Stephen Collins Foster, Remembered
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Centennial Celebration Committee (July 5, 1926-Pittsburgh, Pa.)  |
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| Left to right, front row: John E. Potter, Oliver Fulton, W. H. Stevenson, Councilman Robert Garland, Mrs. A. D. Rose (Stephen Foster's granddaughter), President of Council Daniel Winters, W. B. Foster (Stephen Foster's nephew), Mrs. Enoch Rauh, Thomas A. Dunn, Dr. Will Earhart (Director of Public School Music, Pittsburgh, Pa.), Benno Rosenheimer (Manager of Pittsburgh's Symphony Society). Back row: Councilman Robert J. Alderdice, Harvey Gaul (Pittsburgh's best known living composer (1930)), Burt McMurtrie and Mrs. E. B. Lee. A chorus of 1,000 voices, which was organized by Dr. Will Earhart and directed by Harvey Gaul, presented the finest open air concert yet to be heard in Pittsburgh. The program consisted largely of Stephen Foster's songs and was broadcast to the furthest reaches of radio transmission. Both the musical forces and the audience of about twelve thousand were filmed for use in moving picture reproductions. The Pittsburgh Orchestra of ninety men made a most valuable contribution to the occasion. In the New York Times of July 3, 1926, appeared the following announcement: "The Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Stephen Foster will be celebrated in various parts of the country today, tomorrow and Monday. In Bardstown, Kentucky, where he composed My old Kentucky Home, five former governors of the State, a quartet from Louisville and a military band will honor his memory. His birthday will be honored here in the Bowery, where he spent the last years of his life, with a program of Foster songs." |
and William B. Foster  |
Mrs. Rose, who is a granddaughter of Stephen Foster and resides in the Foster Memorial Home, (1930), has been most generous with her time and has given many valuable suggestions for this biography. William B. Foster, nephew of Stephen Foster, is the son of Morrison Foster, Stephen's brother.
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| This photograph was copied from a daguerreotype, the original of which was sent to Morrison Foster by Stephen, on June 13, 1859, and was considered by those who knew him, the best likeness of the composer. Although Stephen Foster was slender and his height a trifle under five feet seven inches, Morrison Foster has recorded that he had the nerve and courage of a lion.
"From earliest manhood, he was noted for his courage, coolness and skill in combats which continually occurred among boys of the same town. As he grew up no odds ever seemed to awe him. He was known as one who must be let alone, and was held in high respect accordingly. One night as he was returning home from Pittsburgh to Allegheny City, he found at the end of the bridge, two brutes abusing and beating a drunken man. He interfered and fought them both, rough and tumble, all over the street. He managed to pick up a piece of board in the scramble, with which he beat one almost senseless and chased the other ingloriously from the field. A knife wound on the cheek, received in the encounter, left a scar which went with him to his grave."
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Cincinnati Music Hall  |
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| In the year 1800, the following announcement appeared in the Western Spy (Cincinnati): "Those ladies and gentlemen who feel themselves so disposed, are invited to convene at the courthouse at candlelight for the purpose of receiving some music education." A humble beginning, but since then the musical celebrities of the world have participated in the May Festivals of Cincinnati, the first music shrine west of the Allegheny Mountains. Although Stephen Foster came to Cincinnati only as a bookkeeper in 1846, this handsome, (though fanciful in appearance) bust graces the grand foyer of Cincinnati's Music Hall, along with a marble statue of Theodore Reuben Springer, founder of Music Hall, a bronze statue of Theodore Thomas, dean of orchestral conductors of his day and director of Cincinnati's first May Festival, a bronze bust of Charles Aiken, the first supervisor of music in Cincinnati and father of Walter H. Aiken, his successor and present (1930) supervisor of music. From left to right are seen Arturo Ivone, sculptor; Ernest R. Gwinner, attorney; John J. Behle, manager of the Cincinnati Music Hall, and Judge Meredith H. Yeatman. (Photo: Courtesy of J. J. Behle.)
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which adorns the foyer of the State Capitol at Frankfort, Kentucky. In the Chicago Evening Post of June 14, 1906, may be found this record: "Today was devoted to the memory of Stephen Foster, whose simple words set to music have made Foster's name a household word throughout the world. It is doubtful if any composer ever received a more flattering tribute than that accorded Mr. Foster when thousands of school children of Louisville, who by their contributions, have made possible a monument of bronze which is to stand in the new capitol at Frankfort, sang his music and cheered the mention of his name. The statue was unveiled by Marian Foster Welsh, daughter of the composer."
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  |
One of the first acts of William Barclay Foster, Stephen's father, after purchasing the tract of land overlooking the Allegheny River, which he called Lawrenceville, was to donate "A burial ground for our soldiers forever," where they might be buried by right and not by sufferance. At the time this donation was made, soldiers were passing through Pittsburgh continually, going to or returning from the front of war (1814). Many of them died and there was no place to bury them except in the Potter's Field. |
This solid granite monument is located only a few blocks from the Foster Memorial Home and on the ground of the Stephen C. Foster Public School, the soldiers having been removed many years ago. On one side of the monument is the following inscription: "In Honor of American Soldiers Who Lie Buried Here. We Will Emulate Their Patriotism and Protect Their Remains." On the opposite side is inscribed: "This Ground Was Given by Col. William B. Foster, the Founder of Lawrenceville, as a Burial Ground for Our Soldiers." The monument was erected in 1855. The Stephen C. Foster Public School, named in honor of the composer, stands at the left. (Photo: Courtesy of City of Pittsburgh) |
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| which is now under perpetual care. The two graves to the right are those of his father and mother. The grave is in the Foster family lot in Allegheny Cemetery and until a year or so ago, was surrounded by an old-fashioned stone coping placed there by William Barclay Foster, father of Stephen, and which the Foster descendants tried to maintain because of sentimental reasons. This coping finally had to be removed because of the insistent demands of the cemetery authorities, who stated that the lot could not be properly kept under those existing conditions. The Foster lot used to be distinctive, easy to find and more in keeping with the atmosphere of the old-time family who are lying there. Now it is landscaped into a level plain and nothing but the stones mark the graves. (Photo: Courtesy of City of Pittsburgh)
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