La musica di Stephen Collins Foster dall’Ottocento ai giorni nostri fra storia, cultura e società

Abstract

Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) is a crucial figure in the history of popular music, and in American history at large: the author of globally known songs such as, among many others, Susanna or Old Folks at Home, in 1951 a Congress resolution described him as «the father of American popular music». Despite this, for several decades his work and his own figure have been at the center of a heated debate that is leading to removal from both the musical and civil world. This contribution proposes a didactic unit aimed at providing knowledge about what is ultimately a fundamental author, filling, among other things, a substantial gap in Italian musicological literature. It is addressed primarily to Secondary Schools. However, its basic concepts can also be useful for Upper Secondary Schools and for Italian Popular music history courses at university or conservatory level.

Keywords

• foster
• popular music
• song
• arrangement
• minstrel show