Danny Boy
for SATB choir
2012
Danny Boy is one of the most iconic and well known “Irish” songs; however, while this song is mostly commonly associated with Ireland, the text was actually written in 1910 by the English Frederic Weatherly, a lawyer and prolific lyricist. After being set in 1913 to the tune of the Londonderry Air, a melody originating in Northern Ireland, the song became enormously popular, and has since become somewhat of an unofficial anthem of the Irish diaspora, particularly in America.
I wrote this setting of Danny Boy after visiting Ireland in the Spring of 2012 with the Concert Choir of Juniata College, where my brother went to school. The piece was premiered by the group next year in their Spring Concert and taken on their tour to Guatemala.
Text
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone, and all the flowers are dying
‘Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow
‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.
And I shall hear, tho’ soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you’ll not fail to tell me that you love me
I’ll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.