In Mertz’s time it was fashionable to arrange folk songs for guitar. Giuliani picked up a couple from Scotland (Sei Arie Nazionali Scozzesi), Sor made an arrangement on Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon and Mertz put a number of arrangements in his Musikalische Rundschau.
This arrangement of the Irish folk song The Last Rose of Summer is number 2 from the Rundschau.
The basis for The Last Rose of Summer is a poem written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852). When writing, Moore had the Irish song Aisling an Óigfhear (The Young Man’s Dream) in mind. The Irish composer John Andrew Stevenson (1761-1833) wrote a piano accompaniment and voilà, there was the arrangement.
The song became surprisingly popular at that time, not only did Giuliani use it as a basis for a composition, also composers such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Gounod, Reger and Britten had a weak spot for this melody. We also regularly see The Last Rose of Summer in pop music.
Mertz’s arrangement is not super difficult, except for two spots, in bar 16/17 and in bar 29/30. Here you will find a difficult transition and a ditto ornamentation that requires good practice. Both the fingering that was indicated in the original and the alternative in a higher position are difficult.
The first 20 bars contain the theme, the last 20 a variation with an accompaniment in triplets, something that is not clearly stated in the original. In order not to complicate the notation, I have rewritten that piece to 9/8. Keep that in mind in connection with the tempo of this variation.