Slumber My Darling: A Song History

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Stephen Foster wrote both the words and the music of "Slumber My Darling," a parlor song for voice and piano. Its first edition was issued in New York by Horace Waters of 481 Broadway, with O. Ditson & Co. of Boston also named in the imprint, and the Morgan Library & Museum catalogues its copy with a copyright date of 1862.[1] The exact date is less certain than that suggests. The University of Pittsburgh's Center for American Music found no copyright entry or deposit for the song, and dates it from its place in Waters's numbered series Foster's Melodies: it was No. 11, the previous number, "Was My Brother in the Battle?", was entered for copyright on 10 August 1862, and Waters was advertising "Slumber My Darling" in the New York Daily Tribune by 4 June 1863. The Center therefore gives a publication date of about 1862 to 1863.[2]

William Blake hand-colored page of A Cradle Song, its verses framed by curling leaves and flowers

William Blake, “A Cradle Song,” from Songs of Innocence, relief etching hand-colored with watercolor, 1789, printed ca. 1825. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A cradle song of Blake’s own, shown for its theme; it has no connection to Foster’s song.

The song belongs to Foster's last years. He had settled in New York for good in 1860,[3] by which time alcoholism and flagging morale were already weighing on him. His marriage broke down in 1861, with only a brief reunion in 1862, and debts dogged him to the end.[4] The Center's chronological list puts "Slumber My Darling" among his songs of 1862, together with "Was My Brother in the Battle?" and "We Are Coming Father Abraam, 300,000 More."[5] He died in New York on 13 January 1864, aged 37, after a fall in a hotel in the city's theater district.[3][4]

The song found a new audience at the end of the twentieth century. Edgar Meyer arranged it for Appalachian Journey, recorded in 1999 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Meyer and violinist Mark O'Connor, with Alison Krauss singing, and released by Sony Classical in 2000.[6] The album won the Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001.[7] A track credited to the same musicians, featuring Krauss, also appeared on the 2004 tribute album Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.[8]

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Sources

  1. The Morgan Library & Museum: "Slumber my darling" (New York: Horace Waters; Boston: O. Ditson & Co., c1862), Record ID 248807.
  2. University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music (American Music at Pitt): "Slumber My Darling".
  3. University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music: "Stephen Foster Biography".
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Stephen Foster".
  5. University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music: "Foster's Songs, chronological".
  6. New York Public Library Research Catalog: "Appalachian journey / Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor" (Sony Classical, 2000).
  7. Recording Academy (GRAMMY.com): "Best Classical Crossover Album" (43rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, 2001).
  8. University of North Texas Libraries catalog: "Beautiful dreamer: the songs of Stephen Foster" (American Roots, 2004).