19th-century American Art Song
In the 19th century, many Americans composed songs for amateur musicians to sing at home (usually called parlor songs). In the middle of the century Stephen Foster (1826–1864) emerged as one of the best known American composers of songs. While many of his vocal pieces were written for Minstrel shows, the simple but effective melodies of his "songs for the hearth and home" are widely popular, often mistaken for American folksongs.
By the end of the 19th century, serious American composers were travelling to European countries to study, especially with German and French composition teachers, and they gained a thorough understanding of Romantic style, including an understanding of the Lieder tradition. American songs written between 1870 and 1910 are often dismissed as sounding too "derivative", although the compositional craft shown in these works is quite high.
Other 19th-century American song composers
- John Hill Hewitt (1801–1890), composed songs about the Civil War
- Francis Boott (1813–1904)
- Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815–1904), composed the song "Dixie"
- George Frederick Root (1820–1895), composed popular Civil War songs
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869), piano virtuoso, also composed songs
- Philip Bliss (1838–1876)
- Alfred Humphreys Pease (1838–1882)
- Dudley Buck (1839–1909), organist and composer of sacred songs
- John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
- Arthur Foote (1853–1937)
- George Whitefield Chadwick (1854–1931)
- Arthur Bird (1856–1923)
- George Templeton Strong (1856–1948)
- Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857–1944)
- Reginald De Koven (1859–1920), composed over 400 songs, known for "Oh promise me"
- Charles Martin Loeffler (1861–1935)
- Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
- Carrie Jacobs Bond (1861–1946), wrote the wedding song "I love you truly"
- Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862–1901)
- Horatio Parker (1863–1919)
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