BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF menvQ W. Sage 1891 f'.XMfJ'.y. xflj/M.. 6896-1 ^FC 3 y^f R R JUN 1 5'56 VV''-^^ ^BT^Wsnp Jl££4r44%?W^2 '' OCT 5 77 AP 19 Cornell University Library ! Z881 .US 1909 + ? Repqrt_ ,on_,/'Jhe_ St_ar-SBang[ed_ Banne '^_ " H ; I 3 1924 029 540 550 \ olin Overs i m Cornell University Library The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029540550 LIBP^RY OF CONGRESS - lii vis ion «^ rr>us\c REPORT ON "The Star- Spangled Banner" "Hail Columbia" America "Yankee Doodle" COMPILED BY OSCAR GEORGE THEODORE SONNECK CHIEF OF THE DIVISON OF MUSIC WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1909 L. C. card, 9-35010 CONTENTS Preface. k "The Stae-Spangled Banner." 7_42 "Hail Columbia." 43-72 "America." 73-78 "Yankee Doodle." 79-156 Literature used for this Report 157-164 Appendix: Illustrations 165-248 INPEX ■ 249-255 3 PREFATORY NOTE In December, 1907, I received instructions from the Librarian of Congress to "bring together the various versions both of text and of music with notes as to the historical evolution" of "The Star-Spangled Banner," "HaU Columbia," "America," and "Yankee Doodle." The report was to be brief and light of touch, but accurate enough for practical purposes. This task would have been comparatively easy had the literature on the sub- ject been reliable. Unfortunately it crmnbled imder the slightest critical pressure, and it became imperative to devote more research and more analytical and synthetic thought to the report than had seemed advisable at first. This and the fact that the report had to be compiled without neglect of current duties accounts for the delay in submitting it. In form the report is frankly not a history of the subject, such as one would write for popular consumption. Eather, in this report data are collected, ehminated, or verified; popular theories fomided on these data are analyzed, their refutation or acceptance is sug- gested, and, of course, some theories of my own are offered for critical consideration. All this is done in such a form that the reader is at no step supposed to find a locked door between himself and the argu- ment. He is not supposed to accept a single statement of fact or argument unless the evidence submitted compels him to do so. This flein air treatment of a popular theme distinguishes the report some- what from the bulk of the literature on the subject. In short, though not intended for popular consimaption, it may be used for popular consumption with reasonable assurance of accuracy. O. G. SONNECK Chief, Music Division Herbert Putnam Librarian of Congress Washington, D. C, August, 1909 THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER Opinions dififer widelj' on the merits of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a national song. Some critics fail to see in Francis Scott Key's inspired lines poetry of more than patriotic value. Some look upon it merely as a flag song, a military song, but not as a national hymn. Some criticize the melody for its excessive range, but others see no defects in "The Star-Spangled Banner" and feel not less enthusiastic over its esthetic merits as a national song than over its sincere patri- otic sentiment. This controversy will be decided, whether rightly or wrongly, by the American people regardless of critical analysis, leg- islative acts, or naive efforts to create national songs by prize com- petition. This report does not concern itself at all with such quasi esthetic problems, nor is it here the place to trace the political history of "The Star-Spangled Banner" beyond what is necessary for the understanding of its history as a national song. As has been well known for a long time, the first though brief account of the origin of "The Star-Spangled Banner" appeared in the Baltimore American on September 21, 1814, under the heading of: DEFENCE or FORT M'hENRY. The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances: A gentle- man had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough. He went aa far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore brought up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the g iiTifl of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort M 'Henry, which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country. This account is followed by the text of Key's poem without special title, but with the indication: "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven." As this account was printed almost immediately after the events therein described took place, and were in every reader's memory, the newspaper editor, of course, omitted specific dates, but it is a matter of history that the gallant defense of Fort McHenry under Major Armistead began on the morning of Tuesday, September 13, and lasted imtil the early hours of September 14, 1814. The gentleman 7 8 The Star-Spangled Banner. is, of course, Francis Scott Key, and either his own modesty or an editorial whim kept his authorship from the public. The first detailed and authentic account of the origin of " The Star- Spangled Banner" practically came from Francis Scott Key himself, who narrated it shortly after the British designs on Baltimore failed, to his brother-in-law, Mr. R. B. Taney, subsequently Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. When in 1856 Mr. Henry V. D. Jones edited the " Poems of the Late Francis S. Key, Esq. ..." (New York, 1857) , Chief Justice Taney contributed Key's version from memory, in an introductory "letter . . . narrating the incidents connected with the origin of the song 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'" This interesting narrative has been made the basis of all subsequent accounts. Its substance is this: When, after the battle of Bladensburg, the main body of the British army had passed through the town of Upper Marlborough, some stragglers, who had left the ranks to plunder or from some other motive, made their appearance from time to time, singly or in small squads, and a Doctor Beanes, who had previously been very hospitable to the British officers "put himself at the head of a small body of citizens to pursue and make prisoners" of the stragglers. Information of this proceeding reached the British and Doctor Beanes was promptly seized. The British "did not seem to regard him, and certainly did not treat him, as a prisoner of war, but as one who had deceived and broken his faith to them." Doctor Beanes was the leading physician of his town and so highly respected that the news of his imprisonment filled his friends with alarm. They "hastened to the head-quarters of the English army to solicit his release, but it was peremptorily refused," and they were informed that he had been carried as a prisoner on board the fleet. Francis Scott Key happened also to be one of the Doctor's intimate friends, and as Mr. Key, just then a volunteer in Major Peter's Light Artil- lery, but a lawyer by profession, was a resident of Georgetown, which means practically Washington, the other friends requested him — to obtain the sanction of the government to his going on board the admiral's ship under a flag of truce and endeavoring to procure the release of Dr. Beanes, before the fleet sailed. . . . Mr. Key readily agreed to undertake the mission in his favor, and the Presi- dent [Madison] promptly gave his sanction to it. Orders were immediately issued to the vessel usually employed as a cartel [the Minden] in the communications with the fleet in. the Chesapeake to be made ready without delay; and Mr. John S. Skinner, who was agent for the government for flags of truce and exchange of pris- oners, and who was well known as such to the officers of the fleet, waa directed to accompany Mr. Key. And as soon as the arrangements were made, he hastened to Baltimore, where the vessel was, to embark; . . . We heard nothing from him until the enemy retreated from Baltimore, which, as well as I can now recollect, was a week or ten days after he left us; and we were becoming uneasy about him, when, to our great joy, he made his appearance at my house, on his way to join his family. The Star-Spangled Banner. 9 He told me that he found the British fleet, at the mouth of the Potomac, prepar- ing for the expedition against Baltimore. He was courteously received by Ad- miral Cochrane, and the officers of the army, as well as the navy. But when he made known his business, his application was received so coldly, that he feared he would fail. General Ross and Admiral Cockburn — who accompanied the expedi- tion to Washington — particularly the latter, spoke of Dr. Beanes, in very harsh terms, and seemed at first not disposed to release him. It, however, happened, fortunately, that Mr. Skinner carried letters from the wounded British officers left at Bladensburg; and in these letters to their friends on board the fleet, they all spoke of the humanity and kindness with which they had been treated after they had fallen into our hands. And after a good deal of conversation, and strong repre- sentations from Mr. Key, as to the character and standing of Dr. Beanes, and of the deep interest which the community in which he lived, took in his fate. General Ross said that Dr. Beanes deserved much more punishment than he had received; but that he felt himself bound to make a return for the kindness which had been shown to his wounded officers, whom he had been compelled to leave at Bladens- burg; and upon that ground, and that only, he would release him. But Mr. Key was at the same time informed that neither he, nor any one else, would be per- mitted to leave the fleet for some days; and must be detained until the attack on Baltimore, which was then about to be made, was over. But he was assured that they would make him and Mr. Skinner, as comfortable as possible, while they detained him. Admiral Cochrane, with whom they dined on the day of their arrival, apologized for not accommodating them on his own ship, saying that it was crowded already with officers of the army; but that they would be well taken care of in the frigate Surprise, commanded by his son, Sir Thomas Cochrane. And to this frigate, they were accordingly transferred. Mr. Key had an interview with Dr. Beanes, before General Ross consented to release him. I do not recollect whether he was on board the admiral's ship, or the Surprise, but I believe it was the former. He found him in the forward part of the ship, among the sailors and soldiers ; he had not had a change of clothes from the time he was seized; was constantly treated with indignity by those around him, and no officer would speak to him . He was treated as a culprit, and not as a prisoner of war. And this harsh and humiliating treatment continued until he was placed on board the cartel . . . Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner continued on board of the Surprise, where they were very kindly treated by Sir Thomas Cochrane, until the fleet reached the Patapsco, and preparations were making for landing the troops. Admiral Cochrane then shifted his flags to the frigate, in order that he might be able to move further up the river, and superintend in person, the attack by water, on the fort. And Mr. Key and Mr. Skinner were then sent on board their own vessel, with a guard of sailors, or marines, to prevent them from landing. They were permitted to take Dr. Beanes with them and they thought themselves fortunate in being anchored in a position which enabled them to see distinctly the flag of Fort M'Henry from the deck of the vessel. He proceeded then with much animation to describe the scene on the night of the bombardment. lie and Mr. Skinner remained on deck during the night, watching every shell, from the moment it was fired, until it fell, listening with breathless interest to hear if an explosion followed. While the bom- bardment continued, it was sufficient proof that the fort had not surrendered . But it suddenly ceased some time before day; and as they had no communication with any of the enemy's ships, they did not know whether the fort had surrendered, or the attack upon it been abandoned. They paced the deck for the residue of the night in painful suspense, watching with intense anxiety for the return of day, and looking every few minutes at their watches, to see how long they must wait Wit; and as soon as it dawned, and before it was light enough to see objects at a distance, 10 The Star-Spangled Banner. their glasses were turned to the fort, uncertain whether they should see there the stars and stripes, or the flag of the enemy. At length the light came, and they saw that " our flag was still there." And as the day advanced, they discovered, from the movements of the boats between the shore and the fleet, that the troops had been roughly handled, and that many wounded men were carried to the ships. At length he was informed that the attack on Baltimore had failed, and the British army was re-embarking, and that he and Mr. Skinner, and Dr. Beanes would be permitted to leave them, and go where they pleased, as soon as the troops were on board, and the fleet ready to sail. He then told me that, under the excitement of the time, he had written a song, and handed me a printed copy of "The Star Spangled Banner." When I had read it, and expressed my admiration, I asked him how he found time, in the scenes he had been passing through, to compose such a song? He said he commenced it on the deck of their vessel, in the fervor of the moment, when he saw the enemy hastily retreating to their ships, and looked at the flag he had watched for so anxiously as the morning opened; that he had written some lines, or brief notes that would aid him in calling them to mind, upon the back of a letter which he happened to have in his pocket; and for some of the lines, as he proceeded, he was obliged to rely altogether on his memory; and that he finished it in the boat on his way to the shore, and wrote it out as it now stands, at the hotel, on the night he reached Baltimore, and immediately after he arrived. He said that on the next morning, he took it to Judge Nicholson, to ask him what he thought of it, that he was so much pleased with it, that he immediately sent it to a printer, and directed copies to be struck off in hand-bill form; and that he, Mr. Key, believed it to have been favorably received by the Baltimore public. More than forty years had elapsed since Chief Justice Taney had heard this story for the first time from Francis Scott Key, and though it probably was. modified or embellished in course of time, yet in substance it has the earmarks of authenticity. Exactly for this reason, if for no other, Chief Justice Taney's account furnished the foundation for all further accounts, but it should be noticed that the Chief Justice does not tell us anything beyond how the words came to be written, imtil struck off in handbill form. We do not learn when and under what circumstances the broadside was printed, how the poem was wedded to its music, or when and by whom the song was first read or sung. If certain writers do include such state- ments in their quotations from Taney's account, they certainly did not read Taney's introductory letter, but most probably copied their quotations from Admiral Preble, who indeed but carelessly attributes such statements to the Chief Justice. The data not con- tained in Taney's account had to be supplied by others, and it is very curious that instantly this part of the history of "The Star-Span- gled Banner" became confused, whereas Chief Justice Taney's account remained unchallenged except in unimportant points, as for instance, the reasons for Doctor Beanes's arrest. Under this head Chief Justice Taney was rather vague; not so Mrs. Anna H. Dorsey, who in the Washington Simday Morning Chronicle added some "lesser facts," which were reprinted in Dawson's Historical The Star-Spangled Banner. 11 Magazine, 1861, volume 5, pages 282-283. According to Mrs. Dor- sey, Dr. Williain Beanes, the uncle of her mother, was celebrating with copious libations a rumored British defeat at Washington when "three foot-sore, dusty, and weary soldiers made their appearance on the scene in quest of water." Somewhat under the influence of the excellent punch. Doctor Beanes and his friends made them pris- oners of war, and very naturally, the British resented this, to say the least, indiscreet act. The Beanes-Dorsey family tradition is given here for all it is worth, but if correct, then it would be a singular coincidence that an English drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven" furnished the melody for a poem which had its root in an event inspired by Bacchus. Indeed Doctor Beanes and his friends might have been voicing their sentiments "To Anacreon in Heaven." Different is the account written by Mr. F. S. Key Smith for the Republic Magazine, 1908, April, pages 10-20, on "Fort McHenry and 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' " According to Mr. Smith, a party of marauding stragglers came into the Doctor's garden and intruded themselves upon him and his little company. "Elated over their supposed victory of the day previous, of which the Doctor and his friends had heard nothing," says Mr. Smith, "they were boisterous, disorderly, and insolent, and upon being ordered to leave the prem- ises became threatening. Whereupon, at the instance of Doctor Beanes and his friends, they were arrested by the town authorities and lodged in the Marlborough jail." This version, too, is quoted here for all it is worth; but it should be noted that throughout this article, dealing elaborately only with the political history of Key's poem, Mr. Smith is conspicuously silent about his authorities, thus preventing critical readers from accepting his statements without skepticism. A case in point is his continua- tion of Chief Justice Taney's narrative : He [Judge Nicholson, also Key's brother-in-law] took it [the draft of the song] to the printing office of Captain Benjamin Edes on North Street near the comer of Baltimore street, but the Captain not having returned from duty with the Twenty-Sixth Maryland Regiment, his office was closed, and Judge Nicholson proceeded to the newspaper office of the Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, where the words were set in type by Samuel Sands, an appren- tice at the time. . . . Copies of the song were struck off in handbill form, and promiscuously distributed on the street. Catching with popular favor hke prairie fire it spread in every direction, was read and discussed, until, in less than an hour, the news was all over the city. Picked up by a crowd assembled about Captain McCauley's tavern, next to the HoHday Street Theater, where two brothers Charles and Ferdinand Durang, musicians and actors, were stop- ping, the latter mounted a chair, and rendered it in fine style to a large assemblage. On the evening of the same day that Mr. Charles [!!] Durang first sang "The Star Spangled Banner," it was again rendered upon the stage of the Holhday Street Theater by an actress, and the theater is said to have gained thereby a national reputation. In less than a week it had reached New Orleans [!]... 12 The Star-Spangled Banner. This is merely the hastily concocted and uncritically diluted essence of previous articles, including that by Taney. It will be more profit- able to turn to the very few original accounts than to dissect or even pay much attention to the second-hand compilations from these original sources, no matter how spirited or otherwise attractive they may be. One C. D., in the Historical Magazine of 1864, volume 8, pages 347- 348, has this to say: One of your correspondents inquires in what form the song of the Star Spangled Banner was first printed? I think that in the History of the Philadelphia Stage you will find that subject clearly explained. The song was first printed and put upon the press by Captain Edes, of Baltimore, who belonged to Colonel Long's Twenty-Seventh Regiment of militia. He kept his printing office at the comer of Baltimore and Gay Streets. It was given him by the author, Mr. Key, of Washington, in its amended form, after the battle of North Point, about the latter end of September 1814. The original draft, with its interlineations and amendatory erasures, etc. was purchased by the late Gen. George Keim, of Reading, and I suppose his heirs have it now. It was printed on a small piece of paper in the style of our old ballads that were wont to be hawked about the streets in days of yore. It was first sxmg by about twenty volunteer soldiers in front of the Holliday Street Theater, who used to congregate at the adjoining tavern to get their early mint juleps. Ben. Edes brought it round to them on one of those libating mornings or matinees. I was one of the group. My brother sang it. We all formed the chorus. This is its history . . . The reference to the "History of the Philadelphia Stage" and to "My brother" immediately implies the identity of this C. D. with Charles Durang, brother of Ferdinand Durang (both actors), and joint author, or, rather, editor of his father John's, "History of the Philadelphia Stage," published serially in the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, 1854-55. Consequently we have here the testimony of a contemporary earwitness. A few years later, in 1867, Col. John L. Warner read before the Pennsylvania Historical Society a paper on "The Origin of the American National Anthem called 'The Star- Spangled Banner,'" and this paper was printed in the Historical Magazine, 1867, Volume II, pages 279-280. As will be seen from the following quotation, it does not contradict Charles Durang's account, but merely supplements it. Says Colonel Warner: It was first sung when fresh from his [Captain Benjamin Edes'] press, at a small frame one-story house, occupied as a tavern next to the Holiday Street Theatre. This tavern had long been kept by the widow Berling, and fien by a Colonel MacConkey, a house where the players " most did congregate, " with the quid nuncs of that day, to do honor to, and to prepare for, the daily military drills in Gay Street, (for every able man was then a soldier;) and here came, also, Captain Benjamin Edes, of the Twenty-seventh Regiment; Captain Long and Captain Thomas Warner, of the Thirty-ninth Regiment, and Major Frailey. Warner was a silversmith of good repute in that neighborhood. It was the latter end of September, 1814, when a lot of the young volunteer defenders of the Monumental City was thus assembled. Captain Edes and Cap- The Star-Spangled Banner. 13 tain Thomas Warner came early along one morning and forthwith called the group (quite merry with the British defeat) to order, to listen to a patriotic song which the former had just struck oft at his preaa. He then read it to all the young volunteers there assembled, who greeted each verae with hearty shouts. It waa then suggeated that it should be sung; but who was able to sing it? Ferdinand Durang, who waa a soldier in the cause and known to be a vocalist, being among the group, waa assigned the task of vocalising this truly inapired patriotic hymn of the lamented Key. The old air of " Anacreon in Heaven" had been adapted to it by the author, and Mr. Edes was desired so to print it on the top of the ballad. Its solemn melody and impressive notes seem naturally allied to the poetry, and speak emphatically the musical taste and judgement of Mr. Key. Ferdinand Durang mounted an old-fashioned rush-bottomed chair, and sang this admirable national song for the first time in our Union, the chorus to each verse being re- echoed by those present with infinite harmony of voices. It was thus sung several times during the morning. When the theatre was opened by Warren and Wood, it waa sung nightly, after the play, by Paddy McFarland and the company. So far the historian would have plain sailing, but his troubles begin with an article written for Harper's Magazine, 1871, volume 43, pages 254-258, by Mrs. Nellie Eyster, as appears from the printed index. Under the title of "'The Star-Spangled Banner:' An hour with an octogenarian," she reports an interview held on November 20, 1870, with Mr. Hendon, of Frederick, Md., who knew Francis Scott Key personally as a boy and who moved in 1809 to Lancaster, Pa., whence both the Durangs hailed. Together with Charles and Ferdinand Durang he belonged to the Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, which on August 1, 1814, left Harrisburg in defense of Baltimore, but, remem- bers Mr. Hendon, they "marched to the seat of war three days after the battle had been won," and with special reference to the defense of Fort McHenry he "was chafing like a caged tiger because [he] was not in it." He further says that "they remained upon Gallows Hill, near Baltimore, for three months, daily waiting for an enemy that never came. Then, for the first time since leaving York [Pa.], [they] took breathing time and looked about for amusement." Follows what Admiral George Henry Preble called a more fanciful version than Warner's account when he copied Mr. Hendon's words for a foot- note (p. 494) in the chapter on "Our National Songs" (pp. 490-511) in the first edition (Albany, 1872) of his industrious and popular compilation, "Our Flag:" "Have you heard Francis Key's poem?" said one of our men, coming in one evening, as we lay scattered over the green hill near the captain's marquee. It waa a rude copy, and written in a scrawl which Horace Greeley might have mia- taken for his own. He read it aloud, once, twice, three times, until the entire diviaion seemed electrified by its pathetic eloquence. An idea seized Ferd. Durang. Hunting up a volume of flute music, which was in somebody's tent, he impatiently whistled snatches of tune after tune, just aa they caught hia quick eye. One, called "Anacreon in Heaven", (I have played it often for it was in my book that he found it), atruck his fancy and 14 The Star-Spangled Banner. rivetted Mb attention. Note after note fell from his puckered lips until, with a leap and shout, he exclaimed "Boys, I've hit it!" and fitting the tune to the words, they sang out for the first time the song of the Star Spangled Banner. How the men shouted and clapped, for never was there a wedding of poetry to music made under such inspiring influences! Getting a brief furlough, the brothers [!!.] sang it in public soon after . . . In the second edition of his work (1880), then called "History of the Flag of the United States of America," Admiral Preble reprinted this fanciful story, together with the Charles Durang and Colonel Warner account, but again without the slightest attempt at critical comparison and apparently without noticing that we do not have to deal here with more or less fanciful diflFerences, but with reminiscent accounts that exclude each other. What subsequent writers con- tributed in this vein to the Uterature on "The Star-Spangled Ban- ner" maybe disregarded since they merely paraphrased with more or less accuracy what they found in Preble or in his sources, as for instance, when one writer in the American Historical Kecord, 1873, volume 2, pages 24-25, carelessly mentions Charles instead of Ferdi- . nand Durang as the first singer of "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, a belated version with fanciful variations of the main theme should be noticed, as it was printed sometime in 1897 in the Philadelphia Ledger and from there reprinted in substance in the Iowa Historical Record, July, 1897, page 144. According to this, "the second day after the words were written, Ferdinand Durang was rummaging in his trunk in a tavern in Baltimore, where he had his baggage, for music to suit the words, and finally selected that of 'Anacreon in Heaven.' By the time he had sung the third verse, in trying the music to the words, the httle tavern was full of people, who spontaneously joined in the chorus. The company was soon joined by the author of the words, Francis Scott Key, to whom the tune was submitted for approval, who also took up the refrain of the chorus, thus indorsing the music. A few nights afterward ' The Star- Spangled Banner' being caUed for by the audience at the HoUiday Street Theater, in Baltimore, Ferdinand Durang sang it from the stage. Durang died in New York in 1832. Durang had a brother, Charles, also a soldier in the ' Blues, ' who was hkewise an actor, who died in Philadelphia in 1875. ..." Finally an account deserves to be reprinted here in part, because it mentioned the person who set Key's poem in type, though otherwise the lines quoted are not overly accurate, as the reader of the Taney letter wiU notice. It appeared in the Baltimore American on Sep- tember 12, 1872, together with a facsimile of the article, etc., of September 21, 1814, and reads in part: We have placed at the head of this article this now immortal national song just as it first saw the light in print fifty-eight years ago . . . This song, aa the The Star-Spangled Banner. 15 form in which it is given shows, was published anonymously. The poet, Fran- cis Scott Key, was too modest to announce himself, and it was some time after its appearance that he became known as its author . . . Mr. Skinner chanced to meet Mr. Key on the flag-of-truce boat; obtained from him a copy of his song, and he furnished the manuscript to "The American " after the fight was over. It was at once put in type and published. It was also printed in slips and extensively circulated. The "printer's boy," then employed in the office of "The Ameri- can," who put this song in type, survives in full vigor, our respected friend, the editor and publisher of the "American Farmer," Samuel Sands, Esq. That to Ferd inand Durang belongs the honor of having first sung Key's poem is unanimously asserted (except by those who confuse... him with his brother Charles), but it remains an open question when and where he might so have done. On this point, the two earwit- nesses, Charles Durang and Mr. Hendon, disagree. According to the reminiscences of the latter, the event must have happened at least three months after September 14 in camp on Gallows Hill near Balti- more. Now, it has already been mentioned that the brief account of the circumstances leading to the writing of Key's poem printed in the Baltimore American on September 21, preceded the full text of the poem under the heading "Defence of Fort M'Henry" with the remark "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven." It may be that Mr. Hendon heard Ferdinand Durang sing the hymn in camp after September 21, but it stands to reason that at least as early as September 21 other vocally inclined readers of the Baltimore American enjoyed the com- bination of Key's "Defence of Fort M'Henry," and the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven." If we possessed no other contemporary evidence, Ferdinand Durang's claims would rest upon very shaky grounds indeed, nor is the rest of Mr. Hendon's story at all of a nature as to inspire reliance upon his memory. Mr. Elson in his "National Music of America" (p. 202) bluntly expressed his suspicion to the effect that "never was a bolder or more fantastical claim set up in musical history," and every musician will agree with him that the "puckered lips" and the frantic hunt for a suitable tune in a volume of flute music is sheer journalistic nonsense, which verdict applies also to the Philadelphia Ledger account. And his hunt for a melody happened three months after the tune, to which the words were to keep com- pany, had been publicly announced! The suspicious character of Mr. Hendon's long-distance reminis- cences leaves those of Charles Durang to stand on their own merits, but unfortunately they do not help us in fixing the exact date of the first performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Charles Durang merely remembered having been one of the chorus when his brother Ferdinand and about twenty volunteer soldiers who used to con- gregate at the adjoining tavern in the morning first sang the song after Ben. Edes brought it round to them on one of those libating 16 The Star-Spangled Banner. mornings. This may have been the morniag of September 15, when Samuel Sands, the apprentice, is popularly supposed to have set the poem as a broadside, or any other morning, including a morning after September 21, when the poem had appeared with indication of the tune in the Baltimore American. Nor is Colonel Warner's account, who perhaps was a descendant of Capt. Thomas Warner, which pos- sibility would give his account the strength of a family tradition, more exphcit on this point. At this tavern, it being a southern Sep- tember morning, may mean practically the same as in Charles Durang's version, in front of the adjoining Holliday Street Theater. There Captain Edes, in company of Capt. Thomas Warner, is said to have called the attention of the group of volunteers "to a patriotic song which [he] had just struck off at his press." Consequently, neither Durang nor Warner substantiate the popular version that Ferdinand Durang sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the first time on September 15, 1814. Nor do they even substantiate the universally accepted theory that the broadside was struck off Edes's press on September 15! Indeed, not even Key-Taney's report: "Judge Nicholson . . . immediately sent it [the manuscript] to a printer, and directed copies to be struck off in hand-bill form," necessarily implies the conclusion that they were struck off on the morning of September 15. At any rate, the story that Key's poem was taken to a printer, set as a broadside, distributed about town, read, discussed, sung with great gusto, etc., and all this on the morning of September 15, 1814, belongs to the realm of unwholesome fiction! On the evening of September 15 "The Star-Spangled Banner," says Mr. F. S. Key Smith, was "rendered upon the stage of the Holliday Street Theater by an actress." Also Ferdinand Durang is mentioned in this coimection by some writers, and others proffer other names. What are the facts ? In the first place, the suspicions of the historians should have been aroused by the observation that the actor- manager. Wood, in his autobiography does not mention any theatrical performances at Baltimore in September, 1814. In the second place, if they had consulted the Baltimore papers of that period, such as the Federal Gazette, Baltimore Patriot, Baltimore American — none of which was pubHshed, by the way, by Benjamin Edes! — they would have found no theatrical performances announced in September, 1814, at all, but they would have found a notice in the Federal Gazette, September 20, to the effect that "about 600 Pennsylvania troops arrived yesterday," among them a Lancaster company, apparently the very miHtia troops to which Ferdinand Durang belonged. Not only this, the historians would further have found from the same source that the theater was not opened until October 12, 181^. No reference to "The Star-Spangled Banner" appears in the announce- ments of this evening or of the benefit performance on October 14 The Star-Spangled Banner. 17 "to aid the fund for the defence of the city," unless hidden away on the benefit program as "a patriotic epilogue by Mrs. Mason." On this evening Ferdinand Durang did appear — dancing a " mihtary horn- pipe." With a httle patience the historians at last would have found in the announcement of the historical play "Count Benyowski" for Wednesday evening, October 19, 1814 (in the Baltimore American appears October 15 as a misprint), the folloAving lines, which at last shed the Hght of fact on the whole matter : After the play, Mr. Harding [the Federal Gazette spells the name Hardinge] will sing a much admired New Song, written by a gentleman of Maryland, in commemoration of the gallant Defence op Pokt M'Heney, called, The Star Spangled Banner. . . . The rather immaterial question of whether or not and when and where Ferdinand Durang possibly sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the first time leads up to the much more important question: How came the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," and no other, to be wedded to Key's poem? Chief Justice Taney, as anybody can see and as all should have seen before rusliing into print with their stories, is absolutely silent on this point. So is Charles Durang. Colonel Warner says : The old air of Anacreon in Heaven had been adapted to it hy the author, and Mr. Edes was desired so to print it on to the top of the ballad. The most reUable reports, therefore, do not mention Ferdinand Durang at all in this connection. He figures as musical godfather to "The Star-Spangled Baimer" in the journaKstic reports only and under rather suspicious circumstances. However, there exists another and different version. Mrs. Rebecca Lloyd Shippen, of Baltimore, a granddaughter of Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson and a greatniece of Francis Scott Key, contributed to the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1901-2, volume 25, pages 427-428, an article on "The Original Manuscript of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' " of which more will have to be said further on. In this article we read : Judge Nicholson wrote a little piece that appears at the heading of the lines, above which he also wrote the name of the tune " Anacreon in Heaven " — ^a tune which Mrs. Charles Howard, the daughter of Francis Scott Key, told me was a common one at that day — and Judge Nicholson, being a musician among his other accomplishments and something of a poet, no doubt took but a few minutes to see that the lines given him by Francis Scott Key could be sung to that tune, and, in all haste to give the lines as a song to the public, he thus marked it. I possess this rare original manuscript, kept carefully folded by his wife, Rebecca Lloyd Nicholson, and taken from her private papers by myself [Mrs. Shippen] and framed. Judge Nicholson's part in the history of "The Star-Spangled Ban- ner" was narrated in substantially the same manner in editorial foot- notes to an article on "The Star-Spangled Banner," copied largely from Chief Justice Taney by Mrs. Shippen, for the Pennsylvania 85480—09 2 18 The Star-Spangled Banner. Magazine of History and Biography, 1898-99, volume 22, pages 321-325. It follows that the editor was either inspired by i\Irs. Shippen or Mrs. Shippen by the editor. Careful reading of this par- ticular part of the article imphes that we have to deal here with a personal opinion, not with contemporary evidence, or even with a family tradition. Waiving aside for the present some doubts as to the accuracy of the story as quoted above, the main contention appears to be that Judge Nicholson suppHed the tune. light is shed on the whole matter if the history of the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" in England and America is briefly summarized. For a long time the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven" was attrib- uted, if attributed to any composer at all, to Dr. Samuel Arnold (1740-1802). Of this opinion were J. C. (in Baltimore Clipper, 1841), Nason (1869), SaUsbury (1872), and others. The general inabihty to substantiate this rumor finally led to one of the most grotesquely absurd articles in musical hterature, namely that in the American Art Journal, 1896 (v. 68, pp. 194-195), by J. Fairfax McLaughhn, under the title "The Star-Spangled Banner! Who Composed the Music for It. It is American, not English." The Musical Times, of London, 1896 (pp. 516-519), iromediately challenged Mr. McLaugh- lin's statements and elaborately buried his patriotic aspirations, though this service could have been rendered him just as neatly by a reference to Mr. WiUiam ChappeU's article "The Star-Spangled Ban- ner and To Anacreon in Heaven" in Notes and Queries, 1873, fourth series, volume 11, pages 50-51, or to the footnote on page 6 of Mr. Stephen SaHsbury's "Essay on The Star-Spangled Banner," 1873, where the contents of a pertinent letter from Mr. William Chappell were made public. In the following pages a combination is attempted of the data, so far as I could verify them in the articles by Chappell and X in the Musical Times with the data in Grove's Dictionary and elsewhere, adding to or deducting from this information the results of a corre- spondence with such esteemed British authors as Mr. Frank Kidson, Mr. William Barclay Squire, and Mr. W. H. Grattan Flood. In his "Musical Memoirs" (1830, Vol. I, pp. 80-84) W. T. Parke entered under the year 1786 these entertaining lines: This season I became an honorary member of the Anacreontic Society, and at the first meeting played a concerto on the oboe, as did Cramer on the violin. The assemblage of subscribers was as usual very numerous, amongst whom were sev- eral noblemen and gentlemen of the first distinction. Sir Richard Hankey (the banker) was the chairman. This fashionable society consisted of a limited number of members, each of whom had the privilege of introducing a friend, for which he paid in his subscription accordingly. The meetings were held in the great ball-room of the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, once a fortnight during the season, and the entertainments of the evening consisted of a grand concert, in which all the flower of the musical profession assisted as honorary members. After the concert an elegant supper was served up; and when the The Star-Spangled Banner. 19 cloth was removed, the constitutional song, beginning, "To Anacreon in Heaven," was sung by the chairman or his deputy. This was followed by songs in all the varied styles, by theatrical singers and the members, and catches and glees were given by some of the first vocalists in the kingdom. The late chairman, Mr. Mulso, possessed a good tenor voice, and sang the song alluded to with great effect ... This society, to become members of which noblemen and gentlemen would wait a year for a vacancy, was by an act of gallantry brought to a premature dis- solution. The Duchess of Devonshire, the great leader of the haut ton, having heard the Anacreontic highly extolled, expressed a particular wish to some of its members to be permitted to be privately present to hear the concert, &c., which being made known to the directors, they caused the elevated orchestra occupied by the musicians at balls to be fitted up, with a lattice affixed to the front of it, for the accommodation of her grace and party, so that they could see, without being seen; but, some of the comic songs, not being exactly calculated for the entertainment of ladies, the singers were restrained; which displeasing many of the members, they resigned one after another; and a general meeting being called, the society was dissolved. Misreading slightly Mr. Parke's reminiscences, C. M. in Grove's Dictionary claimed that Parke wrote of the dissolution of the club in 1786, which he, of course, did not do. Nor would the year 1786 be tenable, since Pohl in his scholarly book on "Mozart and Haydn in London," 1867 (v. 2, p. 107), gleaned from the Gazetteer of Jan- uary 14, 1791, that Haydn was the guest of honor at the society's concert on January 12. Nor is Mr. Grattan Flood correct if he, in some "Notes on the Origin of 'To Anacreon in Heaven,' " sent me in June, 1908, dates the dissolution of the society 1796. (While fully appreciating the courtesy of Mr. W. H. Grattan Flood in transmitting these notes, I regret the inadvis ability of using them, except in con- nection with other sources, because these notes are singularly at variance with the contents of several letters sent me by Mr. Grattan Flood on the same subject, and because these notes contain certain positive statements without reference to source which it would be unmethodical to accept unreservedly.) The "Musical Directory for the Year 1794" in the "List of various musical societies" states dis- tinctly: "The Anacreontic Society which met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, the festivities of which were heightened by a very Select Band." Consequently the society no longer existed in 1794. This is not at all contradicted by the entry under Dr. Samuel Arnold "Conductor at Acad[emy of Ancient Music], Ana- [creontic Society]," because the title-page distinctly reads "musical societies of which they [the professors of music] are or have been, members." (To avoid confusion it may be here added that "To Anacreon in Heaven" is not contained in the "Anacreontic Songs for 1, 2, 3, & 4 voices composed and selected by Dr. Arnold and dedi- cated by permission to the Anacreontic Society," London, J. Bland, 1785.) 20 The Star-Spangled Banner. If it is now clear that the Anacreontic Society must have been dis- solved between 1791 and 1794, the year of its foundation is not equally clear, and therefore it is a somewhat open question since when "To Anacreon in Heaven" can have been sung as the "consti- tutional" song of this society. Mr. Grattan Flood writes in his "Notes" mentioned above: The words and music of "To Anacreon" were published by Longman and Broderip in 1779-1780, and were reprinted by Anne Lee of Dublin (?1780) in 1781. Dr. Cummings says that he saw a copy printed by Henry Fought — at least it ia made up with single sheet songs printed by Fought — but this is scarcely likely, as Fought did not print after 1770, and the song and music were not in existence till 1770-71 . . . Mr. William Barclay Squire in a letter dated September 21, 1908, refers to the dates of these two publications, which contain both the words and the music, in the guarded sentence, "Both are about 1780, but it is quite impossible to tell the exact dates." The Longman & Broderip edition is the one the title of which Mr. William Chappell transcribed for Notes and Queries, 1873 : The Anacreontic Song, as sung at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, the words by Ralph Tomlinson, Esq. late President of that Society. Printed by Longman and Broderip, No. 26 Cheapside, and No. 13 Heymarket. With reference to Dr. William Cummings's statement that he saw a copy printed by Fought, I have not found any such statement by Doctor Cummings in print. Apparently Mr. Grattan Flood reported part of a conversation with the distinguished English scholar, but in reply to a pertinent inquiry Doctor Cummings sent, under date of November 7, 1908, this brief note: I had a copy of Smith's "To Anacreon " pub.[lished] in 1771. I showed it at a public lecture, but cannot now find it. I have two copies of a little later date. The first named was a single sheet song. Doctor Cummings evidently was not willing to commit his memory under the circumstances on the point of imprint, nor does he make it clear whether or no Smith's name appeared on the sheet song as that of the composer. Assuming that Doctor Cummings had every solid reason to date this, the earliest known issue, of "To Anacreon," 1771, it follows that words and music must have been written at the latest in 1771 and at the earliest in the year of foundation of the "Anacreon- tic Society," which is unfortunately unknown. In 1786, according to Parke, the chairman of the society was Sir Richard Hankey, whose immediate predecessor seems to have been Mr. Mulso. About 1780 Ealph Tomlinson, esq., appears in the Long- man & Broderip edition, as the "late President of the Society," and no other gentleman has yet been found to have preceded him in the chair. However, such biographical data are irrelevant for the present purpose, and attention might now profitably be called to "The Vocal The Star-Spangled Banner. 21 Magazine; or, British Songster's Miscellany" (London, 1778), in which are published on pages 147-148 as Song 566, without indica- tion of the tune, as is the case with all the songs in the collection, the words of, ANACREONTIC SOCIETY. Written by Ralph Tomlinson, Esq. To Anacreon, in Heav'n, where he sat in full glee, A few sons of harmony sent a petition, That he their inspirer and patron would be; When this answer arriv'd from the jolly old Grecian — Voice, fiddle, and flute. No longer be mute; I'll lend ye my name, and inspire ye to boot: And, besides, I'll instruct ye, like me, to intwine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. The news through Olympus immediately flew; When old Thunder pretended to give himself airs — If these mortals are suffer' d their scheme to pursue, The devil a goddess will stay above stairs. Hark! aheady they cry. In transports of joy, A fig for Parnassus! to Rowley's we'll fly; And there, my good fellows, we'll learn to intwine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. The yellow-hair'd god, and his nine fusty maids, To the hill of old Lud will incontinent flee, Idalia will boast but of tenantless shades. And the biforked hill a mere desert will be. My thunder, no fear on't. Will soon do its errand. And, dam'me! I'll swinge the ringleaders, I warrant. I'll trim the young dogs, for thus daring to twine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. Apollo rose up; and said, Pr'ythee ne'er quarrel. Good king of the gods, with my vot'ries below! Your thunder is useless — then, shewing his laurel, Cry'd, Sic evitabilefulmen, you know! Then over each head My laurels I'll spread; So my sons from your crackers no mischief shall dread. Whilst snug in their club-room, they jovially twine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. Next Momus got up, with his risible phiz. And swore with Apollo he'd chearfully join — The full tide of harmony still shall be his. But the song, and the catch, and the laugh shall be mine: Then, Jove, be not jealous Of these honest fellows. Cry'd Jove, We relent, since the truth you now tell us; And swear, by Old Styx, that they long shall intwine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. Ye sons of Anacreon, then, join hand in hand; Preserve unanimity, friendship, and love. 'Tis your's to support what's so happily plan'd; You've the sanction of gods, and the fiat of Jove. While thus we agree. Our toast let it be. May our club flourish happy, united, and freel And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine. 22 The Star-Spangled Banner. About two years later, as has been stated above, Longman & Broderip, of London, and Anne Lee, of Dublin, published " To Anacreon in Heaven" as sheet song with music. It further appeared as Song CLXVII on pages 336-337 of "The Vocal Enchantress," London, J. Fielding [1783], and this being the earliest version of Tomlinson's words with their music in the Library of Congress, it is here reproduced in photographic facsimile. {See Appendix, Plate I.) The song received increased publicity as Song IV (p. 4) in "Calliope; or, the Musical Miscellany," London (C. Elliot and T. Kay), 1788, as Song I (pp. 1-4) "Sung by Mr. Bannister at the Anacreontic Society" in the "Edin- burgh Musical Miscellany," 1792, and as Song LXXXVII in the first volume of Stewart's "Vocal Magazine," Edinburgh, 1797. In 1796 (Grattan Flood; Mr. Kidson prefers ca. 17 95) Smollet Hoi den, of Dublin, made a curious use of the tune by including a "Masonic Ode, song and chorus, written by Mr. Coimel, on behalf of the Masonic Orphan School," to the Anacreontic tune in his A Selection of Masonic Songs. A second edition bears the imprint "Dublin, A. L. 5802" (A. D. 1802), and Mr. Elson inserted a photographic facsimile of this Masonic Ode (first words: "To old Hiram, in Heav'n where he sat in full glee") from his copy of the second edition in his book on The National Music of America. The inference to be drawn from the insertion of "To Anacreon in Heaven" in the quoted collections, not to mention many later col- lections, is plain. As those collections were among the most impor- tant and most popular of the time, "To Anacreon in Heaven" must have been familiar to all convivial souls in the British Isles toward 1800. Now it is a fact that with the possible exception of that mys- terious sheet song of 1771, not one of these publications alludes to the composer of the tune. It was not the rule to do so in miscel- laneous collections, yet it is a curious fact that, while contrary to custom, Stewart's Vocal Magazine, 1797, mentions in a separate index the composers of many of the airs, it leaves "To Anacreon in Heaven" without a composer. Possibly the editor doubted the now generally accepted authorship of John Stafford Smith, or he was still unaware of the peculiar form of entry (mentioned by Wm. Chappell as early as 1873!) of "To Anacreon in Heaven" in: The fifth book of canzonets, catches, canons & glees, sprightly and plaintive with a part for the piano-forte subjoined where necessary to melodize the score; dedicated by permission to Viscount Dudley and Ward, by John Stafford Smith, Gent, of His Majesty's Chapels Royal, author of the favorite glees, Blest pair of Syrens, Hark the hollow woods, etc. The Anacreontic, and other popular songs. Printed for the author. . . . This collection was published between 1780 and 1790, the exact date being unknown. "To Anacreon in Heaven" appears on page The Star-Spangled Banner. 23 33, as reproduced here in facsimile. (Appendix, Plate II.) The words "harmonized by the author" may ofcourse mean harmonized by the author of the collection and do not necessarily mean harmonized by the author of the air, but these words, together with the fact that the collection contains none but Smith's own glees, etc., and the wording of the title renders it probable that Smith refers to himself as the composer of the music. But why the words " Jiarmonized by the author?" If one looks at the song in its garb as a glee, the bass starting out full of confidence, and the other Toices continuing the melody and juggling with it, one is almost apt to see in this peculiar cooperation of the high and low male voices a plausible explanation of the notoriously wide range of "The Star-Spangled Banner," if sung by one voice. This explanation is possible only if the form of "To Anacreon in Heaven" in Smith's Fifth Book was the original form. That we do not know, yet the word "harmonized" renders it improbable. Furthermore, if that was the original form of the piece, then some very radical melodic changes must have taken place in the melody shortly afterwards, as a comparison of the two facsimiles will show. Probably Smith composed it, if he really did compose the tune, as a song for one voice, and in "harmonizing" it for several and different voices he felt obliged to wander away from the original. Of course, if the supposed 1771 sheet song was a sheet song for one voice, and if it contained Smith's name as composer, then all doubt as to original form and to the composer vanishes. We would still have a very simple explanation for the extensive range of the tune. Such a wide range was then (and still is, for that mat- ter) considered the sine qua non of effective drinking songs. Two fine examples "Ajiacreon a poet of excellent skill" and "Ye mortals whom trouble & sorrow attend" may be found in the "Anacreontic Songs" of the very conductor of the Anacreontic Society, namely, Doctor Arnold, and after all, it should not be forgotten that John Stafford Smith could not possibly foresee that his anacreontic master- piece would some day have to be sung by old and young of an entire nation.'' o John Stafford Smith was born 1750 at Gloucester and he died at London September 3, 1836. His principal teacher was Doctor Boyce. He became an " able organist, an efficient tenor singer, an excellent composer, and an accomplished antiquary. ' ' From 1773 on he won many prices of the Catch Club for catches, glees, etc. , and his five books of glees contain, in the words of Grove, " compositions which place him in the foremost rank of English composers." His famous "Musica Antiqua" appeared in 1812, con- taining a selection of music "from the 12th to the beginning of the 18th century," for which simple reason it would be futile to look for "To Anacreon in Heaven" in Musica Antiqua. 24 The Star-Spangled Banner. Tracing the American history of the air, or rather the history of its use in America, one runs across these statements in Mr. Sahsbury's "Essay on 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" 1873, page 7: I do not discover that it was a favorite when Robert Treat Paine, Jr. used its measure in his spirited song entitled "Adams and Liberty" [1798] p. 9: After sixteen years, in which the tune of the Anacreontic song was seldom heard in this country or in Europe, it was applied to the pathetic verses of Mr. Key. The second of these statements is nonsensical, the first at least improbable, because it is now known that the musical intercourse between England and America was too lively in those days to have permitted such a well-known air as "To Anacreon in Heaven," pub- lished in the most popular collections, to have remained barred from our shores. The chances are entirely in favor of the possibility that the song had its votaries here in the seventies, the more so as Parke states Sir Richard Hankey, later on president of the Anacreontic Society, to have served in the British army during our war for inde- pendence. Nor would it be at all reasonable to assume that the "Columbian Anacreontic Society" founded in imitation of the Lon- don Society in 1795 at New York, the moving spirit of which was for years the great actor-vocalist and bon-vivant John Hodgkinson, should not have helped to spread a familiarity with "To Anacreon in Heaven. " Indeed, at least one performance of it in public is reason- ably certain, namely, when the "Anacreontic Song" was sung by Mr. J. West at a concert at Savannah, Ga., August 19, 1796. However, Mr. Salisbury himself assists in xmdermining his theory that "To Anacreon in Heaven" was little known in America before it was apphed to Key's "pathetic verses." On page 5 of his essay he writes of having seen it in his copy of "The Vocal Companion, published in Philadelphia, by Matthew Carey in 1796." It matters little that no copy of such a collection is preserved at the Library of Congress, Bos- ton Public, New York Public, Brown University, Philadelphia Library Company, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Princeton Uni- versity, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester; Mr. SaHsbury must have seen it in a copy of some collection in his possession. Then he mentions Robert Treat (scil. Thomas) Paine's spirited "Adams and Liberty" ("Ye Sons of Columbia who bravely have fought") written for and sung to the time of "To Anacreon in Heaven" at the anniversary of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society in Boston on June 1, 1798. A photographic facsimile of this famous song is The Star-Spangled Banner. 25 given here as it was published in the very popular "American Musical Miscellany" of 1798. (Appendix, Plate III.) Mr. Salisbury further mentions Paine's song "Spain" set to the same tune for a Boston fes- tival in honor of the Spanish patriots, January 24, 1809.. He also mentions (in footnote, p. 10) a "patriotic offshot" of the Anacreontic song, "perhaps as good as any other commonly known before 1814" [!] which appeared in The New York Remembrancer, Albany, 1802, with the first line "To the Gods who preside o'er the nation below," attributed by the Boston Daily Advertiser, May 1, 1873, to Jonathan Mitchell Sewall, of Portsmouth, N. H. To these four instances of the use of "To Anacreon in Heaven" may be added these in the following collections : 1797. Columbian Songster, New York, p. 136. Song: For the glorious Four- teenth of July. ( " The Genius of France from his star begem 'd throne. ") 1799. Columbian Songster, Wrentham, Mass. Song. 32: Union of the gods. 1799. A Collection of Songs selected from the works of Mr. Charles Dibdin, to which are added the newest and most favorite American Patriotic Songs, Philadelphia, p. 315. Boston Patriotic Song [Adams and Liberty]. p. 326. Our Country's efficiency ("Ye sons of Columbia, determined to keep"). 1800. American Songster, Baltimore: p. 9. " To Columbia, who gladly reclin'd at her ease . . . p. 13. "Ye Sons of Columbia, unite in the cause." No tunes are indicated for these two, but the metre plainly suggests "To Anacreon in Heav'n." p. 233. To Anacreon in Heav'n. 1802. Vocal companion, Boston. Song XVI. By J. F. Stanfield, Sunderland. (" Not the fictions of Greece, nor the dreams of old Rome.") 1803. The American Republican Harmonist: p. 4. " New Song sung at the celebration of the 4th of July, at Sara- toga and Waterford, N. Y. By William Foster" (Brave sons of Columbia, your triumph behold). p. 30. Jefferson and Liberty. ("Ye sons of Columbia, who cherish the prize." Text merely altered from Adams and Liberty). p. 105. Song [for the fourth of July, 1803] (" In years which are past, when America fought). p. 111. Song. Sung on the 4th of March, at an entertainment given by the American Consul at London. ("Well met, fellow freemen! lets cheerfully greet.") p. 126. Song for the anniversary festival of the Tammany Society, May 12, 1803. Written by Brother D. E. 1804. ' Nightingale, ' selected by Samuel Larkin, Portsmouth. p. 69. Adams and Liberty. p. 188. To Anacreon in Heaven. 26 The Star-Spangled Banner. 1804. Baltimore Musical Miscellany. V. 1, p. 26. Anacreon in Heaven (given in Appendix in facsimile, PI. IV). p. 29. "When Bibo went down to the regions below." p. 121. Sons of Columbia [Adams and Liberty]. V. 2, p. 158. The Social Club. 1811. Musical Repository, Augusta. p. 22. Young Bibo. ("For worms when old Bibo prov'd delicate fun.") p. 140. Adams and Liberty [without indication of the tune]. p. 207. Union of the Gods. (" To Columbia, who gladly clined at her ease.") 1813. James J. Wilson, National Song Book, Trenton. p. 43. "For the Fourth of July" ("Columbians arise! let the cannon resound.") p. 66. "Embargo and Peace" ("When our sky was illuminated by freedom's bright dawn.") p. 68. "Union and Liberty." ("Hark! The Trumpet of war from the East sounds alarm.") p. 70. "Freedom." ("Of the victory won over tyrany's power.") p. 87. "The Fourth of July." ("O'er the forest crowned hills, the rich valUes and streams.") p. 88. "Jefferson's Election." Sung by the Americans in London, March 4, 1802. "Well met, fellow freemen! Let's cheer- fully greet.") This is not iatended as an exhaustive attempt to trace the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" in early American song collections, but merely to prove and to corroborate by facts that "the tune was a common one at that day," as Key's own daughter, Mrs. Howard, told Mrs. Shippen. We have some further contemporary evidence in this communica- tion sent by Mr. Charles V. Hagner to the American Historical Record, 1873, volume 2, page 129: At the time it was written by Mr. Key, during the attack on Fort McHenry, Sept., 1814, there was a very popular and fashionable new song in vogue, viz: "To Anacreon in Heaven," every one who could sing seemed to be singing it. The writer of this was at the time, (Sept. 1814) one of some three to four thou- sand men composing the advance Light Brigade, chiefly volunteers from Phila- delphia, under the command of General John Cadwalader, then encamped in the state of Delaware. In the evenings before tattoo, many of the men would assemble in squads and sing this song, hundreds joining in the chorus. Mr. Key must have caught the infection and adapted his words to the same air. Francis Scott Key simply can not have escaped "To Anacreon in Heaven" ! Indeed so common was the tune that, after Thomas Paine had set the example with his ' 'Adams and Liberty," the music and the rather involved form and meter of "To Anacreon in Heaven" were adopted as standards by poetically inclined patriots. This historical fact applies with all its force to Francis Scott Key. The form and The Star-Spangled Banner. 27 meter of "To Anacreon in Heaven," "Adams and Liberty," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" are practically the same, as the juxta- position of the j&rst stanza will prove, if such proof be necessary. TO ANAOEEON IN HEAVEN. To Anacreon in heaven, where he sat in full glee, A few sons of Harmony sent a petition. That he their inspirer and patron would be, When this answer arrived from the jolly old Grecian: "Voice, fiddle, and flute, "No longer be mute, "I'll lend ye my name, and inspire ye to boot: "And besides, I'll instruct you, like me, to entwine "The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine." THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER. say, can you see by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming! And the rocket's red glare, The bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? It is absurd to think that any poetically inclined patriot of those days like Key could have on the spur of the moment set himself to writing a poem of such involved meter and peculiar form as his is without using consciously or unconsciously a model. It is equally absurd under the circumstances to believe any story, tradition, or anecdote from whatever source to the effect that others, with more or less difficulty, suppHed a tune which fits the words almost more smoothly than does John Stafford Smith's air the Anacreontic text of Kalph Tomlinson. Internal evidence proves that Francis Scott Key, when his imagination took fire from the bombardment of Fort McHenry, had either the meter and form of the words or words and air of "To Anacreon in Heaven" or one of its American offshoots in mind as a scaffold. If this be now taken for granted, two possibilities offer themselves : First, Key wrote his inspired lines as a poem with- out anticipating its musical use. When shortly afterwards a desire was felt to sing his poem, the identity of poetic meter and form of both poems necessarily, and, as it were, automatically, suggested to Key himself or any other person of culture the air of "To Anacreon in Heaven." The second possibility is that Key did anticipate the musical possibiHties of his poem and intended it as a song to be sung. In that case the fact, as will be seen, that neither his so-called original manuscript nor the broadside contain any indication of the tune 28 The Star-Spangled Banner. may be explained by assuming that Key, very much hke the editor of the American Songster, Baltimore (1800), considered it unneces- sary to mention what was self-evident to him as the author. The first possibility is really more plausible, but at any rate Colonel Warner's statement that "The old air of 'Anacreon in Heaven' had been adapted to it [the poem] by the author" seems to come nearest the truth, though if a very fine distinction were to be made we should rather say that the poem was adapted by the author to the air, or at least to its poetic mate. One of the popular legends is that Key's poem with its music spread like wildfire beyond Baltimore, and in a short time became a national song. The popular mind seems to consider it a blemish, a reflection on the intrinsic merits of a song (or any other work of art) if it does not obtain immediate popularity, and writers who cater to the tastes and prejudices of the multitude do not hesitate to amputate the facts accordingly. "The Star-Spangled Banner" rather gains than loses in merit if the silly anecdotes of its wildfire progress are not heeded, and if we adhere to what is still common knowledge among the older generations, namely, that "The Star- Spangled Banner" was not rushed to the front of our national songs until the civil war. Before that time its progress as a national song had been steady, but comparatively slow, as anybody may see who follows its career through the American song collections. This statement in nowise interferes with the fact that Francis Scott Key put it too modestly if he "believed it to have been favorably received by the Baltimore public." It would be quite possible to trace with infinite patience the progress of "The Star-Spangled Banner" through the American song collections, but this report hardly calls for such a laborious undertaking. However, to illustrate the point raised above, one would find that "The Star-Spangled Banner" appears in such songsters as "The American Songster, New York," n. d.; "New American Songster, Philadelphia, 1817;" "Bird of Birds, New York, 1818;" "The Star-Spangled Banner, Wihnington, 1816;" "The Songster's Magazine, New York, 1820;" "American Naval and Patriotic Songster, Baltimore, 1831;" but not in such as "The Songster's Companion, Brattleborough, Vt., 1815;" "The Songster's Miscellany, Philadelphia, 1817;" "The Songster's Museum, Hartford, 1826." In other words, twenty years after its conception Key's "Star-Spangled Banner" was not yet so generally accepted as a national song as to necessitate insertion in every songster. Key's poem was accessible to the public as a broadside possibly as early as September 15, 1814. Here must be quoted what Admiral Preble said on page 725 of the second edition of his "History of our Flag:" The Star-Spangled Banner. 29 The Song on this broadside was enclosed in an elliptical border composed of the common type ornament of the day. Around that border, and a little distance from it, on a line of the same are the words, "Bombardment of Fort McHenry." The letters of these words are wide apart, and each one surrounded by a circle of stars. Below the song and within the ellipsis, are the words "Written by Francis S. Key, of Georgetown, D. C." This description applies to the "Fac-simile of broadside as the song first appeared in print," contained in L. H. Dielman's pamphlet "The Seventh Star," published at Baltimore by the board of public works for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904. However, it may be pointed out by way of correction that merely the initial "F" and not the full name of Francis is printed, that we read M'Henry, not McHenry, that a rather pretty and effective ornamental outer border follows the shape of the broadside, and that the four corners contain additional ornamental designs. What arouses the curiosity of the historian most is that Key's authorship is not withheld, that Admiral Preble does not mention this fact at all, that the title of the poem here is ' ' The Star-Spangled Banner ' ' and that no tune is indicated. If Preble's description tallies with a broadside as facsimiled by Dielman, it absolutely differs from "one of those first printed handbills" which, so Mrs. Shippen stated in her article, first was in possession of her grandfather. Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson, then of his wife, after that in Mrs. Shippen' s possession, and recently was acquired together with a Star-Spangled Banner autograph by Mr. Henry Walters, of Baltimore. The latter courteously granted permission to examine these treasures, and I found that his broadside (about 6^ by 5^ inches) is without any ornamental design whatsoever, does not mention Key's name at all, and does not bear any title except "De- fence of Fort M'Henry." This is followed by the same historical note as appeared in the Baltimore American of September 21, 1814, then by the indication "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven," and lastly by practically the same text of the poem as it appears in the Judge Nicholson-Widow Nicholson-Mrs. Shippen-Mr. Walters autograph. The only differences, apart from the differences in interpunctuation, etc., are these: (1) In the first stanza was printed the "Bombs" instead of the bomb. (2) In the second stanza the misprint "reflected new shines" instead of "reflected now shines." (3) In the broadside capital letters frequently appear where they are not found in the autograph, f. i. "The Rocket's," "Land of the Free," "Home of the Brave." On the other hand, the autograph has "Country" whereas this broadside has "country." Here then are two broadsides, both of which are claimed to have belonged to that edition set up on the morning of September 15, 30 The Star-Spangled Banner. 1814. We are not permitted to accept Mrs. Shippen's claims for her broadside offhand, since her account is clearly a mixture of family- tradition, personal opinion, and sediment from reading on the subject. The broadsides, to be authentic, must stand the test of analytical criticism, and if one, by this process, is eliminated then all reason- able scepticism will vanish from the other. The three observations called forth by the broadside championed by Preble and Dielman are curious indeed in view of the fact that the Baltimore American, when publishing Key's poem on September 21, 1814, preceded by a brief historical note, did not print the title "The Star-Spangled Banner," but instead "Defence of Fort McHenry," did not mention Key by name at all, but added: "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven." Key's poem — and this is a fact hitherto rarely, if ever, pointed out — made its first appearance in an American songster in the very rare "National Songster, or, a collection of the most admired patriotic songs, on the brilliant victories achieved by the naval and military-heroes . . . First Hagerstown edition," Hagerstown [Md.], John Gruber and Daniel May, 181^ on p. 30-31 under the title of "defence of fort m'henry. Tune: Anacreon in Heaven. Wrote by an American Gentleman [!], who was compelled to witness the bom- bardmentof FortM'Henry, onboard of aflag vessel atthe mouth of the Patapsco." Evidently the compiler of the National Songster clipped Key's poem from the Baltimore American and did not use a copy of this broadside. If, as Mrs. Shippen insists (Pa. Mag. of Hist., 1901-2, pp. 427-428) her grandfather's broadside was "One of those first printed hand- bills," why was Key's name suppressed in the Baltimore American's account after Judge Nicholson had permitted it to go on the handbill which he himself had ordered at the printing office? One might suspect that in view of the vindicative nature of the British it was deemed safer for Mr. Key to suppress the name of the author of " Their foul footsteps' pollution" in a paper of fairly healthy circulation, but this explanation is not plausible, because the historical note in the Baltimore American could have left no doubt of the offender's identity in the minds of British officers should they have been in a position to catch Key. Possibly Key's modesty would not permit disclosure of his authorship, but what could his modesty avail him, if the broadside with his name had already been favorably received by the public of Baltimore? And not merely this, we have the words of Mrs. Shippen: Judge Nicholson wrote a little piece that appears at the heading of the lines, above which he also wrote the "name of the tune Anacreon in Heaven." The Star-Spangled Banner. 31 Obviously this action of Judge Nicholson can not apply to the broadside which contains "no little piece" nor indication of the tune, but it does apply to the account in the Baltimore American. Hence it would have been Judge Nicholson himself who withheld Key's name from the newspapers after he had given it to the public in a broadside. Furthermore, the Baltimore American account was bodily reprinted in the National Intelligencer September 27, 1814, under the same title "Defence of Fort M'Henry," and at the bottom of the anonymous poem appears the editorial note : " Whoever is the author of those lines they do equal honor to his principles and his talent!" Consequently, not even the editor of a paper printed at Washington, D. C, prac- tically Key's home, knew of his authorship as late as September 27. Indeed, the anonymous "gentleman" figures in the Baltimore American at least as late as October 19, 1814. There is another suspicious circumstance. It should have aroused surprise ere this that Samuel Sands, the apprentice, set up at a moment's notice such an elaborate ornamental handbill as described by Preble and fac- similed by Dielman. The boy must have had remarkably precocious artistic instincts indeed, and very rapid hands and eyes. But why did he refuse to follow copy; why are there several differences between his broadside and the so-called original manuscript? Thus one becomes convinced that this broadside is not and can not have been a copy of the one struck off before the publication in the Baltimore American, but a copy of a broadside published considerably after that date, when Key's authorship was no longer kept a secret, when his poem had changed — at least in print, the earliest manuscript extant has none — its title from "Defence of Fort McHenry" to "The Star- Spangled Banner," and when verbal differences in the text had com- menced to be quite frequent. The Preble-Dielman broadside thus being eliminated, only the Nicholson-Shippen-Walters broadside remains for serious consideration, and as far as I can see, it contains absolutely nothing to arouse our suspicion. In absence of proof to the contrary, it may indeed be called a copy, perhaps a unique copy, of the original broadside edition. We turn our attention to the whereabouts of the original manu- script of Key's poem. Mrs. Shippen writes in the article already quoted: Having heard several times of late that there are in existence several original copies, of the lines written on the night of September 12 [sic!], 1814 ... by- Francis Scott Key . . . and as I am the fortunate possessor of the only document that could exist of these lines — the original manuscript — I will explain how it seems possible that there could be more than one . . . [follows a partly inaccu- rate account based on Taney] ... It is the back of that old letter, unsigned, that Francis Scott Key (my great-uncle) gave to Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson 32 The Star-Spangled Banner. (my grandfather) that I possess, together with one of those first printed handbills . . . Judge Nicholson [seeing] that the lines given him by Francis Scott Key could be sung to that tune [to Anacreon in Heaven] and in all haste to give the lines as a song to the public, he thus marked it. I possess this rare original manu- script, kept carefully folded by his wife, Rebecca Lloyd Nicholson and taken from her private papers by myself and framed. . . . This is a clear-cut claim of possession of the original manuscript, and yet Mrs. Shippen herself undermines the claim by closing her interesting article thus: . . . The first piece of paper on which the lines he composed were written on the night of his arrival in Baltimore I have in my possession; the same that Mr. Key himself gave to Judge Nicholson. These statements slightly contradict each other, as a careful read- ing of Chief Justice Taney's account, on which Mrs. Shippen partly bases her claim, will prove. According to Taney, Francis Scott Key told him that — (1) He commenced it [the poem] on the deck of their vessel . . . that he had written some lines or hrief notes that would aid him in calling them to mind, upon the back of a letter which he happened to have in his pocket; and for some of the lines, as he proceeded, he was obliged to rely altogether on his memory. (2) He finished it in the boat on his way to the shore. (3) He wrote it out as it now stands, at the hotel, on the night he reached Baltimore and immediately after he arrived. (4) On the next morning he took it to Judge Nicholson. Consequently, a distinction is here made between the autograph sTcetch of the poem commenced on the cartel vessel and finished on the back of a letter in the boat before reaching Baltimore, and a written out autograph copy of the sketch. It is the latter which he took to Judge Nicholson for his critical opinion, and, of course, not the sketch on the back of the letter. In the first quotation from her article Mrs. Shippen describes this sketch ; in the second quotation, the manuscript as written out after Key's arrival at Baltimore. These two different manuscripts she confuses, not realizing the dis- tinction implied in Chief Justice Taney's narrative. Hence she considered herself Judge Nicholson's heir to the original manuscript of "The Star-Spangled Banner," whereas sJie really possessed, and Mr. Henry Walters, of Baltimore, now possesses, not the original manuscript, iut Key's first clean copy of the original manuscript, sketched and finished under such peculiar circumstances. What became of this sketch we do not know. The probabilities are that Key destroyed it after he had neatly written out his poem at the hotel. The Library of Congress is not in a position to inclose here for purpose of comparison and analysis a photographic facsimile of Key's manu- script, as now possessed by Mr. Walters, but fortunately a facsimile The Star-Spangled Banner. 33 may be found in the Century Magazine, 1894, page 362, and in Diel- man's pamphlet "Maryland, the Seventh Star." Nobody looking at these facsimiles or the original can concede that the latter has the appearance of a filled-in sketch. It is too neatly written for that, the lines are too symmetrically spaced and the whole manuscript contains practically only two corrections: In the first stanza Key wrote and then crossed out "through" instead of " hy the dawn's early light," and in the third, " They have wash'd out" instead of " Their Hood has wash'd out." The manuscript contains no signature, no title, nor indication of tune. This is mentioned particularly because Mrs. Shippen's article might convey the impression that the manu- script is " thus marked." The visible effects of folding do not point at all to the "old letter" in Key's pocket, since Mrs. Shippen's manuscript had been "kept carefully folded" by Judge Nicholson's wife. Unquestionably, the manuscript now at the Walters Gallery is the earliest extant of "The Star-Spangled Banner." In after years Key presented signed autograph copies to friends and others, but just how many such copies he made is not known. At any rate, it is not surprising that the existence of several autograph copies led to con- fusion as to the earliest, the incorrectly so-called original, copy. An attempt shall now be made to separate intelligently such copies as have come to my notice principally by way of Admiral Preble's several contradictory contributions to the subject. Charles Durang, in the Historical Magazine, 1864, pages 347-348, claimed that "the original draft, with its interlinations and amend- atory erasures, etc. was purchased by the late Gen. George Keim, of Heading, and I suppose his heirs have it now." Without^the slightest hesitation Preble used this statement in his book "Our Flag" (1st ed., 1872, p. 495). In 1874 Preble wrote in his essay "Three Historical Flags" (New Engl. Hist, and Gen. Reg., pp. 39-40), that this particular copy was Presented by Mr. Key in 1842 to Gen. George Keim and is now in possession of his son Hemy May Keim, Esq. of Reading, Penn. ... I have a photo- graphic copy of the authograph in the possession of Mr. Keim. Retracting his former statement about the original draft, with its erasures, in a footnote on the same page, Preble states that his pho- tograph shows it to be " a fair copy, written out by Mr. Key, and I learn from Gen. Keim's son that the autograph was presented to his father by Mr. Key." A facsimile of this was made for the Baltimore Sanitary Fair in 1864, so Mr. Keim informed Admiral Preble January 8, 1874 (see New Engl. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 1877, pp. 29), but, if made, it cer- tainly was not included by Kennedy and Bhss in their "Autograph 85480—09 3 34 The Star-Spangled Banner. Leaves/' as the Library of Congress copy of this work proves. Pre- ble gave the text of the Keim copy, though not in facsimile, in his essay, "Three Historic Flags" (1874). In the second edition of his "History of Our Flag" (1880) he then informed his readers that Gen. George Keim's copy had "since [been] presented to the Penn- sylvania Historical Society by his son." This statement is somewhat puzzling, because the text of the Keim copy quoted by Preble, 1874, the dedication "To Gen. Keim," and the undated signature "F. S. Key" are identical with those of a supposed "Star-Spangled Banner" autograph in possession of Mr. Kobert A. Dobbin, of Baltimore, Md. When generously loaning this to the Library of Congress for exhi- bition purposes and granting us the privilege to reproduce it in fac- simile (see Appendix, Plate VII). Mr. Dobbin, under date of March 24, 1909, wrote: Mr. Key was an intimate friend of Gen. Keim of Pennsylvania. On account of this intimacy and as a mark of the friendship which existed between them, Mr. Key gave this copy, which I have loaned you, to General Keim. You will note that Gen. Keim's name is in Mr. Key's handwriting. Mr. Charles W. Keim, a son of General Keim, came into possession of this copy after the death of his father, and a few years before his own death presented it to my late wife, who was a granddaughter of Mr. Francis Scott Key. Mr. Dobbin apparently was not aware of the fact that he possessed a photograph, not an original autograph, the photograph even show- ing the marks of thumb tacks. Consequently, not he but the Penn- sylvania Historical Society is in the possession of the Keim copy, which, with its approximate date, 1842, is, of course, as far removed from the original draft with its erasures as is possible. It is here reproduced by permission of the society (see Appendix, Plate V). Benson John Lossing wrote in footnote (p. 956), in his Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812, first edition, 1868: The fac-simile of the original manuscript of the first stanza of the "Star Spangled Banner," given on the opposite page, was first published, by permission of its owner (Mrs. Howard) daughter of the author [Key], in "Autograph Leaves of our Country's Authors," a volume edited by John P. Kennedy and Alexander Bliss for the Baltimore Sanitary Pair, 1864. Accepting Lossing's statement, Preble in his essay, "Three Historic Flags," 1874, credited Mrs. Charles Howard, of Baltimore, with the possession of this autograph. As the facsimile in the "Autograph Leaves" shows, it bears the title "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the signature "F. S. Key," but no dedication and no date. The handwriting has not the firmness of youth, and it stands to reason that Key wrote this manuscript in late life. Admiral Preble had occasion in his essay, "The Star-Spangled Banner," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1877, pages 28-31, to correct Lossing's statement of ownership, since Mrs. Howard wrote him imder date of April 25, 1874: The Star-Spangled Banner. 35 I do not think I ever had an autograph of The Star-Spangled Banner. My father [F. S. Key] gave his children from the time they could apeak, the habit of committing poetry to memory, and in that way only haa the song been preserved to me. Except in one or two words, Mr. Keim's version, as you have it, is the one I have ever remembered. Though, therefore, Mrs. Howard disclaimed ownership of this par- ticular autograph, yet it must have existed and is, to judge by the facsimile, genuine. Another autograph of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was thus described by Preble in his book, "Our Flag," 1872: A copy of the poem in Key's own handwriting, a copy prepared many years after its composition, and evidently in the exact language intended by its author (as it was presented by him to James Mahar, who for thirty years was the gardener of the executive mansion), was a few years since, exhibited in the window of Messrs. Phillip & Solomons, on Pennsylvania avenue, Washington. The identity of the handwriting was certified to by Judge Dunlop, Nicholas Callen, Esq., Peter Force and others, all of whom were intimately acquainted with Mr. Key and perfectly familiar with his style of penmanship. In fact his style was so peculiar and uniform, that it would be almost impossible for anyone who had ever noticed it with ordinary care to be mistaken. This report Preble evidently took from a copy of the National Intelligencer, from which he further quoted "verbatim" the text of the Mahar autograph which evidently bore the title: "The Star- Spangled Banner" and the signature "For Mr. Jas. Mahar, of Wash- ington city, Washington, June 7, 1842. From F. S. Key." In his essay, "Three Historic Flags," Preble merely added that the Mahar copy was exhibited at Washington "in 1843, after Mr. Key's death." The present whereabouts of the Mahar copy is unknown to me. . Finally, in his essay, "The Star-Spangled Banner," 1877 (already quoted above), Preble remarked of a copy, dated October 21, 1840: It was first published in fac-simile in the American Historical and Literary Curi- osities (PI. LV) by John Jay Smith [Sec. Ser. N. Y. 1860, pi. 55] who stated the original was in the possession of Louis J. Cist. Preble enhvened his narrative by adding a reduced facsimile of this 1840 copy, and he again used it in the second edition of his "History of Our Flag," 1880. From there it was reproduced by ]\iiss Mary L. D. Ferris in the New England Magazine, 1890, for her article on "Our national songs " (pp. 483-504) . Another facsimile is in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, as Mr. E. M. Barton, the librarian, informed me. The American Antiquarian Society re- ceived it on October 21, 1875, from Maj. Albert H. Hoyt, then editor of the New England Historical and Genealogical Eegister. The orig- inal seems to have disappeared until offered for sale as No. 273 in Stan. V. Henkel's catalogue of the Kogers collection of autograph letters, etc., 1895. The added facsimile shows absolute identity in date. 36 The Star-Spangled Banner. signature, orthography, appearance, and every other detail with the facsimile at Worcester. To sum up, it appears that, not counting the original draft, at least five copies of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Francis Scott Key's handwriting exist, or at least existed : (1) The Judge Nicholson-Mrs. Shippen-Walters copy, 1814. (Walters.) (2) The Louis J. Cist copy, 1840. (Cist, present whereabouts unknown.) (3) ThesupposedHowardcopy, ca. 1840. (Howard.) (4) The Gen. Keim-Pennsylvania Historical Soc. copy. (Pa. Hist. Soc.) (5) The Mahar copy, 1842. (Mahar.) There may be other copies, but these five are sufficient for the pur- pose of showing the changes Francis Scott Key himself made in his poem. The different versions would, as often happens in such cases, be used by different compilers. In course of time verbal inaccuracies would creep from one song book into the other. Also the compilers themselves have sometimes felt justified in improving Key's text. The result of all this has been, of course, that gradually Key's text became imsettled. As early as 1872 Preble marked the verbal differ- ences between certain different versions, and since then surely the confusion has not decreased. Hence, Very properly, the cry for an authoritative text has been raised. What should constitute such a text, whether one of Key's own version, or a combination of them, or any later "improved" version, it is not for me to say, though I may be permitted to remark that in my opinion there is no reason for going outside.of Key's own intentions. At any rate, I do not consider it my duty to wade through endless song books in order to trace all the verbal inaccuracies and alterations of the text of "The Star-Spangled Banner."" The comparison will be extensive enough for all practical purposes if it be Hmited to Key's own five versions, to the earhest. printed versions, and to the one in his collected poems. They will be distinguished from each other, where necessary, by the words written in parenthesis. These printed texts here compared with the earhest manuscript extant are: o In this connection part of the memorandum of Dr. A. R. Spofford, November 19, 1907, is very instructive. He wrote: "A collation of this authentic copy [i. e., the Cist copy], with several widely cir- culated collections of songs, shows numerous variations and omissions: Following is a statement of a few of these, with the number of discrepancies found in each: "Nason (E). A Monogram [!] on our National Songs. Albany, 1869. (11 varia- tions from original, and one stanza omitted.) "Higgins (Edwin). The Star-Spangled Banner. Baltimore, 1898. (7 variations.) "Sousa (J. P.). National and Patriotic Airs of All Lands. Philadelphia, 1890. (14 variations, with a fifth stanza added, which was not written by Key.) "Bryant (W. C). Library of Poetry and Song. New York, 1880. (8 variations.) "Dana (CD.). Household Poetry. New York, 1859. (7 variations.) "Coates (H. T.). Fireside Encyclopoedia of Poetry. Philadelphia, 1879. (9 variations.) The Star-Spangled Banner. 37 (6) The Walters Broadside. (Broadside I.) (7) The Preble-Dielman Broadside . (Broadside II . ) (8) Baltimore American, 1814. (Baltimore American.) (9) The " National Songster." (National Songster.) (10) Key's Poems, publ. 1857. (Poems.) The comparison is based on the Walters text, without esthetic com- ment and taking the title of ' ' The Star-Spangled Banner ' ' for granted. The words that differ are itahcized. Differences in spelhng and interpunctuation are disregarded. say can you see by the dawn's early Ught What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes & bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air. Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there O say does that star spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free & the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep. Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What isthat which the breeze, o'er the towering steep. As it fitfully blows, ^?/ conceals, AaZ/ discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam In full glory reflected now shines in the stream 'Tis the star-spangled banner — O long may it wave O'er the land of the free & the home of the brave! And where is that band who so vauntingly swore. That the havoc of war & the battle's confusion A home & a Country should leave ua no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution No refuge could save the hireling & slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave. And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free & the home of the brave. thus be it ever -when, freeman shall stand Between their lov'd koTne & the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry & peace may the heav'n rescued land Praise the power that hath made & preserv'd us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. And this be our motto — "In God is our Trust," And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free & the home of the brave. "Stedman (E. C). American Anthology. Boston, 1900. (5 variations.) "While some of these alterations from the author's manuscript may seem unim- portant, others actually change the meaning of the lines, as in the second stanza, where Key wrote — " 'What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep "As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?' "The second line is perverted into — ' ' 'As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses? ' "In all except three of the reprints before noted this change occurs. "It is for the worse, for two reasons: "(1) It destroys the fine image of the wind flapping the flag so as to show and con- ceal alternately parts of the stars and stripes; while the substitution makes the breeze sometimes conceal the whole star-spangled banner. "(2) The substitution is bad literary form, since it twice uses the word 'now,' which the author has applied twice in the two lines immediately following." 38 The Star-Spangled Banner. DITFEKENOES. Ye: Cist. By: Cist. Bright stars & broad stripes: Cist. Chudsofthe: Cist; Pa. Hist. Soc; Howard; Mahar. Bombs: Broadside I and II; Baltimore Am.; Poems. From: Broadside II. That: Cist; Pa. Hist. Soc; Howard: Poems; Now-now: Poems. On: Cist; Mahar. iAre the foes that: Pa. Hist. Soc; Howard. Are the foes who: Poems. That Host that: Cist. The foe that: Mahar. Sweepingly: Mahar. This: Mahar. His: Mahar. And: Broadside II. Foemen: Mahar. Homes: Baltimore Am.; Cist; Pa. Hist. Soc; Howard; Mahar. War's: Mahar. long may it: Broadside II. Like other patriotic songs, "The Star-Spangled Banner" has had its share of additional stanzas; that is, of verses suggested by the changing times, the changing spirit of the times, and sectional an- tagonism. On the other hand, at least one stanza often came to be omitted. It is the third, undoubtedly expressive of bitter sentiment against the English, as was natural and logical in 1814, but rather unnatural and illogical after we were again the friends of England. This apparent defect of Key's text for a national hynm, which should stand above party feeling and chauvinism, led to the composition of one of the two additional stanzas, which shall here be briefly con- sidered. Its origin was narrated to Preble in 1876 by Benjamin Rush in the following words printed by the Admiral in his essay on "The Star-Spangled Banner" (New Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 1877, p. 31): The circumstances under which these additional stanzaa to the Star-Spangled Banner first came to my hand were briefly adverted to in the Preface to my edition of my father's book, entitled "Recollections of the Enghsh and French Courts," published in London in 1871, where I then was. The stanzas were also published; but that need not interfere in the least with your desire to insert them in the second edition of your History of the Flag, wherein I should say they would appropriately come in. The name of the author by whom they were com- posed, was George Spowere, Esq., and this has never been published. I think it eminently due to him now that his name should be given to the public, con- sidering not only the beauty but the admirable sentiments of the stanzas. He had seen in my hands a manuscript copy of the original song, and asked me to lend it to him, which I did. A day or two afterwards he returned it to me with these stanzas. I was quite a boy at the time, at school with my two brothers at Hampstead, near London, while my father was residing in London as minister of the United States. It must have been about the year 1824. The Star-Spangled Banner. 39 Mr. Spowers's well-meant but objectionable stanza, because it, too, drags our national hymn iuto foreign politics, reads : But hush'd be that straini They our Foes are no longer; Lo Britain the right hand of Friendship extends, And Albion's fair Isle we behold with affection The land of our Fathers — the land of our Friends! Long, long may we flourish, Columbia and Britain, In amity still may your children be found. And the Star-Spangled Banner and Red Cross together Wave free and triumphant the wide world around! The best known of the additional stanzas is the one written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, as he informed Admiral Preble, April 14, 1872, at the request of a lady dtiring our civil war, there being no verse alluding to treasonable attempt against the flag. According to Preble the stanza was first published in the Boston Evening Tran- script. Preble received a corrected and amended autograph of the stanza from Holmes, and this he reproduced in facsimile in the second edition of his famous work (p. 730). It reads: When our land is illumined with liberty's smile, If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory, Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile The flag of the stars, and the page of her story! By the millions unchained Who their birth-right have gained. We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained; And the etar-epangled banner in triumph shall wave. While the land of the free is the home of the brave. It has been noticed ere this that not only the text of The Star- Spangled Banner but its music is sung and played with noticeable differences. These occur both in the harmonization of the melody and in the melody itself. To trace the discrepancies in the harmoni- zation would hardly be profitable, since the harmonization of any melody will always be to a certain degree a matter of individual taste. Often many ways are possible, several equally good — i. e., equally appropriate — and seldom one the only proper one. The harmonization depends, of course, largely on the bass, and since the harmonization of a national song should be simple and easily grasped by the popular mind, there can not be much variance of opinion as to the bass. However, historical considerations will hardly be helpful in this direction. An authoritative harmonization is less a problem of history than of musical grammar, and authoritative it can be only for those who accept the harmonization recommended by a jury of musicians as the authoritative one for the persons \mder their own musical jurisdiction. It is somewhat different with the melody. True, neither an act of Congress nor the recommendation of a board of musicians will stop the process of polishing and modification (either for better or worse) which takes place with all folk, traditional, and patriotic songs. Yet it is obviously imperative for musical and other 40 The Star-Spangled Banner. reasons that at least the melody of a national hymn have as much stability and uniformity as can be forced through official channels on the popular mind. The most suitable form of the melody will again be a matter of decision by a jury of musicians, yet it may be interest- ing and instructive to contrast "To Anacreon in Heaven," as used and modified, partly for verbal reasons, about 1800, with the common versions of its offshoot "The Star-Spangled Banner" of to-day, which from the beginning must have slightly differed from " To Anacreon in Heaven" by dint of the peculiarities of Key's poem. First, the melody as it appears in the Vocal Enchantress, 1783, the earliest version in the Library of Congress, will be compared bar for bar with "Adams and Liberty" in the American Musical Miscellany, 1798 (A. M. M.), and with the version in the Baltimore Musical Miscellany, 1804 (B. M. M.). The facsimile of the "harmonized" version in Smith's "Fifth Book" shows it to be too garbled for purposes of melodic comparison. The Star-Spangled Banner. Differences 41 A. M. M. B. M. M. A. M. M. A. M. M. i 10 ^ ^^^^^ ^^fls A. M. M. B. M. M. 12 A.M.M. B. M. M. 11 12 d=j-=J= ^ ^E^ A.M.M. B.M.M, „14, 18 A. M. M. B.M.M. :t 16,19 ^^^ ^i^^^^^ i= A.M.M.; B.M.M. A.M.M. „16, 20 17, 21 B.M.M. A. M. M. B. M. M, A. M. M. B. M. M. Thus the so-called polishing process had begun within one genera- tion after the "Sons of Harmony" had adopted "To Anacreon in Heaven" as their constitutional song. How is their club melody- sung to the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Americans young and old at the beginning of the twentieth century? For the purpose of comparison I have selected at random 12 recent song books and John Philip Sousa's "National, patriotic, typical airs of all lands" (1890), compiled "by authority" for use in the United States Navy. (Sousa.) If these few differ so widely in single bars, what discrepancies could be revealed if all the song books used in our country were similarly compared! 1. W. H. Aiken, Part songa for mixed voices for high schools, 1908. 2. 0. A. Boyle. School praise and song, 1903. (B) 3. C. H. Famsworth, Songs for schools, 1906. (F) 4. A. J. Gantvoort. School music reader, 1907 (G) 5. B. Jepson's New Standard Music Readers, Seventh year, 1904 (J) 6. McLaughlin-Gilchrist, Fifth Music Reader, 1906. (M) 7. Ripley-Tapper, Harmonic Fifth Reader, 1904. (R) 8. E. Smith, Music Course, Book Four, 1908. (Sm) 9. J. B. Shirley, Part songs for girl's voices, 1908 (Sh.) 10. H. 0. Siefert, Choice songs, 1902 (Si) 11. C. E. Whiting, The New public school music course. Third reader, 1909 (W) 12. E. J. A. Zeiner, The High school song book, 1908. (Z) 42 The Star-Spangled Banner. „1, 9 Differences BTF;J;Si;Sm; Sh;W;Z G; ShjW. M 5,13 ^a g^g^jggp^a^^g^flg^^ HAIL COLUMBIA." "Hail Columbia" was written in 1798 by Joseph Hopkinson (1770-1842), whose prominence as jurist, combined with his author- ship of "Hail Columbia," has won him a place in biographical encyclopaedias. The poet himself has described the circumstances which led to the composition of his poem in a letter written August 24, 1840, to Rev. Rufus W. Griswold and printed in The Wyoming Bard, WUkesbarre, Pa. : "Hail Columbia" was written in the summer of 1798, when war with France was thought to be inevitable. Congress was then in session in Philadelphia, debating upon that important subject, and acts of hostility had actually taken place. The contest between England and France was raging, and the people of the United States were divided into parties for the one side or the other, some thinking that policy and duty required us to espouse the cause of "republican France," as she was called, while others were for connecting otu'selves with Eng- land, under the belief that she was the great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the just and wise policy of President Washington, which was to do equal justice to both but to part with neither, and to preserve an honest and strict neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with France was exceed- ingly offensive to the portion of the people who espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never risen higher, I think not bo high, in our country, as it did at that time upon that question. The theatre was then open in our city. A young man belonging to it, whose talent was high as a singer, was about to take a benefit. 1 had known him when he was at school. On this ac- quaintance he called on me one Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced for the following Monday. His prospects were very disheartening; but he said that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to "the President's March" he did not doubt of a full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to accomplish it, but had not succeeded. I told him I would try what I could do for him. He came the next afternoon, and the song, such as it is, was ready for him. The object of the author was to get up an American spirit which should be independent of, and above the interests, passion and policy of both belliger- ents, and look and feel exclusively for our honour and rights. No allusion ia made to France or England, or the quarrel between them, or to the question which was most in fault in their treatment of us. Of course the song found favour with both parties, for both were American, at least neither could disown the sentiments and feelings it indicated. Such is the history of this song, which has endured infinitely beyond the expectation of the author, as it is beyond any merit it can boast of except that of being truly and exclusively patriotic in its sentiment and spirit. a Revised and enlarged from my essay "Critical notes on the origin of 'Hail Colum- bia,' " in the Sammelbande d. I. M. G., 1901, volume 3, p. 139-166. 43 44 Hail Columbia. The young man who was about to take a benefit was Gilbert Fox, to the talents of whom Charles Durang, the historian of the Phila- delphia stage, does not pay a very high tribute. If we believe Durang, it was the misfortune of Fox to have "created Hail Colum- bia." His friends and admirers became so numerous that his health, and accordingly his career, were ruined by the excessive demands of conviviality. The benefit with which the tragedy of his life began, but which made his name famous ever since, was thus advertised in the Porcu- pine Gazette, April 24, 1798: Mr. Fox's Night. On Wednesday Evening, April 25. By Desire will be pre- sented (for the second time in America) a Play, interspersed with Songs, in three Acts, called The Italian Monk .... after which an entire New Song (written by a Citizen of Philadelphia) to the tune of the "President's March " will be sung by Mr. Fox; accompanied by the Full Band and the following Grand Chorus: Firm united let us be Rallying around our Liberty As a band of brothers join'd Peace and Safety we shall find! It was a clever bit of advertising to have inserted the words of the "grand chorus." Containing no party allusions they aroused the public curiosity as to the tendency of the song, and consequently Mr. Fox reaped a golden harvest. The song met with immediate success. It was redemanded nearly a dozen times on that memorable evening and had to be sung by Mr. Fox "for the second time by particular desire" on Friday, the next play night, and again on Satur- day under the name of a "New Federal Song." On Monday a Mr. Sully begged "leave to acquaint his friends and the pubhc that the 'New Federal Song' to the tune of the President's March" would be given "among the Variety of Entertainments performed at Rickett's Circus this Evening for his Benefit." The newspapers and magazines helped to spread the popularity of the song. It appeared, for instance, in the Porcupine Gazette for Saturday, April 28, as a "song," in the April number of the Philadelphia Magazine as a "patriotic song," and as early as May 7 in the Connecticut Courant as "song." But it seemed at first as if "Hail Columbia," notwithstanding its neutral spirit, would become more a political than a national song, for Cobbett's Porcupine Gazette entered on its behalf into a passion- ate controversy with Bache and Callender's Aurora and General Advertiser. Thus Cobbett violently attacked his pohtical antagonists on Friday, April 27, under the heading "Bache and Callender:" It is not often that I disgust my readers with extracts from the vile paper these fellows print, but that of this morning contains several things that merit to be recorded. Hail Columbia . 45 The Theatre. For some days past, the Anglo-Monarchical party have appeared at the theatre in full triumph — and the President's march and other aristocratic tunes have been loudly vociferated for, and vehemently applauded. On Wednes- day evening the admirers of British tyranny assembled in consequence of the managers having announced in the bills of the day that there would be given a patriotic song to the tune of the President's March, all the British Merchants, British Agents, and many of our Congress tories, attended to do honour to the occasion. When the wished for song came, which contained, amidst the most ridiculous bombast, the vilest adulation to the anglo-monarchical party, and the two Presidents, the extacy of the party knew no bounds, they encored, they shouted, they became Mad as the Priestress of the Delphic God. Cobbett adds: This circumstance relative to the theatre, must have given a rude shock to the brain of the few remaining Democrats. It is a lie to say that the song is an eulo- gium on England or on Monarchy. It shall have a place in this Gazette to-morrow and in the meantime, to satisfy my distant readers that the charge of its being in praise of the English is false, I need only to observe, that it abounds in Eulogiums on the men, who planned and affected the American Revolution! The public took Cobbett's side, and the song gained rapidly in favor. It was sung and whistled on the streets, and soon no pubHc entertainment was considered as satisfactory without it. To quote from McKoy's reminiscences in Poulson's American Daily Adver- tiser for January 13, 1829: "Such was the popularity of this song that very frequently has Mr. Gillingham, leader of the band, been forced to come to a full stop in the foreign music he had arranged for the evening by the deafening calls for this march, or song to this march." Hardly a week had passed since Mr. Fox's night, when another Thespian introduced the song in New York. But already the rather vague title of "New Federal Song" had been changed into that of "Hail Columbia." Cobbett writes on Thursday, May 3 : The following is part of an advertisement of the Entertainment for the last Evening at the theatre New York. End of the Play, Mr. Williamson will sing a new Patriotic Song, called "Hail Columbia:" Death or Liberty. Received in Philadelphia with more reiterated Plaudits than were perhaps ever witnessed in a theatre. When Mr. WilHamson again sang "Hail Columbia" "at the End of the Play" on May IS**"* "Death or Liberty" was dropped, and ever since the song has been known as "Hail Columbia." Mr.' WilHamson seems to have been much in vogue as a singer of patriotic songs. When assisting Mr. Chalmers in his "Eeadings and Eecitations" at Oeller's Eoom in Philadelphia on June 15*'' ^, he entertained the audience with "The Boston Patriotic Song: Adams o Advertisement in the New York Gazette May 15. 6 Advertisement in Porcupine Gazette June 13. 46 Hail Columbia. and Liberty," the "New York Federal Song: Washington and the Constitution," and again "Hail Columbia." When engaged for the "Grand Concert" at Eanelagh Garden in New York for July 4'^ he sang the same three songs, and, we doubt not, much to the deUght of a patriotic audience. Indeed the success of "Hail Columbia" was "immediate and emphatic" (Elson). Far beyond the most sanguine expectations of Joseph Hopkinson! Including his song in a letter directed to George Washington under date of May 9, 1798, he wrote: ° As to the song it was a hasty composition, and can pretend to very little ex- trinsic merit— yet I believe its public reception has at least equalled any thing of the kind. The theatres here [Phila.] and at New York have resounded with it night after night; and men and boys in the streets sing it as they go. Evidently not much to the delight of some reporter who calls it (in the Centinel of Freedom, Newark, N. J., July 9, 1799) the "old threadworn song of Hail Columbia." As might be expected, the words of "Hail Columbia," together with the music of the President's March, were pubUshed shortly after the first pubhc performance of the song. In fact only two days had elapsed when Benjamin Carr inserted the following advertisement: * On Monday Afternoon will be published at Carr's Musical Repository, the very favourite New Federal Song, Written to the tune of the President's March, By J. Hopkinson, Esq. And sung by Mr. Fox, at the New Theatre with great applause, ornamented with a very elegant Portrait of the President [scil. John Adams]. No copy of this original edition of "Hail Columbia" has come to light. If Carr published it at all with Adams's portrait, he probably, according to his custom, added his imprint. This leads me to now believe, contrary to my remarks on former occasions, that the edition which is in Mr. Louis C. Elson's possession and which he reproduced in facsimile in his books "The National Music of America" (1900) and "History of American Music" (1904) is not identical with Carr's original edition, but of a trifle later date. Mr. Elson's iinique copy shows the American eagle instead of Adams's portrait and it bears no imprint. These differences are, of course, not conclusive, since Carr may have been imable to secure a suitable picture, yet this difference, together with the fact that he must have had an edition in the press and that he was not in the habit of suppressing his imprint, compels us to assume Carr's edition and the one in Mr. Elson's possession not to have been identical until the identity is proven. The title of Mr. Elson's copy reads : "The Favorite New Federal Song [American eagle] Adopted to the Presidents March. Sung by Mr. Fox- Written by J. Hopkinson Esqr." oComp. William S. Baker's "Washington after the Revolution," 1898. 6 Comp. Porcupine Gazette for Friday 27. Hail Columbia. 47 Filling two unpaged inside pages of a musical sheet, it was arranged in C major "for the voice, pianoforte, guittar and clarinett" and this arrangement was followed, as was customary, by an arrangement (in D major) for the flute or violin. Among "new music. Just pub- lished" the Federal Gazette, Baltimore, on June 25, 1798, advertised "The President's March," "Hail Columbia, happy land." This may have been a special Baltimore edition by Joseph Carr, or it may sim- ply have referred to Benjamin Carr's Philadelphia edition, or to the one in Mr. Elson's possession, or to: The President's Marcli, a new Federal Song. Published by G. Willig, Marketstreet, No. 185. Phila. A copy of this is contained in a miscellaneous volume of "Battles and marches" at the Ridgway branch of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and is here reproduced in facsimile by permission. (See Appendix, Plates VII- VIII.) Willig published at the above address, as we know from the city directories, between 1798 and 1803, but the adjective new in the title surely suggests the year 1798. Under the title of "Hail Columbia" the song was first advertised in August, 1798, among "patriotic and other favorite songs" as "just published and for sale at Wm. Howe's wholesale and retail warehouse, 320 Pearl street, " New York, but as Howe is merely known as dealer in music, not as a music printer or music publisher, it stands to reason that he merely advertised for sale one or more of the editions so far published. All these early editions contained the words and the music. The text without music (8° 6 p.), of which a copy is in New York Public Library, was published at Philadelphia under the title of — Song adapted to the President's march sung at the Theatre by Mr. Fox, at his benefit. Composed by Joseph Hopkinson, Esq. Printed by J. Ormrod, 41, Chestnut street. Thus "Hail Columbia" rapidly became a national song regardless of its bombastic and prosaic metaphors. Patriotic songs had been written in America showing this prevailing fault of the times to a lesser degree, and better songs followed — among the latter, however, cer- tainly not the "New Hail Columbia," which begins — Lo! I quit my native skies — To arms! my patriot sons arise (see p. 45 of James J. Wilson's National Song Book, Trenton, 1813), but none, except Key's "Star -Spangled Banner" and Reverend Smith's "America" were destined to rival the popularity of "Hail Columbia" for almost a century. But as "America" was written to the tune of "God Save the King" and the " Star-Spangled Banner" to the drinking song " To Anacreon in Heaven," at least "Hail Colum- bia" may claim the distinction in the history of our early national songs of being in poetry and music a product of our soil. 48 Hail Columbia. W. T. R. Saffell in his book "Hail Columbia, the Flag, and Yankee Doodle Dandy," Baltimore, 1864, when describing the allegorical- political musical entertainment of The Temple of Minerva, which was performed at Philadelphia in 1781, points out the two lines: "Hail Columbia's godlike son" and "Fill the golden trump of fame." He adds : " Do not ' Hail Columbia,' the ' trump of fame,' and the measure of the chorus, appear to carry Fayles back from 1789 to 1781, for his music, and Hopkinson from 1798 to the same scene and the same year for his words? Who can say but our immortal 'Hail Columbia' had its real origin in 'The Temple of Minerva,' or in the surrender of Corn- wallis, when 'Magog among the nations' arose from his lair at York- town and shook, in the fury of his power, the insurgent world beneath him ? May not Fayles have touched a key in the ' Temple of Minerva ' in 1781, and revived the sound in 1789 ? May not the eye of Hopkin- son in 1798 have fallen upon the 'Columbian Parnassiad' of 1787, when the 'Temple of Minerva' first entered the great highway of history? But none the less glory for Mr. Hopkinson." The eye of Joseph Hopkinson might indeed have fallen upon the Columbian Parnassiad in the Columbian Magazine (Philadelphia) for April, 1787, where the "Temple of Minerva" was printed, but "Fayles" certainly did not "touch a key" in this little play. And this for the very simple reason that the "Oratorio" (sic) "was composed and set to Music by a gentleman" who signed himself H. With a little critical thought Mr. Saffell might have suspected Francis Hopkinson to have been the author and composer of "The Temple of Minerva," and so he was indeed, as my monograph on "Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon" (1905) has established beyond doubt. Consequently Mr. Saf- fell's effort to trace the "President's March" back to 1781, by way of "The Temple of Minerva," if I understand his florid fantasies at all, is demolished by plain historical facts. It is different with his sug- gestion that the author of "Hail Columbia" may have been influenced by "The Temple of Minerva." Joseph Hopkinson of course knew the poetry of his father and probably shared the admiration of many contemporaries for it. Hence it was quite natural for him to remem- ber the two lines quoted above and to unconsciously borrow from them for his own poem. This process was quite probable in his own peculiar case, yet we should be careful not to apply too zealously com- parative philological text-criticism to the patriotic songs of those days in order to trace the influence exercised by one poet upon the other. Such apostrophes as "Hail Columbia" were frequently used by the poet-politicians and indeed their patriotic effusions have many stock phrases in common. Similar sentiments were then continually expressed in similar methaphors just as they are to-day. Here, for instance, is the first stanza of a poem which Joseph Hopkinson might Hail Columbia. 49 also have read in his youth and parts of which might have hngered in his memory. It was printed in the Federal Gazette, June 23, 1789, and reads : A FEDERAL SONG For the Anniversary of American Independence To the tune of " Rule Britannia " Ye Friends to this auspicious day! Come join the fed'ral, festive band And all Columbia — homage pay To him who freed thy happy land. Bail Columbia! Columbia! Genius hail! Freedom ever shall prevail. National songs are meant to be sung. The best and most heart- stirring patriotic poems will soon be forgotten if not supported by a melody which catches the public ear. It might be said that Hopkin- son's "Hail Columbia" would have conquered the nation with any of the popular tunes of the time, but the fact remains that its imxaediate and lasting success was actually obtained with the aid of the "Pres- ident's March." Not all the honor, therefore, is due to Joseph Hop- kinson. We musicians are entitled to claim some of the laurels for the composer of the tune which, no matter how little its musical value may be, has become immortal together with the words of "Hail Columbia." Until recently the musical origin of "Hail Columbia" was as obscure as its literary history was clear. Not that the composer had been treated unkindly by the historians. They tried to lift the veil which covered his name, but their accounts were so contradictory that one claim stood in the way of the other. A methodical analysis of the contradictory accounts left the problem open, and it became probable that merely an accidental find would enable us to solve it. The reader will have noticed that Hopkinson mentions the "Presi- dent's March" in his letter without any allusion to its composer. The same applies to Durang in his "History of the Philadelphia Stage" (1854-55) to Dimlap's "History of the American Theatre" (1823), to Wilson's "National Song Book" (1813), to McCarty's "Songs, Odes and other Poems on National Subjects" (1842), and to A. G. Emerick's "Songs for the People" (1848). The critical investigations began 1859, with an anonymous article in Dawson's "Historical Magazine" (Vol. Ill, p. 23): The President's March was composed by a Professor Pfyle, and was played at Trentonbridge when Washington passed over on his way to New York to his inauguration. This information I obtained from one of the performers, confirmed afterwards by a son of said Pfyle. The song "Hail Columbia" was written to the music during the elder Adam's administration, by Judge Hopkinson, and 85480—09 4 50 Hail Go luvih ia . was first sung by Mr. Foi, a popula* singer of the day . T well remember being present at the first introduction of it at the .Holiday street theatre, amid the;clap- ping of hands and hissings of the antagonistic parties. Black cockades :ivere worn in those days. I have also reason to believe that the "Washington March" generally known by that title— I mean the one in key of G major, was composed by the Hon. Francis Hopkinson, senior, having seen it in a manuscript ho6k'oi his, in his own handwriting among others of his known compositions. ■ ■ ' ' ' ^ J. G. The above was published in the "Baltimore Clipper" ii^l841, by a person who weU understood the subject. i Evidently this person, wasi J. C, whose account was simply reprinted from the Baltimore ^Clipper. A somewhat different version appears on page 368 of the "Eecol- lections and Private' Memoirs of Washington," by. his adopted, Son George Washington i Parke Custisy .edited, by Benson J. Lossing in I860., : . ;;.,;,;.• ' ■ .-i. . - ■ ■ ■' '- ■■ ■- ' ' In Ne* York the pla^ bill was headed "By particular Desire" when it was annotinoed that the president would' attend. On those nighta the houge "^ould be crowded froni topito bottom, as njany ,to see; the hero as the, play. Upon the president's entering the stage hoxi-^ith his^^amily,; the orchestra, would strike up "The President's March" (now Hail Colupbia) composed by a German named ' Feyles, in '89, in contradistinction, to the march of the ^Revolution, called ''Wash- ington's March". , , .: I I . ' The audience applauded on the entraince of the president, but the pit and gal- lery were so truly despotic in the early days of the republic, that so soon as "Hail Columbia" had iceased, "Washington's IJarch" jv^as called foj-jby thp deafening , din of a hundred voices at once, and upon its being.played, .three hearty cheers would rock the building to its base. - ■ : , , , ,;:,,' ,;■.'!, ' : ,'■■;, I '' I .'■•.; 1 ,■-''■:..'■..■ ' '■ ' In the following year, .1861, the ,," Historical, M^gp,zine," whiph took a vivid interest in the history of ourj n,atio,n,al , songs, brought out an article totally contradictpg the two already quoted- The; article — in Vplume V, 280, page ,?81^is , headed "Origin of Hail Columbia';' and, reads: : i : z i In 1829, William Mc Koy of . Philadelphia, under the tfgnaturel ','Lang Syne'!, published in Poukon's Daily Advertiser an account pf thpioiigin of the song "HaU Columbia", whici^ was set tp the music of "The President's Inarch " . . . Mr. Mc Key's reminiscences have not;, we Ipelieve, been reprinted since they were ongiually piiblished. The article is as follows: > . , , ' i The seati 6f the Federal Government of the 'thirteen United States being removed to Philadelphia, and ill honour of the new president, Washington, then residing at No. .19,0 High street, the march, ever since kno:wn as ''the President's March", was composed by a German teacher of music, in this city, named Roth, or Roat, designated familiarly by those who knew him as "Old Roat". He taught those of his pupils who preferred tHe flut6, to give to that ' instrument the additional sound of a drone, while playing in imitation of a bagpipe. His repidenee was at one time in that row ;of houses standing back froin Fifth, above Race street, at the time known as "The Fourteen Chimneys", some of which are still visible in the rear ground, north eastward of Mayer's Hail Columbia . 51 church. In his person he was of the middle size and height. His face was truly German in expression, dark grey eyes, and bushy eyebrows, round, pointed nose, prominent lips, and parted chin. He took snuff immoderately, having his vest and ruffles usually well sprinkled with grains of rappee. He was con- sidered as excentric, and a kind of droll. He was well known traditionally, at the Samson and Lion, in Crown street, where it seems his company, in the olden time, was always a welcome to the pewter-pint customers, gathered there at their pipes and beer, while listening to his facetious tales and anecdotes, without number, of high-life about town, and of the players — Nick Hammond, Miss Tuke, Hodgkinson, Mrs. Pownall, and Jack Martin, of the old theatre in South wark. This said "President's March" by Roat, the popular songs of Markoe, the "city poet," in particular the one called "The Tailor Done over" and the beautiful air of "Dans Votre Lit" which had been rendered popular by its being exquisitely sung at the time, by Wools, of the Old American Com- pany, were sung and whistled by every one who felt freedom (of mind) to whistle and to sing . . . Public opinion having . . . released itself suddenly from a passion for French Revolutionary music and song, experienced a vacuum in that parti- cular, which was immediately supplied by the new national American song of "Hail Columbia happy Land" written in '98 by Joseph Hopkinson, Esq. of this city, and the measure adapted by him, very judiciously, to the almost forgotten " President's March". Ever since 1798, the song of "Hail Columbia" by Joseph Hopkinson, and the "President's March" by Johannes Roat, being indiscriminately called for, have become, in a manner, synonymous to the public ear and understanding when they are actually and totally distinct in their origin, as above mentioned. Following the clue given in this reprint, I found the original article in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser for Tuesday, January 13, 1829, under the heading "President's March." Though this article ap- pears anonymous, there can be no doubt of Mr. McKoy having been the author, for we know from "Watson's Annals of Philadelphia" that it was he who wrote the series of articles on olden times in Philadelphia, pubhshed in said paper during the years 1828 and 1829 and mostly signed "Auld Lang Syne." In the same year that this gentleman's account was reprinted in the Historical Magazine, Kichard Grant White's "National Hymns, How They Are Written and How They Are Not Written," left the press. What this author has to say on the origin of the "President's March" is contained in a footnote on page 22 : The air to which Hopkinson wrote " Hail Columbia " was a march written by a German band master on occasion of a visit of Washington, when President, to the old John Street Theatre in New York. A similar view as to the musical origin of the song is held by W. T. R. Saffell in his book "Hail Columbia, the Flag, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, Baltimore, 1864." He says, on page 53: A piece of music set for the harpsichord, entitled the "President's March" was composed in 1789, by a German named Fayles, on the occasion of Washington's first visit to a theatre in New York. 52 Hail Columbia. Rev. Elias Nason, on page 33 of his monograph, "A Monogramm on Our National Song . . . 1869," is equally meager, equally omniscient, and equally opposed to giving authorities when he wntes : ... on Washington's first attendance at the theatre in New York, 1789, a German by the name of Fyles composed a tune to take place of "Washington's March," christening it with the name of "President's March." Some years later, in 1872, Benson J. Lossing reprinted in Volume I (pp. 550-554) of his "American Historical Record" a paper on "The Star-Spangled Banner and National Airs," which the Hon. Stephan Sahsbury had read before the American Antiquarian Society, October 21, 1872. In regard to "Hail Columbia" this author says: Poulson's Advertiser of 1829 mentions that this song was set to the music of "the President's March" by Johannes Roth, a German music teacher in that city. And the Historical Magazine, vol. 3, page 23, quotes from the Baltimore Clipper of 1841 that the "President's March" was composed by Professor Phyla of Philadelphia, and was played at Trenton in 1789, when Washington passed over to New York to be inaugurated, as it was stated by a son of Professor Phyla, who was one of the performers. Rear- Admiral George Henry Preble, in his " History of the Flag of the United States; Boston, 1880," wrote: The "President's March" was a popular air, and the adaptation easy. It was composed in honour of President Washington, then residing at No. 190 High Street Philadelphia, by a teacher of music, named Roth, " or Roat, familiarly known as "Old Roat." He was considered as an excentric, and kind of a droll, and took snuff immoderately. Philip Roth, teacher of music, described as living at 25 Crown Street, whose name appears in all the Philadelphia directories from 1791 to 1799, inclusive, was probably the author of the march. According to his son, who asserted he was one of the performers, the march was composed by Professor Phyla, of Philadelphia, and was played at Trenton, in 1789, when Washington passed over to New York to be inaugurated.* o Poulson's Advertiser 1829. b Historical Magazine, Volume III, 23. Baltimore Clipper, 1841. American Historical Record Volume I, 53. Hon. S. Salisbury's paper before the American Antiquarian Society 1872. John Bach McMaster, the celebrated author of "A History of the People of the United States; New York," has something to say on the subject in Volume I, on pages 564-565: At the John street theatre in New York, " in a box adorned with fitting emblems, the President was to be seen much oftener than many of the citizens approved. On such occasions the 'President's March' was always played. It had been composed by Phyles, the leader of the few violins and drums that passed for the orchestra, and played for the first time on Trenton Bridge as Washington rode over on his way to be inaugiu-ated. The air had a martial ring that caught the ear of the multitude, soon became popular as Washington's March, and when Adams was President, in a moment of great party excitement Judge Hopkinson wrote and adapted to it the famous lines beginning 'Hail Columbia.' " Hail Columbia . 53 Mary L. D. Ferris, in a clever but superficial causerie on "Our National Songs" in the New England Magazine, new series, July, 1890 (pp. 483-504), expresses her opinion briefly, thus: The music of Hail Columbia was composed in 1789, one hundred years ago, by Professor Phylo of Philadelphia, and played at Trenton, when Washington was en route to New York to be inaugurated. The tune was originally called the President's March. In the same year (1890) appeared John Phihp Sousa's semiofficial work, ' ' National, Patriotic, and Typical Airs of All Lands with Copious Notes, compiled by order and for use of the Navy Department." Of the "President's March" Sousa remarks: On the occasion of Gen. Washington's attendance at the John St. Theatre in New York, in 1789, a German named Fyles, who was leader of the orchestra, composed a piece in compliment of him and called it the "President's March," which soon became a popular favorite. In the first of a series of articles on our national songs, published 1897, April 29, in the Independent, E. Irenaeus Stevenson maintains that "Hail Columbia" is rather a "personal" than a national song, having been, as he imagines, written in honor of George Washington. But this is not his only blunder, for he not even knew that the "Wash- ington's March" and the "President's March" were two entirely different pieces. The very air to the words confirms one in wishing that " Hail Columbia " would remain solely an artless souvenir belonging to Washington. For the tune was not written to Judge Hopkinson's words. It was a little instrumental march, called "Washington's March," of vast vogue circa 1797, a march composed in honour of the first President by a German musician named Phazles, Phylz, Phyla, or Pfalz, of New York. Phazles looked after musical matters in the old theatre on John Street; and apparently he really wrote, not imported, the tune. Judge Hopkinson fitted to it the address to Washington, in 1798. When George Washington, on Sunday, May 27, 1798, acknowledged the receipt of "Hail Columbia" sent to him by Joseph Hopkinson on May 9, he " offered an absence for more than eight days from home as an apology for . . . not giving ... an earher acknowledg- ment." The polite note has been reprinted by WiUiam S. Baker in his work already quoted. Baker adds the following editorial foot- note: The song referred to in the above quoted letter was the national air, "Hail Columbia, ' ' the words of which were written by Joseph Hopkinson and adapted to the music of the "President's March" composed in 1789 by a German named Feyles, who at the time was the leader of the orchestra at the John Street Theatre in New York. A similar version appears in S. J. Adair FitzGerald's Stories of Famous Songs. London, 1897, on page 100: The music was taken from a piece, called "The President's March," which had seen the light ten years previously. It was composed by a German named Fyles on some special visit of Washington's to the John Street Theatre, New York. 54 Hail Columhia . Col. Nicholas Smith in his "Stories of Great National Songs," Milwaukee, 1899, becomes involuntarily humorous, when saying (on p. 41): The "President's March" was composed in 1789 by a German professor in Philadelphia, named Phylo, alias Feylee, alias Thyla, alias Phyla, alias Roth, and was first played at Trenton when Washington was on his way to New York to be inaugurated president. The few Mnes which Howard Futhey Brinton says to the subject in his "Patriotic Songs of the American People," New Haven, 1900, may also find a place here: Of the then current tunes none caught the popular fancy more than the " Presi- dent's March," which had been composed in 1789 by a German named Feyles, in honour of General Washington. Louis C. Elson is the last writer whom I have to quote. In his widespread work "The National Music of America and its Sources, Boston, 1900," we read (on pp. 157-159) a very much more elaborate account than the last ones mentioned: ... it is definitely known that the composition was written in 1789, and that if was called "The President's March." Regarding its first performance and its composer there is some doubt. William Mc. Koy in "Poulson's Advertiser" for 1829 states that the march was composed by a German musician in Phila- delphia, named Johannes Roth. He is also called "Roat" and "Old Roat" in some accounts. That there was a Philip Roth living in Philadelphia at about this time may be easily proved, for his name is found in the city directories from 1791 to 1799. a He appears as "Roth, Philip, teacher of music, 25 Crown St." Washington at this time was a fellow citizen of this musician for he lived at 190 High Street, Philadelphia. But there is another claimant to the work. There was also in Philadelphia at this time a German musician, whose name is spelled in many different ways by the commentators. He is called " Phyla", " Philo", " Pthylo " and " Pfyles " by various authors. None of these seems like a German name, but it is possible that the actual name may have been Pfeil.6 This gentleman of doubtful cog- nomen claims the authorship of the march in question, or rather his son has claimed it for him. The march is also claimed by this son to have been first played on Trenton Bridge as Washington rode over, on his way to the New York inauguration. Richard Grant White, however, states, on what authority we know not, that the work was first played on the occasion of a visit of Washington to the old John Street Theatre in New York. It is evident that all these different accounts are based directly or indirectly upon the three contradictory versions of William McKoy in Poulson's Advertiser, 1829, of J. C. in the Baltimore Clipper, 1841, and of George Washington Parke Custis, 1860. Later accounts con- " History of the Flag of the United States, by Rear Admiral Geo. Henry Preble, p. 719. & Through the courtesy of John W. Jordan, Esq., librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, we learn that the first Philadelphia " City Directory" was published in 1785, the second in 1791. In neither of these does the name of any musician bear- ing any ressemblance to the ones given above appear. Hail Columhia, 55 ]taiix ripthmg sjj|)stamtially new lexcept, wh^n, confusing the problem by incorrect and imcritical quotations from unmentioned sources, as in the ca^e of Rer. Elias Nasonwho inaccurately copied R. Gfrant White's superficial, foptnpte., , . : , ' If our probleniiCan be.soly^d, itwiUbe possible only by critically inye^tigating pro et contra, t)xe data given in the reiports of 1829,, 1841, and 1860. jV : , These data are: ; .1, The march, ever since Imownas the "President's Marqh!' was composed by a German ; teacher of , mi^sic; ip Philadelphia, named Johannps Jlpat or Roth, "the sieat, pf the; Federal Government of the thirteien XJnited States being removed ,tp Philadelphia and in honour of tl^e, new President, W^'Shington, tjhen residing jit No. 190 High stre,et," (Mc. ]p[:py), ; ,r , , 2) The President's March was coinposed , by Professor Pfyle and was, played at Trentpnbridge whjen Washington .passed over on his way to. New York to his inauguration. (Information pbtained by J; C. froni "pne of the performers?' confirmed afterwards by a son of said Pfyle.) , , , , ; , , . , 3) The President's March was composed by , a German, named Feyles ^in , 1789 and; was played upon President (jreorgQ Washingtpn's eiitrai^ce ; int.o th,e, ^tage^ bpx with his family. (RecoUeptions ,by George Washington Pa,rk9 Custis.) , , Tp begin with the first version: Who was this Germain teacher of mupic, by the name pf Rpth? j , ; , i , . , i , , Even the most careful research in the old newspapers, ,n;iagazines, dir^ptories, and in books relating to tbe, early theatrical and n^usical life pf the United States will add^ but very little tp the following few itemg; I find, Roth: :i^rst inentipned in the year 1771. On December 5 a concert, adyertised; in the Ppnnsylyaiji'ia Gazptte for November 28,, by "Mr. John M'Lean (Instructor of , the Ge^rman Flute)" jn Phila- delphia, was to "conclude with, B.n overture,, cpmposed (for the occa- sion) by PTiilip Roth, master of the band belonging; to h^ Majesty's Roy^l Regiment of Britisli,;Fusiliers.'' , , , , , ■ Not until 1785 have I agaiin found his name mentioned. But in this year wejread his name in the first City Directory of Philadelphia, published by ;WJ^ite., , He , appears there as ''^oo,fe, [Philip, music mal?pr,i Sixth bptween Archt; ^nd,Race streets." We, next read, hi? name in an advertisejgaent in the Pennsylvania journal (Phila.) for September IQ, 1788. j ,,, ,, 'ilW. Roth, Music Master in Peahingion AUeyi, runining from Race t6 Vine : Streets, betweep !Fpiu;th and i f ift^ , ^treets, teacher .all :ki,i^(Js of Instrumental Music in the shortest manner, viz. Harpsichord pr Piano Forte,, Guitar,, .Flute,; Hautboy, (Sajinet, Bassooii, French Horn, fiarp and Thorough Bass, which is the Groimd of Music." 56 Hail Columbia. The third item which I was able to trace shows Roth again as a composer. The "Columbian Magazine" (Phila.) brought out in the April number of 1790 "A Himting Song. Set to Music by Mr. Roth, of Philadelphia." It is written in E flat major and in the intentionally simple style of the German VolksKeder of that period, to the words: "Ye sluggards who murder your lifetime in bed, etc." Needless to say that the song is of little musical value. The first directory for Philadelphia had been pubHshed in 1785. The second was issued in 1791, the third in 1793; after that the directory was issued annually. In all these, till 1805, we run across the "musician" or "teacher of music" or "music master" Philip Roth, his name being spelled from 1803-1805 "Rothe." He hved from 1791 to 1794 in 25 Crownst; from 1799-1803 in 33 Crownst, whereas for the years 1795-1798 his residence is given without a house number as in "Crownst." We find in the directory for 1806 "Rote, widow of Philip, music master, 94 N. Seventh." This would suggest 1805 as date of his death, but Mr. Drummond of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania informed me that the city records show Roth to have died in 1804. That Phihp Roth, besides teaching " all kinds of instrumental music in the shortest manner," played in the concert and opera orchestras of Philadelphia is highly probable, but he never appears as a soloist or as a composer in the many concerts given there till 1800, the programmes of which I have copied as far as I was able to trace them in the newspapers. Of course, the last remark interferes in no way with the possibil- ity of his having composed the "President's March." Mr. McKoy's claims must be considered as not contrary to chronology and cir- cumstances in regard to Roth's person, and his misspelling the name and calling him Johannes instead of Philip matters very little. But otherwise his claims are suspicious, though he seems to have known Roth well. The reader will have noticed that McKoy does not mention the year in which the "President's March" was composed. This is of importance, as his narrative excludes the years 1774-1788, during which we had fifteen presidents of the Continental Congress, and also the year 1789, when George Washington became President of the United States. The seat of government was not removed to Philadelphia until the fall of 1790. It had been, from 1789 to the date of removal, in New York and not in Philadelphia. If, therefore, McKoy's statement is correct the march was composed in 1790. In this case however the remark "in honour of the new President" loses its sense. Hail Columbia . 57 But the lines might represent an excusable slip of memory, and the march might have been written by Roth and played in honor of the President when passing through Philadelphia on his way to New York in 1789. Washington left Mount Vernon on the 16th of April; reached Philadelphia on the 20th and continued his voyage the following day."^ The Pennsylvania Journal (W., April 22), the Peimsyl- vania Mercury (T., April 21), the Independent Gazetteer (T., April 21), the Pennsylvania Packet (T., April 21), the Freeman's Journal (W., April 22), and the Pennsylvania Gazette (W-, April 22) all give an account of the President's reception at Philadelphia, but none of these papers, except the Pennsylvania Gazette, refer to any music having been played at the entertainment and this paper only in a vague way: "Philadelphia, April 22. Monday last His Excellency George Washington, Esq., the President Elect of the United States, arrived in this city, about one o'clock, accompanied by the President of the State . . . troops . . . and a numerous concourse of citizens on horseback and foot. His Excellency rode in front of the procession, on horseback . . . The bells were rung thro' the day and night, and a feu de joy was fired as he moved down Market and Second Street to the City Tavern ... At three o'clock His Excel- lency sat down to an elegant Entertainment of 250 covers at the City Tavern, prepared for him by the citizens of Philadelphia. A band of music played during the entertainment and a discharge of artillery took place at every toast among which was, the State of Virginia." This meager notice and the silence of the other papers in regard to music are significant. Had the band played a march composed in honor of the illustrious guest, the papers would have mentioned the fact, as it was their habit of doing on similar occasions. This state- ment can be proved over and over and will be supported by all who have had occasion to study our early newspapers and their habits. For the same reasons, Mr. McKoy's claims, even if taken literally, which would imply that the President's March was written in 1790 when the seat of government was actually removed to Philadelphia, contain no evidential strength. During the President's short stay in Philadelphia : ... an elegant FSte Champltre was given to this illustrous personage, his amiable consort and family . . . [Sept. 4.] on the banks of the Schuylkill, in the highly improved grounds of the messrs. Gray, by a number of respectable citizens. . . A band of music played during the repast, and at the close of the repast several excellent songs were sung, and toasts were given. Neither this account which appeared in the Pennsylvania Packet for Wednesday, September 8, 1790, nor any other, mentions a piece oComp. McMaster, I, 538 or Baker. 58 Hail Coluvibia: of music composed; "for the occasion." It would have be6n quite contrary to ithe. practice of our early newspapers; to have omitted reference to a piec^ written and played in honor of the new president. Consequently McKoy's version, in spite of the fact that he was a contemporary and fellow-citizen of Phihp Roth, becomes very doubtful. Had he attributed the "President's; March" to this musician without going into details, his case would have been much stronger. We then, might have admitted the probability that he knew the history of the march either from Roth himself or from others conversant with the matter. : ' In its actual form, however, McEoy's statement not, only contains a contradictio in adjecto, but it is contradicted moreover by two of hjs contemporaries, one of whom claimed to have been among the original performers of the march and the other to have been a son of the composer. If the claims made for Roth had been known to either of these two gentlemen, they emphatically would have denied their correctnesSj and at least a short reference to this protest would have slipped into J. C.'s account. Evidently Philip Roth was not generally considered outside of Philadelphia as author of the march, nay, not even in Philadelphia itself, for we shall see that "Professor Pfyle," too, resided for years, in Philadelphia. Certainly his son would have heard of Roth's claims if such were made, and he would not have failed, in his conversation with J. C, to prove the fallacy of claims which unjustly robbed his father of the glory of having written the air to one of our national songs. On what grounds Mr. McKoy attributes the piece to Roth we hive no way of ascertaining. We have to content ourselves with the fact that chronology and circumstances command weight against his theory. Unless an early copy of the President's March is discovered^ printed or in manuscript, bearing Roth's name as' Author, it would be uncritical to accept his authorship as a historical fact. But who was "Professor Pfyle," alias Fayles, alias Feyies, ^Has Fyles, alias Pfalz, ahas Pfazles, ahas Pfeil, alias Pfyles, alias Philo, alias Phyla, alias Phyies,' ahas Phylo, alias Phylz, alias Thyla? J. C.'s spelling seems to corroborate iSlsoh's idea that the actual name was the German "Pfeil," anglicized later oil into Ffyle.' But the numerous instances in which the name of this "gentleman of doubtful cognomen" appears in newspaper advertisements, etc., leave no doubt that i:n America he speUpd his name Phile., Only once is the name givep with a different, spelling. This name of Phile was not so uncommon after all in America, as Ifind five different "Phile's" in the two first Philadelphia city directories. On Saturday, March 6, 1784, a concert was advertised at Philadel- phia, in the Pennsylvania Packet, "For the Benefit of Mr. Phile," in which he and a Mr. Brown "for that night only" were to play "A Hail Columbia . 59 Double Concerto for the Violin and Flute." This concert was post- poned from March 18 to the following Tuesday, March 23. Previous to 1784 I have not found Phile mentioned. He must have been an able violinist, for when the Old American Company of Comedians returned in 1785 to the Continent from the West Indies, where they had sought refuge in the fall of 1774, he was made leader of the orchestra. To quote Charles Durang, who in his rare and interesting "History of the Philadelphia Stage" (Ch. IX) throws "professional side lights" on the different performers in 1785: The orchestra was composed of the following musicians; Mr. Philo, leader; Mr. Bentley, harpsichord; Mr. Woolf, principal clarionet; Trimner, Hecker, and eon, violoncello, violins etc. Some six or seven other names, now not remem- bered, constituted the musical force. The latter were all Germans. On July 18, 1786, was to be performed in New York," under the direction of Mr. Eeinagle, the "vocal parts by Miss Maria Storer," "A Grand Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music." The first part of the concert was to consist "chiefly of Handel's Sacred Music, as performed in Westminster Abbey. The Second Part miscellane- ous." PMle was engaged as soloist ia the first part, his name appear- ing thus in the program: "Concerto Violin . . . Mr. Phile," and Mr. Reinagle and Mr. PhUe were to play a "Duett for Violin and Violoncello" ia the second part. We next find him at Philadelphia in 1787 * and again in connection with a concert. It was the one for Monday, January 16, at the Southwark Theater. The concert was interspersed with "Lectures Moral and Entertaining," and concluded with the "Grand Panto- mimical Finale. In two Acts called Robinson Crusoe." We read in the "First Act": "Rondeau— Mr. Phile." He can not have remained very long in Philadelphia, because we find him a month after his concert engagement in Philadelphia at New York and offering his services as music teacher. The adver- tisement reads:'' Music. Philip Phile, most respectfully offers his service to Lovers of Instru- mental Musick, in Teaching the Violin and German Flute methodically. Attend- ance will be given at his Lodgings No. 82 Chatham Row, near Vande Waters. He will also wait on such Gentlemen, aa would wish to take Lessons, at their own Houses. N. B. Musick copied at the above mentioned place. Feb. 20. Not quite two months after this advertisement was inserted Phile reappeared in public in Philadelphia, and it seems as if he was ex- pressly called from New York. The "Syllabus" of the magnificent "First Uranian Concert," which was performed at the German ON. Y. Packet 1786, July 13. b Pa. Packet, Jan. 13, 1787. cN. Y. Daily Advertiser, Feb. 21, 1787, 60 Hail Columbia. Kefonned Church on April 12, 1787, under the direction of the ambi- tious Andrew Adgate," contains his name among the "Authors" in the following manner: "IV . . . Concerto Violino By Mr. Phile of New York." In the following year "Mr. Rehine's Concert of Vocal and Instru- mental Music," which was to have taken place on November 26 at the City Tavern in Philadelphia, was ' ' postponed on account of the bad- ness of the weather 'till Friday Evening the 29th.'" In this concert the restless Mr. Phile was to play "Solo Violino" in the first act- * An entire "Amateurs Concert" was given "For the Benefit of Philip Phile" on January 29, 1789, "at the house of Henry Epple in Racestreet." The orchestral numbers were three "Grand Over- tures" by Vanhall, Haydn, and Martini. As soloists we notice Reinagle with a pianoforte sonata. Wolf with a "Concerto Clarinetto," and Phile. The latter played in the first act a "Concerto Violino" and in the second a "Solo Violino." It really seems as if Phile was the fashionable violin virtuoso of the day, constanly "on the road" between New York and Philadelphia, for again a "Violin Concerto by Phile" was to be performed at "A Concert of Sacred Music" which the recently founded "Musical Society of New York" gave on Thursday, June 18, 1789, at the Lutheran Church in order to cover the expenses resulting from the purchase of an organ by the Society." It may be that during all these years Phile remained the leader of the orchestra of the Old American Company, but it is by no means certain, as the fact is nowhere mentioned. We only know (from Durang) that he held this position about 1785. If some of the writers whom I have quoted claim that he was the leader of the orchestra in the John Street Theater at New York in 1789, they forgot to refer to their source of information, and therefore can not be con- sidered as historically trustworthy. Phile became tired of his erratic hfe and he decided to "continue his residence " in Philadelphia. Of this decision he gave pubhc notice in the Pennsylvania Packet for December 16, 1789: Mr. Phile most respectfully inlonns the citizens of Philadelphia, particularly those Gentlemen he had the honour to instruct formerly, that the unavoidable necessity •which occasioned his abscence has now ceased, and that he is determined to continue his residence in this city. He hopes from the many proofs he has afforded of his abilities as a Teacher of dif- ferent Instruments of Music, to meet with the Patronage of a generous Public. He proposes to instruct Gentlemen on the Violin, Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon. Mr. Phile is willing to render every satisfaction; this, with a particular attention to those Gen- tlemen who may please to encourage him, will, he trusts, establish the Reputation he is desirous to merit. o Pa. Packet, April 9. 6 Federal Gazette, Nov. 26, 1788. c N. Y. Daily Adv. and N. Y. Daily Gaz. for June 12, 1789. Hail Columbia. 61 Directions to Mr. Phile, living in Race street between Front and Second street, will be punctually attended to. N. B. Music copied. Philadelphia, Dec. 14. Undoubtedly Phile resided at Philadelphia during the year 1790, as on March 18, 1790, "A Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music for the Benefit of Mr. Phile " was to be given,'' and as half a year later, on Saturday, October 16, he performed a "Flute Concert" at Messrs. Gray's Gardens, the entertainment concluding with "Harmony Music by Mr. Phile."* These concerts at Gray's fashionable gardens were held regularly during the summer months and were by no means of the "roof garden " order. The best performers of Philadelphia were engaged for the instrumental and vocal solos, and music only of composers then con- sidered as the best was played. The concert mentioned, for instance, comprised grand overtures by Haydn, Schmitt, Martini, and sym- phonies by Stamitz and Abel. For the years 1791 and 1792 I have not been able to trace Phile's name, but I find him as "Phile Phihp, music master, 207 Sassafrasst" in the Philadelphia directory for 1793. Then he disappears, and it is very hkely that he died a victim of the yellow fever epidemic raging so terribly at Philadelphia during 1793, for we notice a "Phile, Susanna, widow. Washer, 86 No. Fourth st." in the directory for 1794. This is a curriculum vitse of PhiHp Phile, as far as I could glean / it from newspapers and other sources. Not once is he mentioned as author of the "President's March." However, as he evidently was a composer besides being a viohn virtuoso, so far neither chronology nor circumstances seriously weaken J. C.'s or Custis's claims in favor of Phile. George Washington Parke Custis claimed that the march was composed by a German named Fyles in 1789, in contradistinction to [Francis Hopkinson's ?] Washington's March, and that it was struck up when the President entered the stage box with his family. He does not state when the march was first played, far less does he claim that the march was composed for the occasion of Washington's first visit to the John Street Theater in New York. We have to examine his account as it stands and are not justified in embellishing it, as Saffell, Nason, and others have done. I feel inclined to trust Custis's version neither as a solid basis for air castles, nor as a reflex of direct and authentic information bearing upon the subject, nor as a supplementary evidence in favor of J. C.'s Phile tradition. It might be objected that Custis, having become a member of Washington's family a few months after his birth, ought to be con- sidered a reliable witness and out of reach of historical skepticism. Certainly, if it were evident that he visited the theater with the president on May 11, June 5, November 24 and 30, 1789, the only a Pa. Packet, T. March 16, 1790. b Federal Gazette, Fr. Oct. 15, 1790. 62 Hail Columbia. four times, according to Baker's "Washington after the Kevolution," and Paul Leicester Ford's charming book, "Washington and the theater," <» that the president attended theatrical performances in New York. This, however, is not the case, and we have no means of ascertaining whether or not Custis himself heard the President's March played on these occasions. In the second place, are the rec- ollections of a boy of 8 years rehable? Certainly not; but this argu- ment applies to Custis, who was born in 1781, on the 30th of April.* Furthermore, the "Recollections" were written during a period of thirty years, and their preface is dated by the author "Arlington House Near Alexandria, Va. 1856." Is it not most likely that Custis, when "recollecting" the events of the year 1789, was forced to supplement his or his family's reminiscences with information gained from other sources, in particular from tradition and the study of books? When a boy of 8 years George Washington Parke Custis probably was not very much interested in the name of the composer of a march. Even if he was, such early recollections can not be considered a safe basis for critical history. If he learned the name later on, especially after twenty or thirty years had elapsed, then his account has merely the strength of hearsay. Neither the diary which Washington kept in 1789, nor the old newspapers, nor other contemporary sources mention a performance of the President's March at the New York theater in 1789, nor have such lovers of historical minutiee discovered any ref- erence to that effect. Possibly the "President's March" was played in 1789 on one or several occasions when George Washington visited the theater, but we are not obhged nor even justified in admitting it, and with the admission of this possibility as a fact we would still be very distant from positive proof of the authenticity of Custis's state- ment that the "President's March" was composed hy Phile in 1789. "The President's March," said J. C, "was composed by a Professor Pfyle, and was played at Trenton bridge when Washington passed over on his way to New York to his inauguration." It seems not to have entered the mind of any of the historians quoted, except William S. Baker, to search for the contemporary accounts of this occasion. The research would not have caused them very much trouble, as quite a number of newspapers printed reports of the "respectful ceremonies" at Trenton, among them the Pennsylvania Mercury for Saturday, May 2, 1789; the Pennsylvania Packet for M., April 27, and the New York Journal for April 30. By neglecting the newspapers the writers missed a most important clue, as will readily be seen from the report printed in the Pennsylvania Packet : o Published in 1899 as No. 8 of the New Series of the Dunlap Society Publications. 6Comp. Appleton or the "Memoir of George Washington Parke Custis" prefixed by his daughter to the "Recollections." Hail Columbian 63 A Spnata Smig,by a Number of young Girls, dressed in ^hite and decked with , , iWr^atjhs and iChaplets qi Flowers, holfiingr Baskets Of Flow^a-s in their Hands, as Qeneral Washington passed under the triumphal Arch, raised on the Bridge a* ' Trenton, April 21, 1789.'' ;', ".' ' . ' , , i \Y9lc0me, mighty chief ! on£e more, , :, , ' ' Welcome to this grateful shore ..:'.• ■} No* ho mercenary foe ';'':',' Aims again the fatal blov , Aims at th'ee the f^tal blow. , Virgins fair and Matrons grave ' J i '= ! ..Those thy <;onquering arms did say^ — ^ : , ; ■■ " • Build for thee triumphal bowers! . . , ', I Strew, yei fair, hiis Way with flowers^ i Strew your Hero's way with ^o^w,ers. r j ; As they sung these Lines they strewpd the Flowers beforp the (ieneral,'whO halted ymtil the Sonata was finished- The General being presented with a Copy of the Sonata, was pleased to address the following Card to the LacjlieS: i , , i To the Ladies of Trenton . , . General Washingtoii cannolj leave this Place without expressing his Acknowl- edgments to the Matrons and Young Lkdies who rebeiyed him ih sd novel and graceful 'a, Manner at th'O Triurtiphal Arch in Trenton, for the exqiiisite Sensa'tions he experienced in that SLffecting moment. i The aStoni^hihg Gontirast betweieh his former and actual Situation at itheis&ime spot, the elegant Tas;te with which it was, adorned for the present; occaslon-r-and the innocent Appearance of the White Robe|d Ohoir ^ho niet him with; the gratu- latory Song — have made such an impression on his Remembrance, as, he assures them, will never be effaced. , . Trenton, April 21, 1789, ; ' • ' I -, , ■ ■■ : ■ I I The other papers refebred to brought similar reports, all printing Sonata instead of cantaita,, with this important addition, however: 1' Sonata, composed" and set to music for the occasion." Of other music performed at Trenton bridge on this day, and especially of music composed for the occasion, not a syllable in any of the reports. I One is almost led to suppose that this "Sonata" was the piece ^lluded to by J. C. and attributed by one of the jperformers, and latep by Phile's son, to Philip Ehile as the "President's March." ' At last .the problem appears to approach solution. J.. C.'s state- ment seems toj be corroborated to the degree of circumstantial evif- dence by this kccount, and Philip Phile, indeedj, seems to have been!, beyond reasonkble doubt,Hhe ! author of the much-disputed march. Our joy is premature. New Music. Just published (Price 3 S. 9) and to be Sold by Rice & Co. Book- sellers; South side Market near Second Street. A chorus, sung before General Washington, as he passed under the triumphajl I Arch raised oh Ithe Bridge at Trenton, April 21st. 1789;, composed and dedicated ' by pfermission, jto Mrs. Washington! By A. Reinagle. | '• ; This- advertisement wa,s puMshed in the Pennsylvania Packet, 'fuesday, Decenjiber 29, 1789. i Therewith we h^ve a third and for- midable claimant in the person of one of the forei^aost musicians in the I a Mr. Baker attributes the words to Maj. Richard Howell,;later on governor of New Jersey. 64 Hail Columbia . country, the composer of numerous operas, sonatas, songs, marches, in particular of the "Federal March," written for and performed at Philadelphia on July 4, 1788, in the grand procession in honor of the Constitution, the only known copy of which is now in the Library of Congress. If the music of the chorus sung on the bridge at Trenton was identical with that of the President's March, then, of course, Alexander Reinagle's music was wedded to "Hail Columbia," and not Philip Phile's. Fortunately a copy of the "Chorus " is still extant to throw light on the puzzling situation. In their pamphlet on "Washington's reception by the ladies of Trenton," the Society of Iconophiles published in 1903 a reduced facsimile in copper photo- gravure of the piece as once in possession of Maj. Kichard Howell, supposed author of the poem in question. The extremely rare piece bears this title: Chorus sung before Gen. Washington as he passed under the Triumphal arch raised on the bridge at Trenton, April 2l8t, 1789. Set to music and dedicated by- permission to Mrs. Washington by A. B-einagle. Price i dollar. Philadelphia. Printed for the author, and sold by H. Ilfice, Market Street. The instrumental introduction and the first bars of the chorus may follow here to prove conclusively that Reinagle's chorus and the Presi- dent's March are not identical. Vivace, /2d Voice. Hail Columbia. 65 Here, then, is a pTi2;zlmg situation. Phile's son claimed that a march known as the President's March and composed by his father was played on the bridge at Trenton, and that he was one of the per- formers. On the other hand, there exists a composition by Reinagle, the title of which would seem to leave no doubt that it was played and sung on the same occasion to the words "Welcome, mighty chief! once more." If we were permitted to assume that hoth compositions figured on the programme of the festivities at Trenton, that would clear the situation somewhat, but no contemporary account mentions any music but the so-caUed "Sonata." Had the "President's March" been composed for the occasion the fact surely would have been men- tioned in the newspapers. Even if "The President's March" was already so popular as to be played as a matter of course in the presence of the President, the probabilities are that the march would have been reported by name or at least that the contemporary reports would have alluded to the performance of other music besides the "Sonata." Such, however, is not the case, and the issue can not be avoided. Either Reinagle's chorus was sung or "The President's March" had been fitted to Major Howell's words. Under the cir- cumstances it is fortunate that the rendition of Reinagle's chorus on the bridge at Trenton, all appearances to the contrary notwithstand- ing, is very doubtful for the foUovning reasons: (1) The printed title allows to read a distinction between chorus sung, which would then mean "words sung" and set to music. (2) They must have been sung before Washington on April 21, whereas Reinagle's composition was advertised in the Pennsylvania Packet, Philadelphia, December 29, 1789, as just published. An unusual interval between performance and pubhcation. (3) Reinagle's piece is engraved for "2 voice. 1 voice. 3 voice" with pianoforte accompaniment apparently reduced from orchestral score. The 3. voice stands in the bass clef, and the whole is com- posed for either a mixed chorus or a 3-part male chorus. But the Sonata was sung "by a number of young girls," and of a band or orchestra assisting on the occasion and accompanying the singers no mention is made. Any of these three observations alone might carry Uttle weight. Together they do, and combined with a fourth they appear to bear out the doubt that Reinagle's chorus was not composed for April 21, 1789. The "Plan" (programme) of the "New York Subscription Concert" for Tuesday, September 15, 1789, as it appears in the Daily Advertiser for the same day, reads : After the first act, will be performed a chorus, to the words that were sung, as Gen. Washington passed the Bridge at Trenton — The Music now composed by Mr. Reinagle. 85480—09 5 66 Hail Columbia. This implies that Reinagle's setting, pubHshed in December, was Thot the one sung when General Washington passed the bridge. Con- sequently Reinagle no longer interferes with the Phile tradition. The claim put forth for Phile's authorship of the President's March is by- no means yet proved, but it remains unshaken. It would be decidedly strengthened if it could be shown that the "Music of the Sonata" actually sung on April 21, 1789, and of the "President's March" were identical. As Reinagle did not compose the music for the occasion, and as Phile is the only other musician mentioned in connection with said occasion, appearances seem to be in his favor until counterbal- anced by the observation that the claim for Phile is based upon the reminiscences of one of the original performers confirmed later by Phile's son. The term performer without the addition vocal generally applies to a performer on some instrument. To have been a performer on said occasion would infer that the "Sonata" was sung with instru- mental accompaniment. To repeat it, nothing goes to show that such was the case. But in order not to push arguments too far, the possi- bility may be admitted either that the performer was a vocal performer, scilicet, one of the "young girls," or that the "Sonata" was really sung with instrumental accompaniment though not so described in any of the reports. We might even allow the combination of both possibihties for the simpUfication of matters. In that case the words of the "Sonata" were either fitted to the already popular "President's March," or this march was composed for the occasion and subse- quently became popular under the name of " The President's March." However, all this seems to be impossible, for a very simple reason. In my opinion the words of the "Sonata" can not Tiave been sung to any of the versions of " The President's March." Every attempt to fit the words of the "Sonata" to this march fails, even after the boldest surgical operations. Consequently, unless others succeed with such attempts, the conclusion is inevitable that the "Sonata" sung on the bridge at Trenton and the "President's March" were not identical. It follows that J. C.'s statement of 1841, Mke McKoy's of 1829, contains a serious flaw. Therefore we are not justified in accepting it aa authentic. To prove the point just raised, some of the earliest versions of the "President's March" are here submitted either in facsimile or in transcript. At the same time these musical quotations will show the musical genesis and partial transformation of "Hail Columbia" about the year 1800. (1) The arrangement for two flutes, on page 3, of the first number of R. Shaw's and B. Carr's "Gentleman's Amusement," Philadel- phia, Carr, April, 1794. See facsimile of the copy at the Library of Congress (Appendix, PI. IX). (This "Gentleman's Amusement" ia H ai I Columbia . 67 identical with the one advertised in the New York Daily Advertiser, May 8, 1794, as "Philadelphia printed for Shaw & Co.") (2) "President's March." Philadelphia, G. Willig, Mark[et] street 185, and therefore published between 1798 and 1803. See facsimile of the copy at the Library of Congress in Appendix, Plate X. The President's MaTch as In Shaw's Flute Preceptor. Philadelphia 1802. 'y^^- -r- f — d— r— 1- f — '^- =£=Pf=^ -T—±- "i* — r-^j*"!* — P — j«=f U 4 » — 1 4 — 1 -r J rr=EIH^— ^^ _J!1_J f— J i- -\ 1 I—I ! —f—f — r^f-r — 1— L^^LC^ L — V — M- L3 1 — -1 ^^^^^ ^ ^^^I=f -- ^ ^ t^ (4) The President's March as in the " Compleat Tutor for the rite," Philadelphia, G. ■Willig, ca. 1805. i» » ■ »» -^-r -fi^-^ft" ^ 68 Hail Columbia. Now, it is a singular fact that, to my knowledge, "The President's March" is nowhere mentioned in contemporary sources before the year 1794. That it was popular about 1794 is clear, as it otherwise would hardly have been printed in Shaw and Carr's " Gentleman's Amusement." Some months later the Old American Company, then playing at the Cedar Street Theatre in Philadelphia, advertised in the American Daily Advertiser, September 22, for the same evening that — . . . previous to the tragedy [the Grecian Daughter] the band will play a new Federal Overture, in which are introduced several popular airs; Marseilles hymn, 5a ira, O dear what can the matter be. Rose Tree, Carmagnole, "Presidents' March," Yankee Doodle, etc. Composed by Mr. Carr. This "Federal Overture," by Benjamin Carr, was published 1795 in an arrangement for two flutes in the fifth number of Shaw and Carr's "Gentleman's Amusement." Had the march been well known as "The President's March" in 1789 and later, why should A. Rei- nagle's much less popular "Federal March" and Sicard's "New Con- stitutional March and Federal Minuet" (both 1788) and other patri- otic pieces have been pubhshed and not "The President's March?" And if published, advertisements to that effect would have appeared before 1794 in the newspapers, as was the case with all early American musical publications, either sacred or secular. We must not forget that the demand for patriotic music was very eager in those days, and a march in honor of President Washington would have sold well. Furthermore, had the air been really popular during the years imme- diately following 1789, at least one of the innumerable pohtical and patriotic songs which were to be sung to popular melodies (and the words with tune indication of most of these songs were printed in the newspapers or magazines) would show the indication: "Time — President's March." Such is not the case, but it seems to be a fact that all songs, which, like "Hail Colunabia," were fitted to this tune, appeared in print after 1794. Therefore, while the analysis of traditions, reports, and contem- porary evidence so far submitted permits us to concentrate our atten- tion upon Phile more than on Roth as the possible author of the "President's March," it does not yet permit us, if at all interested in sound history, to attribute the "President's March" with something like certainty to Philip Phile, and most decidedly not to date the origin of the march 1789. Here, then, the matter rested when recently the hoped-for accident helped to clear the situation still further. At the Governor Penny- packer sale the Library of Congress acquired a lot of miscellaneous early American musical pubhcations. Among the fragments appears an unnumbered page, evidently torn from an engraved music collec- tion for the pianoforte, bearing two marches, one, Hail Columbia . 69 THE PKESIDENTS MARCH, BY PHEIL, the other, fortunately, "March, by MoUer." Fortunately, because the reference to the name of John Christopher Moller proves that the page can not have been printed before his arrival in America in 1790, and that it most probably forms part of one of the publications issued by Moller and Henri Capron at Philadelphia in 1793. The importance of this page therefore lies in the fact that "The President's March" was attributed to Pheil and not to Roth as early as about 1793. Consequently this probably earliest edition of the march (see Appen- dix, PI. XI), though it does not assist us in dating and locating the origin of "The President's March," removes all reasonable doubt from the tradition that the music of "Hail Columbia" was composed by Philip Phile. A comparison of the "Hail Coltimbia" texts, as they appear in song books, is unnecessary, because practically no verbal differences have crept into Joseph Hopkinson's poem. It may be noticed, however, that the autograph which was formerly in possession of Mr. C. D. Hil- debrand, of Philadelphia, and which Admiral Preble reproduced in facsimile in the second edition of his book on our flag," has in the first stanza "war was done" instead of "war was gone." The latter ver- sion not only is the one now customary, but it appears in the two earliest printed versions of "Hail Columbia," described above. For this reason the Hildebrand autograph probably is not the earliest or even an early autograph copy. Two other copies in Joseph Hopkin- son's hand are mentioned by Preble in this manner : "During the centennial year an autograph copy of ' Hail Columbia ' was displayed in the museum at Independence Hall, Philadelphia. This copy was written from memory Feb. 22, 1828, and presented to George M. Keim, esq., of Reading, in compliance with a request made by him. It has marginal notes, one of which informs us that the passage 'Behold the Chief refers to John Adams, then President of the United States. Mr. Hopkinson also presented General Washing- ton with a copy of his poem, and received from him a comphmentary letter of thanks, which is now in the possession of his descendants." An autograph copy signed and dated "Philadelphia, March 24, 1838" (4°, 3 p.) was offered for sale in Henkels's "Catalogue of Auto- graph Letters," 1895. The added facsimile showed that this 1838 copy has the marginal note about John Adams and done instead of gone in the first stanza, thereby corroborating the claim that the Hildebrand copy is of a comparatively late date. To whom this 1838 copy was sold, I do not know. Until recently the Pennsylvania Historical Society possessed two autograph copies of " Hail Columbia," oFrom there facsimiled by Mary L. D. Ferris for her article on "Our National Songs" in the New England Magazine, 1890, pp. 483-504. 70 Hail Columbia one of them coming from the Hopkinson family papers, but the society has since disposed of one of the two. The other is here repro- duced in facsimile by permission of the society. (See Appendix as Plates Vllla-VIIIb.) If a text comparison of "Hail Columbia" is lumecessary, not so a comparison of the musical settings, or rather arrangements. First, in order to show the difference between the old and the new way of singing the "President's March" to the words of "Hail Columbia," the edition which Willig printed between 1798 and 1803 will be com- pared with the probably simultaneous edition of a copy which has been reproduced in facsimile by Mr. Elson in his books, as mentioned before. From these early editions I turn immediately to current song books, selecting for the purpose the same as was done for "The Star- Spangled Banner" chapter (see p. 41). Also the same principle and method of comparison will be adopted with this difference, that the text is added, since it is sometimes placed differently under the notes. "The President's March. A new Federal song," Philadelphia, G. Willig, between 1798 and 1803. '-^^^^^^ 1 Hail! Co - lum - bia, hap - py land! Hail! ye he - roes, heav'n-born baud! 6 7 Who fought and bled In tree dom'3 [ cause, Who fought and bled In 11 J -^ A ^-^ 9 ^^ 10 ,^ — -^^ -*-• — ^ — m- - - . (• — r-8» 1 — ^—3 X : i 1 ^^=g=5=l== 4 i tree-dom'3 cause. And when the storm of war was gone, En-joy'd the peace your 14 g^^i^^^ ■^ i: :£^i -^^ val - or won; Let In - de- pen-deuce be our boast, Ev - ermind-tul 18 I 16 17 =#: m fuS ^ 19 20 ^^i^E '^^^ E^EE^E what it cost, Ev - er grateful for the prize, Let its al - tar reach the skies. As a band of brothers join'd. Peace and sate-ty we shall find Hail Columbia. 71 instead of alia breve: E. tJ E. E. ^: B ; F ; G ; J ; M ; R ; Si ; W. ( Hail Columbia is not in A.; Sli.; Sm.; Z. ) 2 4 P^^ p^ i Eg^g^gE flE£,gEgg^=g ^i^i^ii ^^ G ; J. F ; W. Wlio G ; J. Who M ; K. 6 7 Wlio Si. Who Li^ ^iH ^Bl =t=t= fought and hied in Free-dom's cause, Who fought and bled In Free-dom's cause.And F; G; J; M; E; Si; W. F;M;K;Si-,W. F; G ; J; M ; K ; Si; W. F ; M ; E; Si ; W. The grace note g is discarded in modern editions. 12 1* - -•- . lEE^EE And when the Storm of val - or won; Let J G ; J. F; G; J: M; E; Si; W.G ; J. 16 M G; J; Si. M; K. 72 Hail Columbia For eight song books, selected at random, to thus differ in the majority of bars of a national song of 28 bars, is a deplorable state of affairs. It means that if 8 children, each famUiar with one of these song books, were to sing "Hail Columbia" together, not one would sing the melody exactly like any of the other 7 children. One is ashamed as an American to think of the result, if not 8, but 80 current song books were similarly examined! The discrepancies between current versions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" are regrettable enough, but those between current versions of "Hail Columbia" evidently are still worse." a This report was in proof sheets when Mr. Otto Hubach, financial editor of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung and from 1876-1883 an officer in the Prussian army in- formed me of his recollection "that the march to which the text of 'Hail Columbia' is sung dates from the time of Frederick the Great and for more than one hundred years has been officially used in the Prussian army as ' Altpreussisches Rondo' and that the infantry manual still in his time mentioned under accredited marches this rondo." I have not yet had occasion to verify this information. That the infantry manual contains a march at least similar to the "President 's March' ' I have no reason to doubt, though the latter is by no means a rondo. Nor do I see how Mr. Hubach's recollections interfere at all with Philip Phile's authorship. Like many other foreign marches, his may have found its w3,y to Prussia to be used on special official occasions. I suspect a slight error somewhere in Mr. Hubach's recollections. At any rate, neither Thouret nor Kalkbrenner ( ' ' Verzeichnis samtlicher kgl . preussischen Armee-Marsche, ' ' 1896) substantiate Mr. Hubach's recollections so far as they affect place and date of origin of the "President's March," which may safely be attributed to Philip Phile, until facts render this impossible. AMERICA. Rev. Samuel F. Smith's (1808-1895) "America" does not call for elaborate treatment in a report like this. In the first place, words and tune show a praiseworthy uniformity in the song books. The only difference between the 12 song books selected, which is at all worth mentioning, is that Aiken, Gantvoort, Jepson, Ripley, Zeiner have in the forelast bar — Let free-dom ring. whereas Boyle, Farnsworth, McLaughlin, Shirley, Siefert, Smith, Whiting have — '^ T.afr fma i^nm i