National anthem

“ As a final effort the conductor called upon every one to join in the National Anthem. Up rose ten thousand or twelve thousand persons, and, as one man, they sang their patriotic verses beneath the blue canopy of heaven. ”

“ Each time I attend at Liberty Hall, I come away with the music of the Universal Ethiopian Anthem ringing in my ears. The melody is a shirring one possessing the power and the grip of La Marsellaise. The last time I heard it rendered, it roused me even more than on the previous occasions I heard it sung. All national anthems have a history. What was it that impelled the composer of this beautiful, devotional, inspiring anthem with this theme? ”

“ Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans. Preston's reverence for those who have served our Nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem. ”

“ Thus the national anthem was played at the hour of the formal surrender of Japan on the Missouri and also when General MacArthur set up power in Tokio, “and the same historic flag was flown on both occasions.” The Star-Spangled Banner always has a special appeal when it is rendered in the presence of the Stars and Stripes. Our national anthem had gone with the nation from peace to war and from war to peace. ”

“ Civilians wishing to pay the proper honor to the National Anthem should stand at attention whenever present at any place where the National Anthem is played and if covered they should remove the headdress and hold it opposite the left shoulder while standing at attention during the playing of the music. ”

“ The civilians in the lobby who were already standing began to pull their hats off sheepishly like embarrassed peasants. People were still as self-conscious as if the song had just been written. They would soon learn to feel the tremendous importance of that eternal query, the only national anthem, perhaps, that ever began with a question and ended with a prayer. Americans would soon learn to salute it with eagerness and to deal ferociously with men––and women, too––who were slow to rise.
Marie Louise watched Davidge curiously. ”

“ In this land of ours, this America, our songs are dedicated to love and romance, the blue of the night, sails in the sunset, and not to might or to a martyrdom to political cause. Our national anthem has martial words, difficult air. But if you want to hear the organ roll give the people its companion—"America . ”

“ Who would not rush out to fight Zulus, or any other savages, to stirring sounds of First Horse Guards' band, and cheered by all sorts and kinds of inspiriting music? You march to a popular song, you build bridge to polka, you make zerebas to the lilt of a waltz, you charge to a galop, and you return victorious to the National Anthem! ”

“ And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support. America will never forget the sounds of our National Anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on the streets of Paris, and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. ”

“ Sung by Lowell Mason’s children’s chorus, it was rapidly introduced and was presently viva voce accepted as the long-desired National Anthem. Practically an improvisation, not intended for wide use, it is open to criticism; but it is greatly superior to its only competitor for national honors, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” because of its practicability in singing, its dignity, and its noble expression of the American spirit. That it refers to hills and not to prairies, and speaks of “pilgrim’s pride” (without the capital) is open only to captious criticism. ”

“ On all our public buildings the nation's flag was flung to the breeze, and even in our schools the girls and boys were proud to stand up and salute, and sing the national anthem.
You will see men everywhere who wear pins or seals or rings that show they belong to some society; and in college, the students hang on the walls the pennants with the names of their home town or their college, and nobody blushes because they are there. ”

“ The poorer class, ragged and barefooted, gathers outside the iron fence and peers through the bars; the children run and play noisily on the neighboring streets. At last the bells in the cathedral boom the hour of ten; the band plays the national anthem, when every one stands, the men with uncovered heads. ”

“ For comments on the author, Samuel F. Smith, see Hymn 324.
MUSIC. AMERICA is also the tune used with the national anthem of Britain, “God save the king.” The melody is of obscure origin. It has been known in England for several centuries. In Denmark it was used toward the end of the 18th century for a national hymn, “Heil dir dem liebenden,” and in Germany it was widely used in Prussian and other northern states to patriotic words. In earlier days in the United States, the words, “Come Thou Almighty King,” were sung to this tune. The tune has thus nearly come to be an International Anthem. ”

“ No Englishman is stirred by the name 'British,' the name 'English' irritates all Scotchmen, and the Irish are irritated by both alike. Our national anthem is a peculiarly flat and uninspiring specimen of eighteenth-century opera libretto and opera music. ”

“ If the people, dissatisfied with peace and plenty, met in the parks to sing the Marseillaise, The Big One had only to open his mouth and they at once all went off as quietly as Sunday-school children, and all fell to singing the National Anthem. ”

“ It is a stirring melody with all the qualities of a national anthem, though unfortunately its partisan inspiration and associations will not allow it to be such. There is nothing to record in the way of patriotic songs since the stormy days of the Civil War. Peaceful times have [Pg 330] turned composers' attention elsewhere, and progress in the higher forms of art music has gone on apace. Accordingly, it now becomes our duty to record the achievements of American musicians in the field of conscious creative endeavor. ”

“ It is the place of all ceremonies, the one place sacred to all that is best in tradition, rules of conduct, liberty, national achievements on the sea, national hopes and aspirations. It must never be profaned.
The sound of the first bar of the national hymn brings every naval man who hears it to attention. The mental attitude is one of intense respect as well. That anthem [280] never becomes a bore to the officers and men. ”

“ I've heard the President comment about the prayers and the candle-lightings around the world, the fact that the American National Anthem was sung at the Elysee. And these are powerful signals that the world is sending as the world stands as one. ”

“ Not until the Civil War was it widely accepted as a national anthem, and then came two more paraphrases in St. George Tucker's attempt to requisition it for the Confederacy in The Southern Cross and in Oliver Wendell Holmes's added stanza. ”

“ Long may she reign!
May she be near to us,
Ever more dear to us,
Oftener appear to us,
God save the Queen!
Truth. February 17, 1887. An Improved “National Anthem.”
At the opening of the People’s Park, Manchester, by Prince Albert, a greatly improved “National Anthem” was sung, it would make an excellent substitute for the objectionable old version. As an improved “National Anthem,” perhaps there is none more worthy than the following, by Mr. ”

“ If over half a century ago this ascription was true, how much more so is it in these later days when the ideal of the "morning drum-beat" has been transmuted into actual fact in the "continuous and unbroken strain" of the "Diamond Anthem" of the rejoicings at the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, [197] when, [Pg 291] commencing at Suva at 4 p.m. on that Sunday afternoon, the National Anthem was taken up in the assemblies in almost every place in the outer British Dominions as the sun came over them in succession around the world, until it had come back again to Fiji on the following day. ”

“ English, Scotch, Irish, Australian and New Zealand Colonials, Chinese, Germans, Swedes, among whom the characteristic bushy hair of the Fijian and other South Sea Islanders was prominent, there found themselves shoulder to shoulder in the antipodes of the British Empire earnestly rolling forth our grand old National Anthem, thus giving the keynote of thanksgiving to the entire world. The Masons and Odd Fellows appeared in regalia and the Levuka brass band was in attendance. ”

“ In the library of the Royal College of Music four out of the five chants described as ‘Welles tunes’ are attributed to Jackson, together with the organ part of the service in C, and of the anthems, ‘The days of Man,’ ‘O Lord, let it be Thy pleasure,’ ‘The Lord said unto my Lord,’ ‘O how amiable,’ ‘Christ our Passover,’ ‘Many a time’ (a thanksgiving anthem for 9 Sept. 1683) , ‘God standeth in the congregation,’ and ‘I said in the cutting off of my days’ (a thanksgiving anthem for recovery from a dangerous illness) . ”

“ Manuscript music by Goldwin includes twenty-one anthems, service in F, and motet in Christ Church Library, Oxford, four anthems in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, seven anthems in Tudway's collection, British Museum (Harl. 7341–2) , and others at Ely Cathedral. The favourite anthem, 'I will set God always before me,' six voices, was published in Boyce's 'Cathedral Music,' vol. ii. ”

“ Thither also repair all the young subalterns, also for the purpose of hearing the music.
At the end of every performance the national anthems of all our brave Allies are played, each brave Ally standing rigidly to attention the while, in compliment to the others. As we have a lot of brave Allies these days, all with long national war-whoops, this becomes somewhat of a strain. ”

“ A thousand voices shout, "God save the King!"
When victory follows with our eagle's glance,
Our nation's anthem pipes a country dance!
Some prouder Muse, when comes the hour at last,
May shake our hillsides with her bugle-blast;
Not ours the task; but since the lyric dress
Relieves the statelier with its sprightliness,
Hear an old song, which some, perchance, have seen
In stale gazette or cobwebbed magazine. ”

“ In an instant, the thousands of throats join in the sound; the roll of song deepens to a diapason; the solemn, forceful march of the melody is irresistible; all France seems to be joining with prayer and power in her loved anthem. ”