Fay Foster


Fay Foster was an American composer and teacher.

Biography

Foster was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on November 8, 1886. She studied under the W.H. Sherwood, Gleason, and Mme. Boitte at the Chicago Conservatory, then later under H. Schwartz at the Munich Conservatory, and finally under A. Reisenauer and S. Jadassohn at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Foster taught at the Ogontz School, Rydall, and in New York, San Francisco, and Berlin. She was a member of the Society of American Women Composers.
In 1910, her waltz "Prairie Flowers" won the International Waltz Competition in Berlin. She won first place in the American Composers Competition in 1913. Her song "Are You For Me or Against Me?" won a prize in 1919 from the New York American, a competition with over 10,000 applicants. Foster was the only woman composer to win a prize. Her song "The Americans Come " was named "her greatest contribution" in the 1924 publication Biographical Cyclopedia of American Women. Author Richard Rubin wrote that Foster "was a musician of some repute".

Compositions

Below is a non-comprehensive list of Foster's compositions.
TitleInstrumentation
Etude de ConcertPiano
Prairie flowers, waltzPiano
Women's ChorusesVoice
The Americans comeChoir
Dusk in JuneVoice
The Moon Lady, Chinese themeOpera
Russian DollVoice
Blue BeardOperetta
In the carpenter shopVoice
Your kissVoice