Oh, soft was the song is a song with words by Gilbert Parker set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1910, as his Op.
The songs were originally written with piano accompaniment, but this was later re-scored by the composer for full orchestra.
The songs were composed between December 1909 and January 1910, and published by Novello's in 1910.
Elgar's friend Edward Speyer sent him as a Christmas present some music scores of Beethoven String Quartets, and when Elgar thanked Speyer he added to his letter[1] a quotation from Beethoven's Op.59 No.3.
[2] The first performance was by Muriel Foster at the Jaeger Memorial Concert[3] in the Queen's Hall on 24 January 1910.