COMPOSER

Stephen Foster

1826 - 1864

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Icon of person Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Stephen Foster has received more than 2,204,006 page views. His biography is available in 34 different languages on Wikipedia. Stephen Foster is the 631st most popular composer (down from 538th in 2019), the 2,955th most popular biography from United States (down from 2,555th in 2019) and the 34th most popular American Composer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 54.99

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 34

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.86

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.31

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among COMPOSERS

Among composers, Stephen Foster ranks 631 out of 1,451. Before him are Adolf von Henselt, Andrea Falconieri, Claude Goudimel, Riccardo Zandonai, Max Richter, and Orlando Gibbons. After him are Diego Ortiz, Myroslav Skoryk, Domenico Dragonetti, Eduardo di Capua, Ernesto Lecuona, and Alfred Newman.

Most Popular Composers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1826, Stephen Foster ranks 25. Before him are Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Henri Mouhot, George Johnstone Stoney, Cetshwayo kaMpande, and Walter Bagehot. After him are Giuseppe Zanardelli, Gustave Moynier, William Waddington, Giovanni Battista Donati, Hormuzd Rassam, and Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. Among people deceased in 1864, Stephen Foster ranks 24. Before him are Hong Tianguifu, Princess Hildegard of Bavaria, Jean-Jacques Ampère, Aimable Pélissier, Antoinette de Mérode, and Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria. After him are David Roberts, Adam Wilhelm Moltke, Anton Schindler, Karl Ernst Claus, Jakob Lorber, and Christian Ludwig Brehm.

Others Born in 1826

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Others Deceased in 1864

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Stephen Foster ranks 2,955 out of 20,380. Before him are George W. De Long (1844), Lisa Edelstein (1966), Jane Kaczmarek (1955), Tom Holland (1943), Robert Stroud (1890), and Elbridge Gerry (1744). After him are Jennifer Jason Leigh (1962), Charles Tilly (1929), James Curtis Hepburn (1815), Benjamin Tucker (1854), Mildred Dresselhaus (1930), and Anne Meara (1929).

Others born in United States

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Among COMPOSERS In United States

Among composers born in United States, Stephen Foster ranks 34. Before him are Paul Bowles (1910), George Antheil (1900), Ernest Guiraud (1837), Stephen Sondheim (1930), Basil Poledouris (1945), and Morton Feldman (1926). After him are Alfred Newman (1900), Sun Ra (1914), Alex North (1910), Amy Beach (1867), Jerome Kern (1885), and Dave Grusin (1934).

American born Composers

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