Anacreon was a Greek poet who lived from circa 582 BCE to 485 BCE, which is a remarkably advanced age for the times. Whether Anacreon actually is in heaven, I’ll take no position on, but he most certainly is dead. The song asserts that Anacreon is in heaven, right from the first line. Of course, it has another name that you probably know better: “The Star-Spangled Banner”.īut the song’s first name was “To Anacreon in Heaven”. It’s a stirring melody, and can often sound very proud, and if someone asked you to hum a few bars, you probably could do a creditable job of it, even if you have no musical ability at all. If you’re an American (and quite possibly even if you’re not), you’ve certainly heard the tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” numerous times. The following close analysis of the structure and lyrics of Key’s song is based on a conversation with the music historian.The flag that Francis Scott Key looked at while writing "The Star-Spangled Banner". The Maryland Historical Society counts among its most prized artifacts the original manuscript of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The document is on display in the society’s new exhibition “In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland During the War of 1812.”īut how much do you know about Key’s musical influences? And about how the song was popularized?ĭavid Hildebrand, director of the Colonial Music Institute, is an expert in early American music and has studied “The Star-Spangled Banner” in great depth, putting it into the musical context of its times. Over a century later, on March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill into law that made Key’s patriotic song the official anthem of the United States. Inspired by what he witnessed, Key wrote an impassioned four-stanza poem, or song. Just miles from Fort McHenry, Key watched what he would later describe as the “rocket’s red glare” and the “bombs bursting in air”-and come morning, the hoisting of an American flag at the fort in victory. He successfully negotiated the release of an American prisoner there, but the British insisted that he stay on the truce ship President during the battle, from September 13-14. Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and budding poet from Washington, D.C., was in Baltimore in September 1814, when the British bombarded Fort McHenry. Most Americans are familiar with the story of how our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” came to be.
0 kommentar(er)
