| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
STORIJib U£
lasting of the ante-war melodies. Stephen Colin Foster, who so happily caught the negro musical methods and eccentricities, was one of the most popular song writers that America has ever had. He was born of Irish parents near Pittsburg} Pennsylvania, on July 4th, 1826, and died in New York, January 13th, 1864. He wrote the words and music of such old-time favourites as "The old Folks at Home," "Willie, we have missed you," which resembles " Jock o' Hazle-dean," " O Susanna,"' " Come where my love lies dreaming," "My old Kentucky Home," " Massa's in the cold, cold Ground," " Uncle Ned," " Old Dog Tray," " Poor old Joe," and many more.
As regards the composition of the favourite Confederate air, " Dixie," many conflicting ac-counts have been given, but it seems quite certain that it was not as has been supposed—I am quoting from Mr. Adams again—of southern origin. The song was written and composed in New York in 1859 by Daniel Emmet, at that time a principal member of Bryant's Minstrels, as a " grand walk round" for their entertain-ment. The familiar expression upon which the song was founded was not a southern phrase, but first appeared among the circus people of the North. Emmet travelled with many of
130 |
||