The Minstrel Boy

[5] The record of the melody to which the song is set, The Moreen, begins in 1813 with Moore's publication of it, which is the sole source of the statement that it is a traditional Irish air.

[5] Similarly according to Hunt's research, Aloys Fleischmann mistakenly claimed as sources several works that in fact post-date Moore's own publication.

[6] The Irish Melodies were overall immensely popular in Ireland and Great Britain when they were published, reaching a diverse audience, and "The Minstrel Boy" was one of the most famous songs from that collection.

[8] After his death, large numbers of special editions of what were later re-titled Moore's Melodies were sold at premium prices, with lavish illustrations, expensive green leather bindings, and embossed images of shamrocks and golden harps.

[10][11] Its central icon is the image of a harp, which is a romantic symbol for Ireland, torn asunder; but, in contrast to the Irish political songs of some of Moore's contemporaries, with no promise of restoration implied for the future.

[12] Some of Moore's more subtle expressions of his politics in his songs were lost on early American audiences, who favoured the overt themes of freedom and liberty in "The Minstrel Boy", much in tune with the contemporary romantic notions of democracy that were also popular, and skipped over its references to slavery.

[13] Moore himself, who had travelled through the United States and Canada the previous decade, had a low opinion of the slavery still (then) employed in the former, expressing in 1806 his disappointment and his casting aside all "hope for the future energy and greatness of America".

[20][21] A concentrated, single verse version exists: The minstrel boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death ye may find him His father's sword he hath girded on, With his wild harp slung along behind him; Land of Song, the lays of the warrior bard, May some day sound for thee, But his harp belongs to the brave and free And shall never sound in slavery!

[23] In the analysis of music history professor J. Harper-Scott, Britten's assumption would have been that the opera's audience would either know the theme being referenced, or at least recognize its type.

[27] John Philip Sousa, as director of the United States Marine Band, incorporated elements into the "Mother Hubbard March" (1885).

is in part a direct quotation from the song, alluding to the character (Leopold Bloom under an alias) being like a minstrel who sings of lost loves.

And cries, "My friends, in vain you'd toil At books, at pen, or easel; One roving vagabond your work shall spoil,"— He plays "Pop goes the weasel".