Irish Song

It is a surprising fact of Beethoven’s life that of all the categories of pieces he composed, there are more settings of Irish songs than of any other type of music. Scottish poet Robert Burns convinced a Scottish music publisher to commission Beethoven to set his own words to Irish airs.

The death of Burns in 1796 ended the project, but Beethoven went on to harmonise and arrange the songs in 1814 through 1816, mainly, and they were published, though never achieved as great a popularity as a rival set by Thomas Moore.

This simplified version for easy Cello and Piano was arranged by composer Hugo Cole, an accomplished cellist who was for many years a music critic for the Guardian newspaper.