The Bohemian Girl: I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls

The most successful of British opera composers of his day - The Bohemian Girl ran for over 100 performances at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1843 - Balfe is now remembered for no more than a handful of songs, “I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls” most prominent among them. Fellow Irishman James Joyce admired the ballad so much that he refers to it in two of his short stories in Dubliners and mentions it several times in Finnigans Wake, punning on it as ”you dreamt that you'd wealth in marble arch” at one point. Another Irish writer, George Bernard Shaw, disapproved of the Bohemian Girl opera but had to acknowledge the superior quality of the ballad - as well he might, bearing in mind the lyrical effect made by such simple means.