"The Anacreontic Song", also known by its incipit "To Anacreon in Heaven", was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. Attributed to the composer John Stafford Smith, the tune later had Francis Scott Key's poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" set to it. The combination became known as "The Star Spangled Banner" and was adopted as the national anthem of the United States in 1931.
Contents
Composition
The tune was probably composed[1] by a member of the Society, John Stafford Smith from Gloucester, to lyrics by the Society's president, Ralph Tomlinson. Smith wrote the tune in the mid-1760s, while still a teenager. It was first published by The Vocal Magazine (London) in 1778.[2]
These barristers, doctors, and other professional men named their club after the Greek court poet Anacreon (6th century BC), whose poems, "anacreontics", were used to entertain patrons in Teos and Athens. His songs often celebrated women, wine, and entertaining, and today can be considered eroticism.
The connection with Anacreon, along with the "drinking" nature of the lyrics, have caused many people to label "The Anacreontic Song" a drinking song. The chorus certainly suggests Bacchanalia with its lyrics "And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine the myrtle of Venus with Bacchus' vine." In all probability some drinking did occur at Society meetings, but the primary purpose of the Society (and its song) was to promote an interest in music.[citation needed] This absence of an official connection to drinking did not keep the song from being associated with alcohol, as it was commonly used as a sobriety test: If you could sing a stanza of the notoriously difficult melody and stay on key, you were sober enough for another round.[citation needed]
The song, through its bawdy and imbibing lyrics, gained popularity in London and elsewhere beyond the Anacreontic Society, and new lyrics were also fashioned for it, including, in the United States, under such patriotic titles as Adams and Liberty[3] and Jefferson and Liberty.
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Francis Scott Key wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" while detained on a British ship during the night of September 13, 1814, as the British forces bombarded the American fort. His brother-in-law, on hearing the poem Key had written, realized it fit the tune of "The Anacreontic Song". Later retitled The Star-Spangled Banner, Key's words, accompanied with Stafford Smith's tune, became a well-known and recognized patriotic song throughout the United States, and was officially designated as the U.S. national anthem in 1931.[4]
References
- ^ there is only one known firsthand account, by Society member John Samuel Stevens
- ^ Glover, Raymond F. The Hymnal 1982 companion, Volume 3, Church Publishing, Inc., 1990.
- ^ "Adams and Liberty". http://www.potw.org/archive/potw233.html.
- ^ "John Stafford Smith: Composer of the Star Spangled Banner". http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/gloucester/smith.htm.
External links
Lyrics
- Tomlinson, Ralph, To Anacreon in Heaven, Poem of the Week, #234, http://www.potw.org/archive/potw234.html, retrieved 2008-06-01
- Lossing, Benson J., ed. (1873), The American Historical Record, II, Philadelphia: Samuel P. Town, Publisher, p. 129, http://books.google.com/books?id=k0UJAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22To+Anacreon+in+Heaven,+where+he+sat+in+full+glee%22&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
"Star Spangled Banner"
Media
- The song at YouTube
- Link to .mp3 as sung by John Townley on The Top Hits Of 1776.