Stephen Collins Foster: Sixty Favorite Songs

Sixty of American composer Stephen Collins Foster?s (1826-1864) best-loved songs in the composer?s original piano arrangements with added guitar chords. The texts have been revised to capture the spirit Foster intended, eliminating obsolete or objectionable lyrics. A detailed introduction by musicologist Steven Saunders describes both Foster?s biography and the traditions surrounding nineteenth-century popular songs. Well-known Foster songs like ?Camptown Races,? ?Oh Susanna,? and ?Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair? are included, along with a number of pieces that have been popularized by contemporary recordings such as ?Slumber My Darling? and ?Hard Times Come Again No More.? Songs never before included in published collections, like ?The Voice of By Gone Days,? ?Turn Not Away,? and ?Willie We Have Missed You,? provide singers the opportunity to become familiar with new titles. The collection demonstrates Foster?s range as a writer of parlor songs, comedic ballads, Civil War tunes, and religious hymns.