Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray (Opal Wheeler)

Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray

In the Great Musicians Series

Behind the gentle sadness of such songs as Old Black Joe, My Old Kentucky Home and Old Folks At Home, lies the dreaming, home-loving spirit of the man who wrote them—Stephen Collins Foster.  Behind the rollicking tunes with which these were interspersed lies all the fun-loving gaiety which so richly colored and warmed young Stephy’s happy companionship with his older brother, Mit, throughout their boyhood.

Here in this story of a typical American boyhood are quick, intimate glimpses of young Stephen as he trotted off to the Negro church beside his friend, the slave girl Lieve. A life of playing with his beloved dog Tray and racing alongside a mistrel band, our young Stephy grew up with music in his heart and a warm, out-reaching friendliness for everyone he met.  This boy comes vividly alive to the reader in the pages of this delightful book.

There is much more in this book than the engaging story of the young Stephen Foster, and his music. In this appealing, sensitive biography of the composer whose folk songs are our common heritage, is told one of the real stories of our own America.

The Great Musicians Series

The volume about Stephen Foster is just one of the 16 volumes in this series, which include all the below:

– Ludwig Beethoven, and the Chiming Tower Bells
– The Young Brahms
– Mozart, the Wonder Boy
– Handel at the Court of Kings
– Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia
– Robert Schumann, and Mascot Ziff
– Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant
– Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends
– Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Early Years)
– Frederic Chopin: Son of Poland (Later Years)
– Edward MacDowell and his Cabin in the Pines
– Stephen Foster and his Little Dog Tray
– Paganini: Master of Strings
– The Story of Peter Tchaikovsky
– Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet
– Adventures of Richard Wagner