Ravinia 2026 Issue 2

HUNTERPAVILION THIS LAND: AMERICA IN SONG Commissioned by the San Diego Symphony and rst performed on their July , , concert in e Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego. “Shenandoah” remains one of America’s most recognizable traditional folk melodies , though its exact origins, like many folk songs, remain uncertain. One tradition attributes the melody to French Canadian voyageurs paddling the Mis- sissippi and Missouri Rivers and trading beaver furs and other goods with Native communities. e rst printed version, which identi ed the song as “Shenadore,” appeared in the article “Sailor Songs” in e New Dominion Monthly ( ), written by Captain Robert Chamblet Ad- ams, who reportedly hear the melody as early as . Another tradition describes the melody as a sea shanty, an origin bolstered by its inclusion in W.B. Whall’s Ships, Sea Songs, and Shanties ( ). e ethnomusicologists John and Alan Lomax considered the song a sea shanty: “ e melody has the roll and surge and freedom of a tall ship sweeping along before a trade wind. … e lines are a call from the homeland to the sailor wandering far out across the seas, a call not from a sweetheart, a house, or even a town, but from the land itself, its rivers, and its familiar and loved hills.” ese lyrics have been adapted over time by mountain men, loggers, and soldiers. According to some accounts, the name “Shenandoah” might refer to Oneida chief John Skenandoa, whose daughter had fallen in love with a French fur trader, against her father’s wishes. Stephen Foster ( - ), o en celebrated as the “Father of American Music,” was born in Lawrenceville, PA, on July , —our nation’s golden jubilee. Two Founding Fathers died that same day: omas Je erson in the morning and John Adams in the a ernoon. e th child of William and Eliza Foster, Stephen attended private school and studied classical music with a German music publisher in Pittsburgh, Henry Kleger. He entered Je erson College in but returned to Pittsburgh a er one month. Fos- ter published his rst parlor songs at about this same time. Later in the decade, a er moving down river to Cincinnati to become a book- keeper in his brother’s company, Foster estab- lished himself as a composer of minstrel songs, a genre marked by racial stereotypes and de- meaning portrayals of African Americans. “Oh! Susanna” premiered on September , , when the Kneass Opera Troupe performed at Andrews’ Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh. W.C. Peters & Co. of Louisville, KY, rst pub- lished “Susanna” in as “sung by Mr. Tichnor of the Sable Harmonists,” a quintet who per- formed on river boats on the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers. “Oh! Susanna” sold more than , and earned Foster his rst signi cant pro ts as a song composer: “the two y-dollar bills I received . . . had the e ect of starting me RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 20 – AUGUST 2 , 2026 98