
instruments. He could play any music just by listening to it.

Stephen Foster began writing songs when he was fourteen. In eighteen-forty-seven, he wrote his first successful
song, "Oh! Susanna. "

Ken² Emerson wrote a book about Stephen Foster. It is called "Doo-Dah! Stephen Foster and the rise of American
popular culture. " Mr. Emerson says "Oh! Susanna" was the first internationally popular song written by an
American that everyone can still recognize and sing today.

(MUSIC)

VOICE 1:

Stephen Foster married Jane McDowell in eighteen-fifty. He wrote many new songs. Some of them were about
love. One of the best known is "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair " He wrote it for his wife when they were
separated.

(MUSIC)

VOICE 2:

Stephen Foster wrote almost thirty songs for minstrel shows. Minstrel shows became popular in the United States
in the eighteen-forties. White entertainers blackened their faces and performed as if they were black entertainers.
Minstrel shows included music, dance and comedy. The shows were performed in almost every major American
city, especially in the northeast. One of Foster's songs written for minstrel shows is "Camptown Races." Today, it
is a popular song for children.


(MUSIC)

VOICE 1:

Minstrel songs described the culture of black American slaves in the southern states. Yet Foster did not really
know anything about this subject. He lived in Pittsburgh for most of his life. He visited the south only once.

However, some experts say Foster's minstrel songs showed he did understand how black people in the south lived
before the Civil War. The people in Foster's songs love their families and work hard. Now, however, some of his
songs are judged insulting⁴ to African-Americans. So, music publishers have changed some of the words. And a
few of his songs are no longer sung.

VOICE 2:

In eighteen-fifty, Foster made an agreement with the leader of a successful minstrel group, E.P. Christy. The
agreement meant that Christy's minstrels had the right to perform every new song Foster wrote. Foster also
permitted Christy to name himself as the writer of the song "Old Folks at Home. " This became one of most
successful songs written by Stephen Foster. It became the official song of the state of Florida in nineteen-thirtyfive. It also is known as "Way Down Upon the Swanee River. "

(MUSIC)

VOICE 1:

Stephen Foster wrote other songs about home and memories of times past. In his book, ken Emerson says Foster
wrote songs about home in part because he almost never lived in one home for long. His father lost all his money
when Stephen was a boy. So Stephen was forced to live with many different family members. Although Foster
lived in the north, some of his songs suggest a desire to be back home in the American south.

VOICE 2:

"My Old Kentucky Home" is an example. Mr. Emerson says Foster wrote the song in honor⁵ of Harriet Beecher
Stowe's anti-slavery book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin⁶." "My Old Kentucky Home" expresses great sympathy for
enslaved African Americans. The black anti-slavery activist⁷ Frederick Douglass praised the song. It later became
the official song of the state of Kentucky.

(MUSIC)

VOICE 1:

Stephen Foster was America's first full-time⁸ professional songwriter. He was a good songwriter. But he was a
poor businessman. He sold many of his most famous songs for very little money. He was not able to support his
wife and daughter.

In eighteen-sixty, he moved to New York City. His songs were not as popular as they had been. His marriage had
ended. He had no money. For most of his life, he drank large amounts of alcohol⁹. He died on January thirteenth,
eighteen-sixty-four. He was only thirty-seven years old.

VOICE 2:

Stephen Foster was honored¹⁰ in several ways after his death. He was the first musician to be nominated¹¹ to the hall
of fame for great Americans. And he was the first American composer whose complete works¹² were published
together. Each year, on the anniversary¹³ of his death, people in Pittsburgh gather to remember Stephen Foster.
They go to the church he attended as a child. They attend a show that honors¹⁴ him. Then they visit his burial place.

The end of Stephen Foster's life was sad. But his songs have brought happiness to many people. One of his last
songs was one of the most beautiful. It is called "Beautiful Dreamer. "

(MUSIC)


VOICE 1:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley
Griffith.
VOICE 2:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

 

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

1 foster   

vt.收养，培养，促进；adj.收养的，收养孩子的

参考例句：

• Nowadays young couple sometimes foster.现今年轻夫妇有时领养别人的孩子。
• The captain did his best to foster a sense of unity among the new recruits.队长尽力培养新成员之间的团结精神。

2 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

4 insulting   

侮辱的

参考例句：

• She was really insulting to me. 她对我实在粗鲁无礼。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

5 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

6 cabin   

n.(结构简单的)小木屋；船舱，机舱

参考例句：

• They threw up a new cabin in a couple of hours.在几小时之内他们就建起了一座新的小屋。
• It's very hot in the cabin;let's go on deck.舱室内很热，我们到甲板上去吧。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

9 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

10 honored   

adj.光荣的：荣幸的v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I hope to be honored with further orders. 如蒙惠顾，不胜荣幸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is a time-honored custom. 这是一个古老的习俗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

12 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

13 anniversary   

n.周年(纪念日)

参考例句：

• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
• Today is my parents'30th wedding anniversary.今天是我父母结婚30周年纪念日。

14 honors   

n.礼仪；荣典；礼节； 大学荣誉学位；大学优等成绩；尊敬( honor的名词复数 )；敬意；荣誉；光荣

参考例句：

• He aims at honors. 他力求名誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We did the last honors to his remains. 我们向他的遗体告别。 来自《简明英汉词典》