“Forever in Our Ears”: Nature, Voice, and Sentiment in Stephen Foster’s Parlor Style

Stephen Foster's songs embody the simultaneous loss and opportunity of his rapidly industrializing society. While nineteenth-century Americans struggled with the loss of their agrarian identity, they also embraced new commercial means of expressing that loss. New popular novels, journals, and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American music (Champaign, Ill.) Ill.), 2012-09, Vol.30 (3), p.290-307
Main Author: Key, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Music
Auditory system
Ballads
Bird songs
Choirs
Colloquial language
Composers
Creativity
Criticism and interpretation
Culture
Foster, Stephen Collins
Foster, Stephen Collins (1826-1864)
Melody
Music
Music history
Musical aesthetics
Musical register
Narrators
Nature
Nostalgia
Novels
Singing
Songwriters
Sound
Titles
Vocal music
Works
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Summary:Stephen Foster's songs embody the simultaneous loss and opportunity of his rapidly industrializing society. While nineteenth-century Americans struggled with the loss of their agrarian identity, they also embraced new commercial means of expressing that loss. New popular novels, journals, and sheet-music titles conveyed a shared national nostalgia in a sentimental style whose emphasis on feeling was shaped by romantics from abroad but given a distinctively American character by native-born composers and writers. By mid-century, the industrial and creative capacity of the young nation united to produce a flood of sentimental products that expressed high-minded values and profound sentiments through everyday vernacular and common domestic scenes. Here, Key lays out some observations about sentimentality and Foster's use of nature and voice.
ISSN:0734-4392
1945-2349
DOI:10.5406/americanmusic.30.3.0290