The Last Rose of Summer.

The Last Rose with Andre Rieu his orchestra, choir and the sopranos Suzan Erens (Holland), Carmen Monarcha (Brazil) and Carla Maffioletti (Brazil) in Kerkrade Holland.

The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was a friend of Byron and Shelley. Moore wrote it in 1805 while at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Sir John Stevenson set the poem to its beautiful melody and it was published in a collection of Moore's work called Irish Melodies (1807-34). It was made popular in the twenty first century in a recording by Charlotte Church and the Irish Tenors.

This melody was used extensively throughout Friedrich von Flotow's opera "Martha," first performed in 1847 in Vienna. According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954), this opera was a remodelling from a ballet written in conjunction with Burgmuller and Deldevez and produced in Paris in 1844 as "Lady Henriette." It stands to reason, based on the evidence, that Flotow made liberal use of Stevenson's melody.

Composers: Music: Thomas Moore, 1779-1852
From: The Flying Dutchman 2004
Lyrics: Sir John Stevenson, 1761-1833.

Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone,
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.
No flow'r of her kindred
No rosebud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stern,
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them

Thus kindly I'll scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow
When friendships decay;
And from love's shining circle
The gems drop away
When true hearts lie wither'd
And fond ones are flow'n
Oh! Who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?