"Beautiful Dreamer" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). It was published posthumously in March 1864 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. The first edition declares on the title page that "Beautiful Dreamer" is "the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster. Composed but a few days prior to his death." Carol Kimball, the author of Song, points out however that the copyright date on the first edition is 1862, and this suggests, she writes, that the song was composed and readied for publication two years before Foster's death. There are at least 20-odd songs, she observes, that all claim to be Foster's last, and it is unknown which is indeed his last. The song is set in a 9/8 rhythm with a broken chord accompaniment.
The song tells of a lover serenading a "Beautiful Dreamer", who is oblivious to all worldly cares and may actually be dead. Foster's work features many dead young women including Annie, Laura Lee, and Jeanie. Helen Lightner writes, "This sentimental ballad is folk-like in character with its repetitious but lovely melody and its basic harmonic accompaniment… The quiet and calm of this mood is portrayed by the monotony of the arpeggiated accompaniment, by the repetitiveness of the melodic pattern, and by the strophic form itself."
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Famous quotes containing the words beautiful and/or dreamer:
“The most perfect caricature is that which, on a small surface, with the simplest means, most accurately exaggerates, to the highest point, the peculiarities of a human being, at his most characteristic moment in the most beautiful manner.”
—Max Beerbohm (1872–1956)
“I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies of vocabulary for new company, bad company.”
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