Irish National Anthem for String Orchestra

The song, as "A Soldier's Song", was composed "early in 1910 or late in 1909", with words by Peadar Kearney, and music by his childhood friend and neighbour Patrick Heeney, who had collaborated on songs since 1903. Kearney assisted Heeney in setting the refrain. Heeney composed it with his melodeon. Seán Rogan, later of the Irish Citizen Army, may also have helped with the music, and first wrote it in musical notation. Kearney wrote much of the text in the Swiss Café at the corner of O'Connell Street and North Earl Street.The first draft of the text, handwritten on copybook paper, sold at auction in Dublin in 2006 for €760,000.After being rejected by The United Irishman, Bulmer Hobson's magazine Irish Freedom published the text in 1912. Whelan and Son of Ormond Quay, Dublin, published the lyrics for sale as a flysheet. It was used as a marching song by the Irish Volunteers and Seamus Hughes first sang it in public at a Volunteer fundraising concert. It was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising.