The text to The Last Rose of Summer is taken from a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852). He, along with Sir John Stevenson and several others, set a number of Moore's poems, or parts of them, to music. This circle of artists accounted for many traditional Irish songs from the nineteenth century. It is not known exactly who provided music for this popular setting, but the melody is quite attractive and familiar-sounding, not least because of its style and likeness to other Irish songs. The theme, while quite different from the even more famous one in Danny Boy, is spiritually related in its sentimental warmth, in its Irish sadness and lyrical flow. It has a lovely melancholy character, and its second subject rises initially and is filled with yearning, having much the same structure and emotional feel of Danny Boy in its corresponding thematic material. Those who like Danny Boy will undoubtedly find this charming, sentimental creation to their liking. In the text, the metaphoric last rose of summer is an aging woman whose friends are all gone and who welcomes death. And is there a suggestion at the end of a countenancing of suicide?

© Robert Cummings, Rovi