"Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms" is a
popular song written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore,
setting new lyrics to a traditional Irish air that can
be traced back into the 18th century. He published it
in 1808, naming the air as My Lodging is on the Cold
Ground from lyrics of British origin with which it was
widely associated at the time.
The preface to their joint production quotes a letter
that Moore wrote to Stevenson about the need for it to
set the record straight on...(+)
"Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms" is a
popular song written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore,
setting new lyrics to a traditional Irish air that can
be traced back into the 18th century. He published it
in 1808, naming the air as My Lodging is on the Cold
Ground from lyrics of British origin with which it was
widely associated at the time.
The preface to their joint production quotes a letter
that Moore wrote to Stevenson about the need for it to
set the record straight on the Irish origin of many
melodies that had come to be associated with “our
English neighbors.” Toward that end, Moore devised
lyrics to replace British ones such as My Lodging is on
the Cold Ground. The original version is attested in
the play The Rivals by William Davenant, initially
performed in 1662. It is sung by the character Celania
in Act 5 to a melody that is not indicated.
In the article cited in the first reference above,
William Grattan Flood provides details about a composed
setting of My Lodging is on the Cold Ground, published
by Matthew Locke in 1665. It has no Irish nexus and is
melodically altogether different from the one in the
Stevenson/Moore compilation. The Rivals remained in the
active theater repertoire until at least 1668 and
Locke’s melody is an obvious candidate for having
been the one sung during its performance. Grattan Flood
cautions against confusing it with the traditional
melody used by Moore, which he claims (without
substantiation) had been known under various names to
Irish harpers from about 1745. However, he extensively
cites verifiable sources with the British lyrics set to
it, beginning in 1773.
The main focus of the Grattan Flood article is tracing
the origins of yet another song set to the same melody
in 1838 by Rev. Samuel Gilman in celebration of the
200th-anniversary of the founding of Harvard
University. It was titled Fair Harvard and subsequently
adopted there for general festive use. The relatively
brief interval between the publication of the two sets
of lyrics can be seen as an indication of the popular
attention that Moor e had called to the shared melody.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Believe_Me,_If_All_Those
_Endearing_Young_Charms).
Although originally written for Accompanied Voice, I
created this Interpretation of "Believe Me, if All
Those Endearing Young Charms" for Flute & Celtic or
Concert (Pedal) Harp.
, 22 Feb 2023 at 08:28 
