Treasure is the third internationally released album by Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 soprano Hayley Westenra

Hayley Westenra

Hayley Dee Westenra is a New Zealand soprano, classical crossover artist, songwriter and UNICEF Ambassador. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached No. 1 on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide...

, released in 2007 (see 2007 in music

2007 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2007.-January:*January 1 - George Shearing is knighted for services to music in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Evelyn Glennie becomes a Dame...

). The album celebrates Westenra's Irish roots by covering Irish songs like "Danny Boy" and religious classics like "Whispering Hope", "The Heart Worships", while also including three new songs which Hayley has co-written.

Treasure became Westenra's fourth album to hit #1 on the New Zealand music charts, and her third album to debut at #1 on the New Zealand music charts, making her the most successful female album artist in the history of the Official New Zealand Music Charts. The album spent five weeks in the number 1 position on the New Zealand charts.

Treasure became Westenra's second album to chart in the US and peaked within the Top 10 in the UK (it was the second highest new entry its debut week).

Celtic Treasure is a very personal collection of classical arias, Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 and Maori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

 folk songs. Celtic Treasure is a rich musical heritage celebration of Hayley's family roots, and her great-great-grandparent's journey across the World on the first boat that left Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 for New Zealand in the 1880s.

Westenra's first recordings of her own songs bring together all those musical influences. Celtic treasure include her compositions "Let Me Lie" and "Summer Rain" plus her lyrics to a haunting lute song by the Elizabethan English composer John Dowland, called simply "Melancholy Interlude".

"I come from a musical family, and one with a real sense of history. My forefathers, who came from Ireland, were on the Midlothian's maiden voyage from England to Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand in 1851..."

A special edition of the album released in Westenra's native New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 includes that country's national anthem God Defend New Zealand

God Defend New Zealand

"God Defend New Zealand" is one of two national anthems of New Zealand, the other being "God Save the Queen". Legally they have equal status, but "God Defend New Zealand" is more commonly used, and is popularly referred to as "the national anthem"...

.

US, Australia, New Zealand and Canadian Version

1. Let Me Lie
2. Scarborough Fair
   Scarborough Fair
   "Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of the United Kingdom.The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she...
   
   
3. Shenandoah
   Oh Shenandoah
   "Oh Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating at least to the early 19th century...
   
   
4. Summer Fly
5. Whispering Hope
6. Danny Boy
   Danny Boy
   -Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
   
   
7. Summer Rain
8. The Last Rose of Summer
   The Last Rose of Summer
   The Last Rose of Summer is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was a friend of Byron and Shelley. Moore wrote it in 1805 while at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland...
   
   
9. One Fine Day
10. Sonny
11. The Water Is Wide
    The Water Is Wide (song)
    "The Water Is Wide" is a folk song of Scottish or English origin that has been sung since the 1600s and has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century...
    
    
12. Melancholy Interlude
13. Abide with Me
    Abide With Me
    The hymn tune most often used with this hymn is "Eventide" composed by William Henry Monk in 1861.Alternate tunes include:* "Abide with Me," Henry Lyte, 1847* "Morecambe", Frederick C...
    
    

UK and International Version

1. Let Me Lie
2. Le Notte De Silenzio – featuring Humphrey Berney, tenor
3. Santa Lucia
4. Whispering Hope
5. Summer Rain
6. Danny Boy
7. One Fine Day
8. Shenandoah
9. The Heart Worships
10. E Pari Ra
11. Sonny
12. Summer Fly
13. Melancholy Interlude
14. Bist Du Bei Mir
    Bist du bei mir
    Bist du bei mir is an aria in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. It was therefore attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, but the melody is part of the Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel opera Diomedes, oder die triumphierende Unschuld that was performed in Bayreuth on November 16, 1718. The opera score...
    
    
15. Abide with Me

United Kingdom iTunes Version

1. Let Me Lie
2. Le Notte De Silenzio
3. Shenandoah
4. Whispering Hope
5. Summer Rain
6. Danny Boy
7. One Fine Day
8. Santa Lucia
9. The Heart Worships
10. E Pari Ra
11. Sonny
12. Summer Fly
13. Melancholy Interlude
14. Bist Du Bei Mir
15. Abide With Me
16. Jekyll theme song (digital bonus version only)
17. The Last Rose of Summer (iTunes bonus version only)

New Zealand Special Edition

1. Let Me Lie
2. Scarborough Fair
3. Shenandoah
4. Summer Fly
5. Whispering Hope
6. Danny Boy
7. Summer Rain
8. The Last Rose Of Summer
9. One Fine Day
10. Sonny
11. The Water is Wide
12. Melancholy Interlude
13. Abide With Me
14. Le Notte De Silenzio
15. E Pari Ra
16. Bist Du Bei Mir
17. The Heart Worships
18. Santa Lucia
19. God Defend New Zealand

Album

Chart (2007)	Peak Position
New Zealand Music Charts	1
U.S. Billboard Top 200	184
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums	18
UK Album Charts	9
UK Classical Album Charts	1
Australian Album Charts	47