Foster's Musical Instruction/Instruments
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Stephen Foster's Music Teacher  |
There is some recorded evidence that Stephen Foster had instruction in music from Henry Kleber, a concert artist, piano teacher and music dealer of Pittsburgh. it was he who brought the first upright pianos to Pittsburgh in 1849, one of which was purchased by Mary Woods, in whose home Stephen Foster whiled away many hours and received both sympathy and encouragement for his irrepressible longing to become a musician. (Photo: Courtesy of Cleveland Public Library.)
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which is on display in the Foster Memorial Home at Pittsburgh, Pa. There is a traditional anecdote that "Stephie," at the age of two years, plucked harmonious sounds from this sister's guitar, which he called his "ittly pizani." This might be possible, since we find that Charlotte had tried to get a piano for the family at the time when Stephen was just one year old. It is probably that this guitar was the "deep-toned instrument" often mentioned in the Foster letters. (Photo: Courtesy of City of Pittsburgh, Pa.)
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| which is prominently displayed in the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pa.. Just which piano this is, is not known, for it is a matter of record that Stephen composed many of his earlier songs while sitting at the piano of friends. In fact that might have been the greater of the two attractions at the time he was calling on the Pentland family of which Susie was a member. Nevertheless, letters, now in the possession of Evelyn Foster Morneweck of Detroit, (1930) written by Charlotte Foster, Stephen's sister, to William Foster, ask him to procure a piano for the family. Her other letters thank him for the piano which she was to find at home on her return from visiting Federal Hill, "The Old Kentucky Home". These letters are dated 1828, and the following year she died in Bardstown, Ky. It is no wonder that the Foster parents did not realize the gift the boy possessed and for many years referred to "his strange talent for musick" and his "making sounds on the deep toned instrument". The above piano bears the manufacturer's name, Dubois & Stoddart, 167 Broadway, New York, and was donated to the Carnegie Museum by Henry Butterfield. Of Stephen's composing, Morrison Foster writes: "He would sit at home in the evening at the piano and improvise by the hour, beautiful strains and harmonies which he did not preserve, but let them float away like fragrant flowers cast upon the flowing waters....Sometimes he would whirl around on the piano stool and converse a few minutes with me, then resume his improvisations and his singing." (Photo: Courtesy of Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh.)
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Flageolet and Flute  |
the two instruments which he first learned to play, not by study but by natural talent. It will be remembered that as a boy of thirteen, he wrote Tioga Waltz, which was scored for four flutes and that he took active part in it's performance. It is said that as a little boy of seven, he took up a flageolet in the music house of Smith & Mellor and in a few minutes picked out the tune, Hail Columbia, in perfect time and rhythm, never before having handled a flute or flageolet. The flute was Stephen's constant companion in his studies and walks, and his playing became so well known that he was often invited to entertainments with the direct request to "bring his flute." At one of these bidding, he became quite furious and replied that he would be glad to "send the flute." These instruments are now on display in the Foster Memorial Home.
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the first upright to be seen in that part of the country and brought there by Henry Kleber. It was made in Leipzig, by Friedrich & Haupt, and preceded the American attempts in this type of manufacture. The story goes that the Woods family purchased the piano and that while it was still in the store of Kleber, Stephen tested the instrument and decided to buy it, only to have his heart broken when informed that the instrument had been sold. It was on this piano that Stephen composed many of his early songs.
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Stephen Foster's Notebook  |
As is seen, the chief subject of this page is Amelia, to whom Stephen dedicated one of his songs, Over the Calm Lake Gliding. There is no record that anything ever came of this composition. Amelia was one of the neighbor's children, whose father was Mr. Young, pictured below by the ambitious youth. We leave to the reader's interpretation, the comic section of the page. The notebook from which this page is taken was one of Foster's lifelong companions. (Photo: From H. V. Milligan's biography, Stephen Collins Foster. Courtesy of G. Schirmer, publishers.)
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