Because Stephen Foster made a conscious decision to write “people’s music”, many historians and critics have labeled him a musician of limited talent with no more than a natural gift for memorable tunes. In reality, he had a sound musical training. Beautiful Dreamer, written near the end of his life, was an example of his familiarity with the Italian school of song: graceful melodic lines, expressive appoggiaturas, and arpeggiated and strummed instruments. This arrangement, for SSA chorus and keyboard, remains faithful to that style.