CHAPTER 38 Marketing Music: Foster and Early “Popular” Song
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following describes American popular music of the nineteenth century?
a. The music often brought financial profit to the composers.
b. The music seems to belong to “the people.”
c. The music had enormous influence on the next century.
d. All answers shown here.
2. Which of the following describes music in America during the early nineteenth century?
a. The difficulty of life in the New World essentially eliminated music making.
b. Music was largely created by American composers.
c. Music was largely imported from Europe.
d. Because of the influence of the Puritans, no dance music was composed.
3. What is vernacular music?
a. opera sung in English
b. popular songs sung in a country’s native language
c. music in traditional European genres and forms
d. lighter music, such as for dancing and singing
4. What nationality was Stephen Foster?
a. American c. German
b. English d. African American
5. Which nineteenth-century American composer is best remembered for his parlor songs and minstrel show tunes?
a. William Billings c. Charles Griffes
b. Stephen Foster d. Charles Ives
6. Which of the following best describes minstrelsy?
c. entertainments that copied European models
d. All answers shown here.
7. Who composed Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, and Old Folks at Home?
a. Charles Ives c. George Gershwin
b. Stephen Foster d. Aaron Copland
8. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is
a. a parlor song. c. a song from a light opera.
b. a minstrel song. d. part of a song cycle.
9. The form of Foster’s Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is
a. A-B-A. c. strophic.
b. rondeau. d. through-composed.
10. Foster’s Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is based on a poem by
a. a former slave. c. Edgar Allan Poe.
b. Foster himself. d. William Wordsworth.
11. Popular songs sung in a country’s native language is/are called
a. vernacular music. c. minstrelsy.
b. art songs. d. parlor songs.
12. Shows that featured performers in blackface is/are called
a. opera. c. minstrelsy.
b. Broadway. d. All answers shown here.
13. Stephen Foster was under contract with ________, who specialized in performing blackface shows.
a. the Christy Minstrels
b. Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions
c. the Broadway Follies
d. the Georgia Minstrels
14. Which American composer helped to lay the foundation for the enormous international influence of North American music culture
during the twentieth century?
a. Stephen Foster c. William Billings
b. George Gershwin d. Louis Moreau Gottschalk
15. The Christy Minstrels, who specialized in performing blackface shows, employed many composers, including
a. Stephen Foster. c. Chuck Berry.
b. George Gershwin. d. William Billings.
16. Who wrote My Old Kentucky Home, the state song of Kentucky?
a. Stephen Foster c. William Billings
b. Harriet Beecher Stowe d. Edwin Pearce Christy
17. Which best describes the career of Stephen Foster?
a. He is still a well-known composer.
b. Despite success during his own life, he died penniless.
c. He wrote many songs for hit Broadway shows.
d. He was the most successful American composer.
18. What is the instrumentation for Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair?
a. piano and voice c. guitar, piano, and voice
b. guitar and voice d. orchestra and voice
19. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair was a huge success
a. during Foster’s lifetime.
b. in 1941.
c. immediately following Foster’s death.
d. after the death of Foster’s wife.
20. Which best characterizes the mood of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair ?
a. bittersweet c. joyful
b. uplifting d. All answers shown here
TRUE/FALSE
1. For the most part, nineteenth-century Americans rejected the music of European culture.
2. There was a clear split between “classical” and “popular” music in nineteenth-century America.
3. Stephen Foster made a fortune by writing popular songs.
4. Stephen Foster composed both parlor and minstrel songs.
5. Minstrelsy created stereotypes of African American culture.
6. Foster’s Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair contains a cadenza in every strophe.
7. Foster intended his songs to be performed by professional singers.
8. Foster’s Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair was not an immediate success.
9. Stephen Foster composed the state song of Kentucky.
10. Camptown Races is an example of a minstrel song.
11. Parlor songs are often sweet, sentimental, and nostalgic.
12. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is an example of a minstrel song.
13. The minstrel show was a unique North American nineteenth-century musical tradition.
14. The minstrel show had little impact on the stereotyping of African American culture.
15. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is through-composed.
16. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair became a hit in 1941.
ESSAY
1. Discuss the enduring popular appeal of the songs of Stephen Foster.
2. What is the role of commercial success in popular music? How does this differ from other types of music?
3. Describe the cultural legacy of minstrelsy.
4. Describe the musical elements of a parlor song.