Sweet Spirit Hear My Prayer by Marie Narelle

Known as 'The Australian Queen of Irish Song', Marie Narelle undertook tours to Ireland, the UK and the US, and in the latter she recorded on wax cylinder with Thomas A Edison Inc. ‘Sweet Spirit Hear My Prayer’ is a ballad from the opera Lurline, composed by Irish musician William Vincent Wallace to a libretto by English playwright Edward Fitzball and first performed in 1860.

Wallace became known as ‘the Australian Paganini’ during his time here from 1835 to 1838, during which he opened the first Australian music academy and organised the country’s first music festival, at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.