William Foden

William Foden (23 March 1860 – 9 April 1947) was an American composer, musician, and teacher. Foden is considered America’s premiere classical guitarist during the 1890s and the first decades of the twentieth century. Life Foden was born in St. Louis, Missouri and initially started with the violin at age 7, changing from age 16 to the mandolin and classical guitar. He studied guitar with William O. Bateman (1825–1883), “a successful lawyer, music engraver, guitarist, and nationally recognized guitar composer” By the age of sixteen, he became the head of the local mandolin orchestra. His professional career began in the 1880s, gaining national notoriety from the early 1890s. “Having an aversion to traveling and leaving his family, he did not fully capitalize on his growing fame” near New York City, after a successful eight-month tour of the United States and British Columbia together with Giuseppe Pettine (mandolin) and Frederick Bacon (banjo), with newspapers referring to them as “The Big Trio”. However, he began ordering Martin guitars for himself and his students at the beginning of the century. “Foden Special” models were designed between the years of 1912 and 1917, through the