A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tis the Last Rose of Summer

For other versions of this work, see The Last Rose of Summer (Moore).

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3917757A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Tis the Last Rose of SummerGeorge GroveGeorge Grove

'TIS THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER. A song written by Thomas Moore to the tune of 'The Groves of Blarney'; this again being possibly a variation of an older air called 'The Young Man's dream,' which Moore has adapted to the words 'As a beam on the face of the waters may glow.' Blarney, near Cork, became popular in 1788 or 1789, and it was then that the words of 'The Groves of Blarney' were written by R. A. Millikin, an attorney of Cork. The tune may be older, though this is not at all certain: it is at all events a very beautiful and characteristic Irish melody. We give it in both its forms, as it is a good example of the way in which Moore, with all his taste, often destroyed the peculiar character of the melodies he adapted.^[1]

The Groves of Blarney.

${ \relative d' { \key g \major \time 3/4 \tempo "Slow." \partial 16*5 \repeat volta 2 { d16[ g8. a16] | b4 g'8.[ fis16 e8. d16] | d8.( c16) b8.[ g16 g8. a16] | %end line 1 d8.[( d16) c8. b16] a8.\trill g16 | g4.. } d'16[ e8. fis16] | g4 fis8[ e fis8. e16] | %end line 2 e8.[ d16 b8. d16] e8. fis16 | g4 fis8[ e fis8.\trill e16] | e4.. fis16[ g8. fis16] | e4 d8.[ c16 b8. a16] | %end line 3 b8.[ g16 e8. d16] g8. a16 | b8.[ d16 c8. b16] a8.\trill g16 | g4.. \bar "||" } }$

The Last Rose of Summer.

${ \relative e' { \key e \major \time 3/4 \tempo "Feelingly." \partial 4 \autoBeamOff \override Score.Rest #'style = #'classical e8. fis16 | gis4 e' \slashedGrace dis8 cis8.[ b16] | b8 gis4. e8.[ fis16] | %end line 1 gis4 \slashedGrace b8 a[ gis] \slashedGrace gis fis8.[ e16] | e4 r e8. fis16 | gis4 e' \slashedGrace dis8 cis8.[ b16] | %eol 2 b8 gis4. e8.[ fis16] | gis4 \slashedGrace b8 a8.[ gis16] \slashedGrace gis8 fis8.[ e16] | e2 b'8.[ gis16] | %eol 3 e'4 e8[( dis)] \slashedGrace dis8 cis8.[ b16] | b4 gis b8.[ gis16] | e'4 e8[ dis] cis[ bis] | %end line 4 \afterGrace cis4\turn { bis8[ cis dis] } e4\fermata e,8. fis16 | gis4 e' \slashedGrace dis8 cis8.[ b16] | b8 gis4 r8 e8.[ fis16] %e5 gis4 \slashedGrace b8 a[ gis] \slashedGrace gis8 fis[ e] | e2 } \addlyrics { 'Tis the last rose of sum -- mer. Left bloom -- ing a -- lone; All her love -- ly com -- pan -- ions Are fa -- ded and gone; No flow'r of her kin -- dred, No rose -- bud is nigh, _ To re -- flect back her blush -- es Or give sigh for sigh. } }$

Beethoven (20 Irische Lieder, No. 6) has set it, in E♭, to the words 'Sad and luckless was the season.' Mendelssohn wrote a fantasia on the air, published as op. 15,^[2] considerably altering the notation; and Flotow has made it the leading motif in the latter part of 'Martha.' Berlioz's enthusiasm for the tune equals his contempt for the opera. 'The delicious Irish air was so simply and poetically sung by Patti, that its fragrance alone was sufficient to disinfect the rest of the work.'^[3]

[ G. ]

↑ The writer is indebted to Mr. T. W. Joyce for the above Information. See too Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall's 'Ireland.' i. 49, and Lover's 'Lyrics of Ireland.'
↑ Of the date of this piece no trace is forthcoming. It probably belongs to his first English visit. Its publication (by Spina) appears to date from Mendelssohn's visit to Vienna, en route to Italy.
↑ 'Lettres intimes,' p. 283.

[1] The writer is indebted to Mr. T. W. Joyce for the above Information. See too Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall's 'Ireland.' i. 49, and Lover's 'Lyrics of Ireland.'

[2] Of the date of this piece no trace is forthcoming. It probably belongs to his first English visit. Its publication (by Spina) appears to date from Mendelssohn's visit to Vienna, en route to Italy.

[3] 'Lettres intimes,' p. 283.

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