The Last Rose
COMPOSER’S NOTE
In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, including the title track of her Number One selling album, The Last Rose. It is based on the beautiful poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852) and I also subsequently created an arrangement for her for piano and string quartet.
DURATION
4 minutes
SOLOIST
Soprano
INSTRUMENTATION
Strings and Cor Anglais
OR
Piano and String Quintet
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2011
PUBLISHER
Novello
SHEET MUSIC
Available from
JW Pepper
Music Room
Music Shop Europe
’Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.
I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I 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 withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?
Words: Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852)
