Remembering an Irish Mam

For as long as I can remember a part of a simple tune was stuck in my head that my Mum used to sing to be as a very young child. I never knew what the tune was but would occasionally hear snippets that sounded like something similar and it would activate this ear worm buried deep in my brain. Finally I asked her about it and she was able to identify it as "Whistling Gypsy" by Dublin composer Leo Maguire. It's a popular tune that has been covered by lots of different groups from The Wiggles to The Chieftans. Finally I could hear the entire song! My Mom passed away in 2022 and I listened to this song as a way to remember her at that time. I had wanted to possibly do my own piece based on this song and when the Thalia Symphony asked me to write a piece for them for their concert titled "Old and New", I decided to take this "old" tune and do a new orchestral treatment of it. Each of the themes presented in this piece are based loosely on the Whistling Gypsy theme and the theme itself is presented in full at rehearsal "D". Thanks to Joseph White, Director of the Thalia Symphony for comissioning the piece and thanks to me Mum for singing it in my ear all those years ago.