Vocal Music

Parthenia to Ingomar

Artist (Composed By): 
Foster, Stephen C. (Collins)
1859

Firth, Pond & Co. deposited Stephen C. Foster’s “Parthenia to Ingomar” for copyright on April 4, 1859. The lyrics are by William Henry McCarthy, a friend of the composer from Pittsburgh.

According to Evelyn Foster Morneweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family: 

Poor Drooping Maiden

Artist (Composed By): 
Foster, Stephen C. (Collins)
1860

Firth, Pond & Co. deposited Stephen C. Foster’s “Poor Drooping Maiden” for copyright on February 9, 1860. 

According to Evelyn Foster Morneweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family: “Before leaving for New York, he sent to Firth, Pond in 1860, ‘Poor Drooping Maiden,’ ‘None Shall Weep a Tear for Me,’ ‘The Wife; or He’ll Come Home,’ ‘Under the Willow She’s Sleeping,’ probably ‘Cora Dean,’ and one good song, ‘The Glendy Burk,’ composed in his best old-time manner.”

Psalm 100

Artist (Composed By): 
Foerster, Adolph M. (Martin)
ca.
1868-1923

Psalm 100 is an unpublished SATB choral piece by Adolph M. Foerster. The manuscript is in the composer’s hand.

Psalm 99

Artist (Composed By): 
Foerster, Adolph M. (Martin)
ca.
1868-1923

Psalm 99 is an unpublished SATB choral piece by Adolph M. Foerster. The manuscript is in the composer’s hand.

Raft Song

Artist (Composed By): 
Nevin, Ethelbert
1889

“Raft Song,” for voice and piano, was published by Boston Music Co. in Four Songs, op. 5. Two incomplete sketches and an additional sketch in Nevin’s manuscript book (no. 1) are found in the Ethelbert Nevin Collection.

Ring, Ring de Banjo!

Artist (Composed By): 
Foster, Stephen C. (Collins)
1851

WARNING: This is a blackface minstrel song, a genre that features demeaning caricatures rooted in racism and white supremacy.

“Ring, Ring de Banjo!” was entered for copyright on April 21, 1851, and deposited on April 29, 1851. 

Roll Memories Roll

Artist (Composed By): 
Pace, Charles H. (Henry)
1947

For bass soloist and piano. The original sheet music indicates that it was “first sung by Percy M. Johnson of Pittsburgh, Pa.”

Rosenblum, Mathew

Date of Birth: 
March 19, 1954

Mathew Rosenblum is an American composer. 

Ruth and Thomas Martin Archive

This collection documents the careers of Ruth Kelley Martin (b. Ruth Berenice Kelley, Jersey City, NJ, April 14, 1914; d. New York, December 11, 2000) and Thomas Philipp Martin (b. Thomas Philipp Fleischer, Vienna, May 28, 1909; d. New York May 14, 1984), who are known for their translations of opera libretti. Together they translated over 40 Italian, German, and French operas into English, and Thomas translated four American operas into German.

Sadly to Mine Heart Appealing

Artist (Composed By): 
Foster, Stephen C. (Collins)
1858

First published by Firth, Pond & Co., Stephen C. Foster’s “Sadly to Mine Heart Appealing” was deposited for copyright on December 28, 1858. The text of the song is Eliza Sheridan Cary’s “On Hearing an Old Scottish Melody,” which had been published in Littell’s Living Age in October of 1844.

The holograph manuscript of the score is missing piano music at the beginning and end of the song. Foster must have made this score prior to writing to his brother Morrison Foster on October 22, 1858, for he wrote: 

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