Howdy, Kathy! (((hugs)))
I’m so happy to be able to do this small thing for the ones who do so much for me....for us!
Thank YOU for all you do for them...and for us! :)
Foster took up residence in lodging houses and cheap hotels in the theater district, trying all the while to get a contract with a publisher. The outbreak of the Civil War made everything tenuous in Foster’s world, in that contracts became impossible, and he was forced to sell his songs outright with no possibility of royalties.
Foster: “The Merry, Merry Month of May”
One survivor from 1862 is a period piece about the war. As expected, Foster took a strong stand for the Union. This is a great song – if you’re a Yankee. Note the hatred that one group of Americans felt for the other.
Here’s Alison Krauss, with Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer.
Judith Edelman does a fine modern job with this song.
This was something of a recruiting tune for the North. Foster set the poem to music, and there is about 1:30 of explanation at the beginning of the video.
”We are Coming, Father Abraham”
From this period of few successes comes one of his best songs. It’s unforgettable, beautiful and one of his masterpieces. Thomas Hampson does a magnificent job.