The last rose of summer | 'Tis the last rose of summer

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852)

'Tis the last rose of summer

Language: English

Our translations: CAT DUT FRE

'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flow'r of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes,
Or 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 [thy bed,
Where]¹ thy mates of the garden
Lie [scentless]² and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love's shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie wither'd.
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• B. Britten

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Britten: "the bed/ Where"
² Britten: "senseless"

Text Authorship:

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "'Tis the last rose of summer", appears in Irish Melodies, first published 1813 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The last rose of summer" [sung text checked 1 time]
by Friedrich (Adolf Ferdinand) von Flotow (1812 - 1883), "'Tis the last rose of summer" [sung text not yet checked]
by Adolph Martin Foerster (1854 - 1927), "'Tis the last rose of summer", op. 64 (Garland of Songs), Heft 1 no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Lalli , "The last rose of summer" [sung text not yet checked]
by Havelock Nelson (1917 - 1996), "The last rose of summer", published 1964 [ SSA chorus and piano ], London: Elkin [sung text not yet checked]
by John Andrew Stevenson (1761 - 1833), "'Tis the last rose of summer" [sung text not yet checked]
by Phyllis Margaret Duncan Tate (1911 - 1987), "The last rose of summer", published 1964 [ SATB chorus and piano ], London: Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by Auguste Louis Charles de Messence, comte de La Garde-Chambonas (1783 - 1853?) [an adaptation] ; composed by Giulio Alary.
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Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Sophie von Reinhardt, Gräfin ; composed by Emilie Zumsteeg.
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Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Karl Alfred Melin (1849 - 1919) ; composed by Frithiof Hertzman, Emil Sjögren.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 112