Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-03-11

| sic made under Sucn inspiring lHhu-
ences. Getting a brief furlough, the
brothers (and here Mr.. Sonneck in
serts two loud exclamation marks)
sang it in public soon after"
The author has kept strictly within
his official instructions, making no at
tempt whatever to cast the dice In ia
yor of any edition in contradistinction
| to anv other. The task of the govern
ment in issuing an official pronunc1a-
mento now appears to be no easy mat
ter, especially in the case of THE Star
Spangled Banner" In his Report
Mr., Sonneck finds that, not counting
the original draft, at least five copies
of 1.-The Star-Spangled Banner" In
Keys handwriting exist at the present
time or have existed, and that these
differ in several respects from each
other.
In one of these manuscript copies,
owned by Louis J. Cist. for example,
| the first line begins, 20, say can We
see," instead of 20, say can you see;;"
"at the twllight's last cleaning" be-
comes "by the twilight's last CLEAN
ing" broad stripes and bright stars"
| Is reversed to read bright stars and
broad stripes" clouds of the fight"
replaces "perilous flight; "On the
shore dimly seen" begins ION that
Shore" TN full glory reflected now
shines in the stream" ends with the
words, ION the stream" and the
phrase, Between their lov'd home"
stands Between their lov'd homes"
Mr.. Sonneck's account of his re-
searches regarding the origin of yam
kee Doodle" is unusually entertaining.
He found that since 1875, when the
public began to be interested in the
song, it has been claimed that it was
composed by a British officer of the
Revolution; that the air had it's origin
in military march, "Schwaelmer
Tanz," introduced into this country by
the Hessians during the War for Inde-
| pendence; that the first part OF the
| tune is identical with the DANA Is
parta" and the tune had It's origin in
the Pyrenees; that the air is of Hun
garian origin; that the tune was in
| troduced by harvest laborers in Hol-
| land; that the air was composed by
| the Fife Major of the Granad1er
| Guards about 1850 as a march; that
the tune was founded on an English
| tune common among the peasantry of
England previous to the time of
| Charles l.; that it was set during the
time of Cromwell to various ditties in
ridicule of the Protector; that in the
reign of Charles II. the tune was sung
| to the words, Lucy Lost Her Pocket"
that the air is the same as that of the
New England Jig, Lydia Fisher" pop
ular in New England before the Revo-
luton; that the earliest printed YER
| sion of the air appears in six-eight
time in an eighteenth century dance
collection; that the air is that of Kit
| ty Fishers Jig" printed in one of
| ThomsOn's country dance books, in
! triple time; that the song is identical
with an Air from Ulysses" opera by
], c. Smith; that the tune Did Little
! Dickey Ever Trick YEP" in an opera
| by Arne (about 1850 is the same as
| Yankee Doodle" that DR.. Shuckburg
wrote the Yankee Doodle" verses to
| an old-fashioned jig; that Dr. Shack
| burg, wit and surgeon in the English
army, encamped in 1855 near Albany,
composed 1t as a joke, and that the
air is of Irish origin and is identical
with "All the Way to Galway"
In the Yankee Doodle" chapter we
are also reminded that this one of our
| national songs, at least, has gradually
become a national march, or air, as
| one scarcely ever hears it sung as a
song, nowadays, in public or patriotic
| assemblages.
In comparing the prevailing editions
Of Hail Columbia in song books of
the day, Mr.. Sonneck found little to
criticise in the way of text differences;
but the music offered ample opportuni-
| ty. Even among current editions of
the song there are astonishing differ
ences in the music. An examination
of eight up-to-date song books selected
at random revealed differences in more
than half of the twenty-eight bars Of
the music. THE discrepancies be-
tween current versions Of The Star
| Spangled Banner are regrettable
enough" remarks the author. "but
those between current versions of Hail
Columbia evidently are still worse"