File:Massa's in de Cold Ground.jpg
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Summary
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English: Sheet music cover dated 1852 "Massa's in de Cold Ground" is minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826-1864). It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1852. The song is written in common time and in the key of D major with a tempo marked ’poco lento’. Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!, writes that Foster followed up the success of "Old Folks at Home" with two more blackface songs: "Farewell My Lily Dear" published in December 1851 and "Massa" seven months later. "Massa" closely resembles "Old Folks" in its D major key, its 4/4 time, its six phrase structure, and its leap from D to high D in the opening measures. Emerson thinks the title may have been suggested by the Thomas Moore ballad "When Cold in the Ground", but the scenario, he points out, is the "flip-side" of "Uncle Ned" and "Oh! Boys, Carry Me 'Long". In "Massa", slaves are crying for a deceased slave owner - rather than the slave owner and his wife crying for a deceased slave. Emerson decides "Massa" has "a staying power that cannot be denied" (in spite of its racial naiveté and racial delusion), and attributes this power to Foster's "personal involvement" in the song. Massa is Foster's father William Barclay Foster who died not a wealthy but poor man. Emerson writes "[Stephen's] lyrics are both patricidal and anticipatory, a compound of guilt and grief." The song was the first of only four songs Foster published in 1852. Emerson speculates that the songwriter was simply played out, or he was living well enough on the royalties of his past successes to take some time off. Another "Cold" was added to the title following the American Civil War. (Ken Emerson. 1998. Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the rise of American popular culture. Da Capo Press. pp. 184-5) |
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| Source | Own work |
| Author | TrowbridgeCharlesW |
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 07:16, 17 September 2011 | | 581 × 768 (250 KB) | TrowbridgeCharlesW |
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