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Ludwig van Beethoven

Irish Songs, WoO 152

WoO 152 Vocal

25 Irish Songs (WoO 152) were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. The folk song collector George Thomson commissioned Beethoven to arrange a series of folk melodies that he had collected. The songs were composed between the years 1810 and 1813. After Beethoven arranged the melodies Thomson added the lyrics as his original choice to write the lyrics, the Irish poet Thomas Moore, turned him down. They were published in 1814 in A Select Collection of Original Irish Airs and later reissued in Thomson's Select Melodies of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Barry Cooper said of Beethoven's Irish folk song arrangements that they have ‘a kind of sophisticated artlessness that no ordinary composer could achieve’.
The songs in order are:
The Return to Ulster, by Walter Scott (F minor)
Sweet power of song, by Joanna Baillie (D major)
Once more I hail thee, Robert Burns (F major)
The morning air plays on my face, by Joanna Baillie (G minor)
Massacre of Glencoe, by Walter Scott (A minor)
What shall I do to shew how much I love her?, by anon. (B minor)
His boat comes on the sunny tide, by Joanna Baillie (D major)
Come draw we round a cheerful ring, by Joanna Baillie (D minor)
The Soldier's Dream, by Thomas Campbell (E♭ major)
The Deserter, by John Philpot Curran (F major)
Thou emblem of faith, by John Philpot Curran (C minor)
English Bulls, by anon. (D major)
Musing on the roaring ocean, by Robert Burns (C major)
Dermot and Shelah, by T. Toms (G major)
Let brain-spinning swain, by Alexander Boswell (A major)
Hide not thy anguish, by William Smyth (D major)
In vain to this desert, by Anne Grant and Robert Burns (D major)
They bid me slight my Dermot dear, by William Smyth (F major)
Wife, Children and Friends (A minor)
Farewell bliss and farewell Nancy, by Anne Grant (D minor)
Morning a cruel turmoiler is, by Alexander Boswell, by Samuel Friedrich Sauter (D major)
From Garyone, my happy home, by T. Toms (D major)
A wand'ring gypsy, Sirs, am I (F major)
The Traugh Welcome (F major)
Oh harp of Erin, by David Thomson (E♭ major)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Movements

  1. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 1, "The Return to Ulster"
  2. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 2 "Sweet power of song" (duet)
  3. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 3, "Once More I Hail Thee"
  4. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 4, "The Morning Air Plays on My Face"
  5. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 5 "On the massacre of Glencoe"
  6. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 6 "What shall I do to shew how much I love her?" (duet)
  7. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 7, "His Boat Comes on the Sunny Tide"
  8. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 8 "Come draw we round a cheerful ring"
  9. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 9, "The Soldier's Dream"
  10. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 10 "The deserter"
  11. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 11 "Thou emblem of faith"
  12. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 12, "English Bulls"
  13. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 13 "Musing on the roaring ocean"
  14. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 14, "Dermot and Shelah"
  15. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 15 "Let brain-spinning swains"
  16. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 16, "Hide Not Thy Anguish"
  17. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 17 "In vain to this desert" (duet)
  18. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 18, "They Bid Me Slight My Dermot Dear"
  19. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 19 "Wife, children and friends" (duet)
  20. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 20 "Farewell bliss and farewell Nancy" (duet)
  21. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 21 "Morning a cruel turmoiler is"
  22. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 22, "From Garyone, My Happy Home"
  23. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 23 "The wand'ring gypsy"
  24. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 24 "The Traugh welcome"
  25. 25 Irish Songs, WoO 152: No. 25, "Oh Harp of Erin"

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