That Stephen Foster's style was indebted to folksong is unquestioned. However, the source of folksong is not the Negro spiritual as has been assumed, but the folk tunes of England. This is proved by an analysis of structural harmonies. The pattern I-IV-I-V I-IV-I-V-I found in about thirty percent of Foster's songs resembles the seventeenth-century ground Passamezzo Moderno. Thus, Foster's folksongs demonstrate a strong connection to this popular bass pattern rather than to American folk sources.

Works: Foster: The Voice of Bygone Days (136), The Little Ballad Girl (138), Cora Dean (139).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Elisabeth Honn