Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-03-04
SONGS.

sic made under such inspiring inf1u-
| 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 IA
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
| Spangled Banner" In his Report
| Mr.. 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 ]. Cist, for example,
| the first line begins, 20, say can We
see," instead of 60 say can you see;
"at the twilight's last cleaning be-
comes "by the twilight's last gleam-
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 "On that
Shore" In full glory reflected now
shines in the stream" ends with the
| tho
phrase, Between their lov'd home"
stands Between their lov'd homes"
Mr.. Sonnecks account of his re-
searches regarding the origin of yam
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
Revolutions that the air had its origin
in military march, "Schwaelmer
Tanz" introduced into this country by
the Hessians during the War for Inde7
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
troduced 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 10 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
j. G. Smith; that the tune Did Little
Dickey Ever Trick Ye?" 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 it 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 il 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"