The star-spangled banner (John Stafford Smith)
Music files
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- CPDL #21452: SVG Sibelius 4
- Editor: Ashley Etzkorn (submitted 2010-04-15). Score information: 18.8 x 23.9 cm, 1 page, 125 kB Copyright: Public Domain
- Number of voices: 1v Voicing: Soprano solo
- Instruments: A cappella
- Edition notes:
- Editor: David Newman (submitted 2008-08-02). Score information: Letter, 2 pages, 128 kB Copyright: Public Domain
- Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
- Instruments: Piano
- Edition notes: Cross posting by Art Song Central - Version prepared at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Education - Harmonized by Walter Damrosch - 3 Verses only - Edition in B Flat Major
- Editor: Joseph G. Stephens (submitted 2003-08-25). Score information: Letter, 2 pages, 82 kB Copyright: Personal
- Number of voices: 7vv Voicing: SSATTBB
- Instruments: A cappella
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: The Star-Spangled Banner
Composer: John Stafford Smith
Lyricist: Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)
Language: English
Published: "The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Description: "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, a then 35-year-old amateur poet who wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, by Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.
The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society in 1780, a London social club. "The Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), set to various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall stand ...") added on more formal occasions.
The words of "The Star Spangled Banner" were written by Mr. Key in 1814 under stirring circumstances. He was detained on board one of the British ships which attacked Fort McHenry. All night the bombardment continued, indicating that the fort had not surrendered. Toward the morning the firing ceased, and Mr. Key awaited dawn in great suspense. When light came, he saw that "our flag was still there," and in the fervor of the moment he wrote the lines of our national song. The tune is ascribed by the weight of authority to John Stafford Smith, an English composer who set it about 1780.
External websites:
- Entry at Wikipedia for the The Star-Spangled Banner.
- Official US site for the Star-Spangled Banner.
- Entry at IMSLP for The Star-Spangled Banner (Smith, John Stafford)
Original text and translations
English text 1 O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light |
3 And where is that band who so vauntingly swore |