斯蒂芬·福斯特所创作的许多歌曲的内容与他短暂的生活经历是极为不协调的。他以反映美国南部和种植场黑人生活的歌曲而享有盛名,但他自己却是个北方人,他的歌曲使斯瓦尼河闻名于世,而他本人却从未领略过此河的风光;他创作的许多曲子,充满了家庭的温柔情调,而他却孑然一身,死于一家慈善医院的病房里。斯蒂芬·柯林斯·福斯特于1826年7月4日出生在宾夕法尼亚州的劳伦斯维尔(现已成为匹兹堡的一部分),是苏格兰人与爱尔兰人的后裔。福斯特十五岁进入杰弗逊大学,但是,他唯一的兴趣是音乐。那时,他已创作了一首长笛四重奏圆舞曲。福斯特在一个月以后便离开了大学,跟几位家庭教师学习。由于父母反对他以音乐为职业,福斯特便 The content of many of the songs that Stephen Foster wrote is incompatible with his short life experience. He is renowned for songs that reflect the lives of blacks in the South of the United States and on the plantation, but he himself is a northerner, whose songs make the Swani River famous, yet he himself has never seen the scenery of the river; Many of the songs he wrote were filled with the gentleness of the family, and he was alone and died in the ward of a charitable hospital. Stephen Collins Foster was born on July 4, 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh) and a descendant of Scots and Irish. Foster enters Jefferson at the age of fifteen, but his only interest is music. At that time, he had created a flute quartet waltz. Foster left the university in a month and studied with several tutors. Foster defends his parents against his music career