The lovely lass o' Inverness,
  Nae joy nor pleasure can she see;
For e'en to morn she cries, (Alas!)
  And ay the saut tear blins her e'e:

« Drumossie moor, Drumossie day,
  A waefu' day it was to me !
For there I lost my father dear,
  My father dear and brethren three.

Their winding-sheet the bluidy clay,
  Their graves are growing green to see,
And by them lies the dearest lad
  That ever blest a woman's e'e!

Now wae to thee, thou cruel lord,
  A bluidy man I trow thou be,
For monie a heart thou has made sair
  That ne'er did wrang to thine or thee! »

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Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 250.

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The lovely lass o' Inverness" [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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "The lovely lass of Inverness", op. 108 (25 schottische Lieder mit Begleitung von Pianoforte, Violine und Violoncello) no. 8 (1815) [ voice, violin, violoncello, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Henry Hugo Pierson (1816 - 1873), as Henry Hugo Pearson, "The Lass of Inverness", published 1842 [ voice and piano ], from 6 Lieder von Freiligrath nach R. Burns, no. 6, Leipzig, Kistner, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "The lovely lass o' Inverness", published 1922 [ female voice and piano ], from Scottish Lyrics, Book 1, no. 7, Bayley & Ferguson [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "The lovely lass of Inverness", published 1899 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) , "Die süße Dirn von Inverness", appears in Gedichte, in Robert Burns. Elf Lieder [later 13 Lieder], no. 2 ; composed by Robert Franz, Adolf Jensen, Heinrich August Marschner, Henry Hugo Pierson, as Henry Hugo Pearson.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Hermann Theodor Otto Grädener.
  • Go to the text.
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Dívka z Inverness"
• FRE French (Français) (Isabelle Cecchini) , "La jolie fille d'Inverness", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Die holde Maid von Inverness"
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "L'amabile fanciulla di Inverness", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Nadobna dziewka z Inverness", Warsaw, first published 1907

Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 108