Chas. K. Harris. Copyrighted Nov. 12, 1892/ by Chas. K. Harris & Co., Milwaukee, Wis. First edition: Front cover has a drawing of sunbursts and leaves and is purple, red and white. No photograph on the front cover, which is completely different from subsequent covers; the front cover of the first edition is illustrated in Fuld, American.
Historical information regarding the song appears in Spaeth, p. 260, and Charles K. Harris, After the Ball (New York, N.Y., 1926), p. 50, NYPL. The melody was interpolated by Jerome Kern in Show Boat in 1927. Harris was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1867, became a banjo player, composer, and lyricist, and died in New York City in 1930.
m. F. von Flotow. w. W. Friedrich. The piano-vocal score of Martha oder: Der Markt zu Richmond, was published about Jan. 4, 1848,^ by H. F. Miiller, 1147 Kohlmarkt, Vienna. Three variants of a possible first edition have been found, with priority uncertain. In each, the title page lists three copublishers and indicates the piano arrangement is by the composer, vb. Index, vb. m. on pp. 1-266. p.n. 280. Ach! So Fromm {Ah! So Pure) is on p. 192. Index and music pages engraved. In one variant at GM, the price is blank and a 12-page libretto is included; in the second variant at JF, the price is 15 Fl. as in the notices, and the libretto is not included; and in the third variant at JMM, both the price and the libretto are present. The separate sheet music of the song was published about April, 1848,^ and a possible first edition is at SB: front cover lists 26 titles and arrangements; m. on pp. 1-3 and 192-194 (double pagination); p.n. 280(15); music pages engraved; back cover blank.
The orchestral score of the opera was first printed about 1897^ with French text by Choudens, 30 Bould. des Capucines, Paris; a ”Nouvelle Edition/’ folio, without price, it has plate number A.C. 10,613 for the Overture on pages 1-35, and a lithographing of a manuscript score without plate number on pages 37-454. JMM and NYPL. The orchestral score with German text was not published until 1940 by Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig; BM.
Orchestral parts of the opera, published probably by August Cranz, with plate number 13007 for the Overture, the balance a different printing, of uncertain date but not earlier than 1876 (when Cranz commenced business), hthographed and without covers, are at CI. Martha was composed in 1847 and performed on Nov. 25, 1847, in Vienna. The source of Martha was a ballet produced at Paris in 1844 entitled Lady Harriette, of which Flotow wrote the first act, and two others wrote the balance.^ The music of the entire ballet has apparently not been published; two excerpts at BN and another at BM do not include the melody of this aria.
