The Holbrook news., 1910-05-20
NATIONAL SONGS

sic made under such inspiring infiu-
 ences. Getting 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 fla
 vor of any edition in contradistinction
 to any other. The task of the govern
 ment in issuing an official pronuncia-
 mento now appears to be no easy mat ter. especially in the case of The Star | Spangied Banner" In his Report"
 MT Sonneck finds that, not counting the original draft, at least five copies of 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, 70, say can ye
 see,' instead of 70, say can you see;" at the twilights last gleaming" be- comes "by the twilight's last gleam- ing" broad stripes and bright stars"
 is reversed to read bright stars and bread stripes;" clouds of the fight" replaces "perilous flight" "On the shore dimly seen" begins "On that shore;" Tn full glory reflected now shines in the stream ends with the words, lon the stream" and the phrase, Between their lov'd home" stands Between their lov'd homes" Mir. Sonneck's account of his re- searches regarding the origin of Van kee Doodle" is unusually entertaining.
 He found that since 1775, 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 its origin in a 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 ''DanZa Els parta' and the tune had it's origin in the Pyrenees; that the air is of Hun garian origin; that the tune was in- tToduced by harvest laborers in Hol- land; that the air was composed by the Fife Major of the Granadier 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- lution; 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 J. c. Smith; that the tune Did Little Dickey Ever Trick Yer" in an opera by Arne (about 175O) 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 1755 near Albany, composed it as 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.
 h comparing the prevailing editions of Hail Columbia" in song books of the day, Mir 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 1 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"