The Irish songwriter, Thomas Moore (1779-1852) enjoyed enormous popularity during and after his lifetime and his celebrity was summed up by his friend, Lord Byron, who declared him: «The poet of all circles and the idol of his own». Yet, despite his seminal role in the development of Irish national song, few modern editions have been made available and none focus on the earliest piano arrangements published during Moore¿s lifetime and the decades following his death. This new critical edition collects together for the first time in one volume selected original arrangements of the world-famous Irish Melodies for solo voice and duet along with other successful English-language songs to texts by Moore and foreign-language settings by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Duparc. Several aspects were considered in choosing songs such as their historical significance as well as their usefulness to the performer and impact in performance and the beauty of the vocal content and the partnering accompaniments. The Thomas Moore Songbook will appeal to a broad spectrum of academics, practitioners and teachers of singing as well as those with a deep interest in Irish history, culture and heritage.

Una Hunt has established a unique position as a leading authority in practice-based research which, allied to her distinguished international career as a concert pianist, chamber musician and accompanist, has resulted in published research outputs focused on performance practice along with an extensive collection of world-premiere CDs. Her consultancies at the National Library of Ireland established the first digital collection of the library¿s music holdings and led to performances, videos and CDs of Irish opera and other neglected repertoire. She is series editor of a new concept book collection for Peter Lang focussed on performance research in Ireland which features complementary performance exemplars on the internet. Much of Unäs advocacy of Irish music has been directed towards bringing Thomas Moore¿s music before new audiences. The present collection draws on previous research such as the first complete audio archive of Moore¿s Irish Melodies: My Gentle Harp (Heritage Music Productions, 2008-2009) comprising all 124 songs, and the seminal publication, Sources and Style in Moore¿s Irish Melodies (Routledge, 2017).

Contents: Source Editions and Abbreviations - Song Texts and Notes to the Songs - The English Songbook - arr. Sir John Stevenson: Oft in the stilly night - arr. Stevenson: The song of Fionnuala (Silent, oh Moyle!) - arr. Stevenson: Avenging and bright - arr. Stevenson: The farewell to my harp (Dear harp of my country!) - arr. Stevenson: Those evening bells - melody - Giovanni B. Viotti: Love thee, dearest, love thee! - arr. Henry R. Bishop: The dream of those days - arr. Michael W. Balfe: The minstrel-boy - arr. Balfe: The meeting of the waters - arr. Balfe: 'Tis the last rose of summer - arr. Charles V. Stanford: At the mid hour of night - arr. Stanford: 'Twas one of those dreams - arr. Stanford: Fly not yet - Frank Lambert: She is far from the land - The Foreign Language Songbook - Felix Mendelssohn: Der blumenkranz - Hector Berlioz: three songs,
Irlande
, op. 2 - Robert Schumann: 'Zwei Venetianische Lieder',
Myrthen
, op. 25 - Henri Duparc: Élégie - arr. Sir John Stevenson: Original Duets - Oh! Breathe not his name - Believe me, if all those endearing young charms - It is not the tear at this moment shed.