William Foden (March 23, 1860 – April 9, 1947) was an American composer, musician, and teacher. Foden is considered America’s first classical guitarist in the 1890s and the first decades of the twentieth century.
Life
Foden was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and began playing the violin at the age of 7, switching to the mandolin and classical guitar at 16. He studied guitar with William O. Bateman (1825-1883), “a successful lawyer, music engraver, guitarist, and nationally recognized guitar composer.” His professional career began in the 1880s, and he gained national prominence in the early 1890s. “Having an aversion to traveling and leaving his family, he did not take full advantage of his growing fame” until 1904, when he was invited to play at Carnegie Hall.
In 1911, Foden moved with his family to Englewood, New Jersey, near New York City, after a successful eight-month tour of the United States and British Columbia with Giuseppe Pettine (mandolin) and Frederick Bacon (banjo), which was referred to in newspapers as “The Big Trio.” In Englewood, he taught guitar and other fretted instruments in a studio on 42nd Street. For the publisher W. J. Smith, he arranged numerous works for mandolin orchestra, guitar, banjo, ukulele, and Hawaiian steel guitar. His two-volume “Grand Guitar Method” (1920, 1921) contains numerous original compositions as well as almost 50 solo compositions that were published independently. He left behind more than a hundred compositions and arrangements in manuscript form.
Music
Foden’s works can be divided into two categories: a) light popular compositions in established dance forms such as waltzes, marches, and polkas, which were written primarily to earn an income, and b) virtuoso original compositions, including works with themes and variations, often in expanded form, which were suitable as showpieces in his own performances. Stylistically, he followed older European composers such as Sor, Mertz, and Zani de Ferranti, but Foden is always original in his inventive modulations and unusual keys. He was best known for his extraordinary tremolo technique.