The Last Rose of Summer

The text for The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852). He wrote it in 1805, while staying at Jenkinstown Castle in County Kilkenny, where he is said to have been inspired by a specimen of pink rose called ‘Old Blush’. This rose had been grown in China for about a thousand years, but was  brought to Europe until about 1750.

Moore was most celebrated for his Selection of Irish Melodies, published in ten volumes from 1807. These were settings of English-language verse to old Irish tunes and marked the transition in popular Irish culture from the use of Gaelic to English.

The Last Rose of Summer was set to a traditional Irish melody called Aisling an Óigfhear, or The Young Man’s Dream. This setting was published in December 1813 in Volume 5 of A Selection of Irish Melodies with the original piano accompaniment written by John Andrew Stevenson. Many other arrangements have followed across the 19th and 20th centuries, ensuring the song’s place in folk music literature around the world.

This arrangement is for SSA voices, with Soprano solo, a cappella.