This tune was transcribed by John MacLeod during the Crimean War from "La Tua Danza Sì Leggiera", a chorus part in the third act of Gioachino Rossini's 1829 opera Guglielmo Tell (William Tell)
It became famous in the 1960s when Andy Stewart added words to create "A Scottish Soldier" - a song about a dying Scottish soldier, wishing to return to the hills of his homeland rather than die in Tyrol.
