The copy of THE LONE FISH-BALL (click) in The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music was published in 1855. The sheet music says it was "Founded on a Boston Fact" and then something I can't read - can anybody make it out? It was, they say, "Sung by the Students of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass." The lyrics and tune appear to be the same ones that I transcribed from the 1909 edition of Heartsongs (click) and that Tiger transcribed from Spaeth (above).
Gee, I'd like to have seen that Fishball opera. Say, Child was a Harvard professor, wasn't he? I think I see a connection. Dick, tell us more about the opera.
-Joe Offer-