Matthew Dubourg (1703–1767) is today mostly remembered as the virtuoso violinist who led the band of musicians for the premiere of Handel's oratorio Messiah in Dublin in April 1742. He was a child prodigy – contemporary reports reveal that he was performing publicly at the age of eleven – and pupil of Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. In 1728 Dubourg was made Master of the State Musick in Ireland following the death of Johann Sigismund Cousser (1660–1727), who had held the position since 1716. Geminiani, who had first been offered the position, declined it on account of being a Roman Catholic (other theories for Geminiani's refusal are advanced in Enrico Careri, Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762) (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 21). Dubourg's position as Master required him to compose odes to celebrate the birthdays of the British monarchs in Dublin. Surviving poetry, newspaper reports and music suggest that he composed an unbroken series of two odes per year until his death. Dubourg's other compositions survive in various eighteenth-century manuscripts and publications. These include dances – minuets, jigs and ‘Dubourg's Maggott’, for instance – some songs and his ‘graces’ for Corelli's Op. 5 violin sonatas (on the last see Neal Zaslaw, ‘Ornaments for Corelli's Violin Sonatas, Op. 5’, Early Music 24/1 (1996), 95–116, and Robert E. Seletsky, ‘18th-Century Variations for Corelli's Sonatas, Op. 5’, Early Music 24/1 (1996), 119–130). Dubourg's most popular work was undoubtedly his variations on the traditional Irish song ‘Eibhlín a Rún’, first published for harpsichord in 1746 (Select Minuets, collected from the Castle Balls, and the Publick Assemblies in Dublin. Composed by the best Masters . . . to which is added Eleena Roon by Mr. Dubourgh, set to the Harpsichord with his Variations (Dublin: William Mainwaring), held at The National Library of Ireland, Dublin (IRL-Dn), Add. Mus. 9013). This publication was advertised in The Dublin Journal for 27–30 December 1746.