The composer of this further Weatherly lyric is something of a mystery man. According to some sources, Odoardo Barri was really Edward Slater, born in Dublin. However, Barri himself claimed to have been born in Como. Supposedly he was trained by the Jesuits, became an oratorio singer in Italy and Spain, and was for a time a tenor soloist at the Vatican. He is said to have fought at the battle of Solferino in 1859 before settling in London, where he headed the Odoardo Barri School of Voice Culture for over fifty years. Of his religious, theatre and drawing-room music, little is now heard beyond this stirring setting.
from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2003
