Rosalie the Prairie Flower

DESCRIPTION: "On the distant prairie, where the heather wild In its quiet beauty lived and smil'd," beautiful Rosalie lives in a little cottage. "But the summer faded, and a chilly blast O'er that happy cottage swept." She dies and is carried to heaven in a white robe
AUTHOR: Music: "G. F. Wurzel" (George F. Root) (See NOTES for the words)
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (source: Mudcat notes)
KEYWORDS: death beauty home
FOUND IN: US(SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 161, "Fair as a lily, joyous and free" (1 fragment)
Root-StoryOfAMusicalLife-GeorgeFRoot, pp. 237-239, "Rosalie, The Prairie Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 717, "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2032, p. 137, "Rosalie the Prairie Flower" (6 references)
Roud #4460
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, M1642.M, "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower" (John C. Schreiber & Son, Macon and Savannah, N.D.)
SAME TUNE:
Lonely Round the Portals ("Lonely round the portals Of the College halls, In the fading twilight Soft that falls") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 40)
NOTES [645 words]: George F. Root sometimes used the pseudonym "Wurzel" because "Wurzel" is German for "Root." He wrote in his autobiography, "I saw at once that mine must be the 'people's song,' still, I am ashamed to say, I shared the feeling that was around me in regard to that grade of music [i.e. that it was beneath him]. When Stephen C. Foster's wonderful melodies (as I now see them) began to appear, and the famous Christy's Minstrels began to make them known, I 'took a hand in' and wrote a few, but put 'G. Friedrich Wurzel" (the Germen for Root) to them instead of my own name. 'Hazel Dell' and "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower' were the best known of those so written" (Root, p. 83).
The lack of a "name" composer didn't hurt the song's sales; Finson, p. 87, says that "Rosalie" sold more than a hundred thousand copies.
The authorship of the words is a bit of a conundrum. Several sources, including Wikipedia, say that they are by Frances Jane "Fanny" Crosby. Yet I haven't seen this on any of the early sheet music or broadsides. Crosby did supply the lyrics for another Root hit, "There's Music in the Air." But Root's own sheet music of "Rosalie," on p. 237, lists only "Wurzel (G. F. R.)." The earliest sheet music I've found says "Poetry and Music by Wurzel" -- but the next one I've found, published by Richardson (which says it is sung by the Christy Minstrels), says it was "COMPOSED by Wurzel," not "WRITTEN and composed by Wurzel." Crosby is not mentioned on either. Indeed, I've never seen a broadside or early sheet music copy that mentions her name.
Nor does Root refer to Crosby when he describes the composition of the song. According to Root, p. 110, Nathan Richardson was trying to start a line of popular sheet music. Root gives the story on p. 111: "So the question came up between [Richardson and his brother] of getting something to publish that the people would buy. In this dilemma my friend came to me and asked if I would write him six songs. I laughed at him a little, but was very happy to do it, my three-years' engagement with [publishers] Wm. Hall & Son being just out. The songs were finished during vacation, and we tried them over at Willow Farm in manuscript. There were six of us, and I said, 'Let us choose from these six songs the one that we think will become most popular. The oldest shall choose first, then the next shall choose from the remainder, then the next, and so on down to the youngest.' The youngest was my sister Fanny, then a young girl, and when the choice came to her the only song left unchosen was 'Rosalie, the Prairie Flower.'
"When I took the songs to my friend he said he would prefer to buy them outright. What would I take for the 'lot'? There was a bit of sarcasm in the last word. 'Well,' I replied, 'as you propose a wholesale instead of a retail transaction, you shall have the 'lot' at wholesale prices, which will be one hundred dollars apiece -- six hundred dollars for all.' He laughed at the idea.... The idea of paying such a sum for these little things could not be thought of. 'Very well,' I said, 'Give me the usual royalty; that will suit me quite as well.' This was agreed to, and when he had paid me in royalties nearly three thousand dollars for 'Rosalie' alone, he concluded that six hundred for the 'lot' would not have been an unreasonable price."
Thus it doesn't sound as if Root thought Crosby had much to do with the piece! But on the other hand, on p. 112 he refers to writing words for his tunes, and says that at first it was hard. Note that this is after he said he wrote "Rosalie."
Spaeth, p. 127, seems also to give sole credit to Root.
Curiously, "The Hazel Dell," the second song Root listed as a well-known piece by Wurzel, is also credited to Crosby on her Wikipedia page! For background on possible author Fanny Crosby van Alstyne, see the notes to "A Few More Marchings Weary." - RBW
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File: Wo2E2032

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