The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-09-30
TRUTH ABOUT "MAvoURNEEN.' y
Stephen Massett Tells the Facts of the
Authorship of the Famous Song.

Stephen Massett Tells the Facts of the
Authorship of the Famous Song.
In an article recently published in
the Washington Post the writer seeks
to convey the impression that the late
Professor Crouch, who died in Port
land, Me, August 8, had nothing at all
TO do with either the composition of
the music or the words of the famous
song entitled Kathleen Movourneen,
and that the song was written before
he was born, etc.
The article is too long to quote in
its entirety, but it does seem indeed
strange, almost cruel that after the
author had lived for lightweight years,
for over fifty of which he had been ac-
cepted and recognized all the world
over as the author of the music of the
song, the writer of the Post article
should have waited for the death of
the old man, before trying to disprove
the authorship, or tear from his brow
the wreath OF fame which for so many
years has encircled it.
In reference to the words, which are
indeed in themselves gem, the writer
says: " fMavourneen' was written by
Mrs. Annie Crawford, the popular ac-
tress." This is all wrong, as will be
seen presently, in a statement which
the writer for the first time gives to
the public, and signed in his own hand
writing by Professor Crouch himself.
AT the Bradford, in New York city,
in 1898, I saw the Professor very fire.
quently, and it was in one of these
chatty humors when he inclined to be
communicative, 1 said to him, do tell
me all about how, when and where
you wrote the Kathleen melody, for
the works, as they appear in all the
English copies, are by a Mrs. Marian
Crawford? ?"
Professor Crouch replied ''Well,
these are the actual facts: / was at the
time in London, and one day in looking
through the pages of the Metropolitan
Magazine, then edited by Captain Mar
ryat, / came across some words that
riveted my attention, and reading them
over and over again resolved, if | could
get possession of them, to set them to
music. The poem was called Kathleen
Navoumeen, and underneath the two
verses was the signature by Mrs. Ma
rian Crawford
II Immediately wrote to the editor,
found out that the author of the beau
tiful words was the wife of a London
barrister, and was presented to the
lady, by a mutual friend, at her resi-
dence. She seemed quite pleased, at
the expressions of delight at her
verses, and could not understand why
to me they should be of such value, or
why I should wish to set them to mu-
sic. The lady finally consented to give
me a copy of her verses, which / in
few DAYS took to Plymouth, where 1
composed the melody"
And the following is an exact copy of
the article Professor Crouch dictated
and signed himself, and to which he
requested me also to affiX my sigma
ture:
"ALL ABOUT THE SONG KATH-
LEEN MAVOURNEEN."
"The following account of the au-
thorship of the words and music of the
ballad Kathleen Mavourneen' was Civ
en- me to-day, February 7, 1898, at his
room at the Bradford Hotel, Eleventh
street, New York, by the composer of
the music, Professor +. Nichols
Crouch, born in 1903, Warren street,
Fitzroy square, London, and now hale
and hearty, in his eighty-fifth year.
STEPHEN MASSETT.
"The music of the song Kathleen