Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul
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"Star of the County Down" actually isn't that old of a song -- it was written (the words that is) by Cathal McGarvey, who lived from 1866-1927. It was first published after his death, and was probably written in the early 20th Century.
The tune is a different matter. It is indeed an old tune that pops up throughout the British Isles with a variety of names and lyrics. I think the earliest example of the tune in written form is from the early 1700s. It's the basis of the hymn tune "
Kingsfold" -- one of many folk tunes that Ralph Vaughan Williams took and "hymnodized" for the
English Hymnal (1906). Lots of hymnals include the tune for "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" and/or "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem." Vaughan Williams also used it for
Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus (1939), which is a setting for harp and strings of yet another of the old carols associated with the tune.