Two American Anthems
John Stafford Smith/Samuel Augustus Ward
General Information
Instrumentation
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Purchase OptionsLook/Listen(coming soon)
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Program Note
Star-Spangled Banner
While Francis Scott Key gets the bulk of the credit for the Star Spangled Banner, in reality Key only wrote the poem upon which the lyrics are based (“The Defense of Fort McHenry”). The music for our National Anthem was actually written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. Smith was a member of the Anacreontic Club of London, a group of wealthy men who met to celebrate music, food, and drink. The tune was first published as “To Anacreon in Heaven” circa 1780. The Star Spangled Banner was officially recognized as our National Anthem in 1931 by an act of Congress.
America the Beautiful
Katherine Lee Bates, a professor of English at Wellesley College, penned the words to America the Beautiful while hiking through Colorado in 1893. The poem went largely unrecognized until it appeared in the Congregationalist Newspaper two years later, and was finally published by the Boston Evening Transcript in 1904. It was never meant to be sung, but was paired up nonetheless with a hymn song (Materna) written by Samuel Augustus Ward in 1882. Ward wrote the melody on his way home from a trip to Coney Island, an amusement park in Brooklyn, New York. Sadly, Samuel Ward never got to hear his melody used for America the Beautiful. He died in September of 1903; the music and lyrics were first joined together in 1904 and published in 1910.
While Francis Scott Key gets the bulk of the credit for the Star Spangled Banner, in reality Key only wrote the poem upon which the lyrics are based (“The Defense of Fort McHenry”). The music for our National Anthem was actually written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. Smith was a member of the Anacreontic Club of London, a group of wealthy men who met to celebrate music, food, and drink. The tune was first published as “To Anacreon in Heaven” circa 1780. The Star Spangled Banner was officially recognized as our National Anthem in 1931 by an act of Congress.
America the Beautiful
Katherine Lee Bates, a professor of English at Wellesley College, penned the words to America the Beautiful while hiking through Colorado in 1893. The poem went largely unrecognized until it appeared in the Congregationalist Newspaper two years later, and was finally published by the Boston Evening Transcript in 1904. It was never meant to be sung, but was paired up nonetheless with a hymn song (Materna) written by Samuel Augustus Ward in 1882. Ward wrote the melody on his way home from a trip to Coney Island, an amusement park in Brooklyn, New York. Sadly, Samuel Ward never got to hear his melody used for America the Beautiful. He died in September of 1903; the music and lyrics were first joined together in 1904 and published in 1910.