Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-05-01

band, had songs indited to her. One
pathetic, and yet amusing, speci-
men of the Revolutionary period is
Ientitled Lady washington" 1t be-
lgins with flamboyant rhetoric, saw
Iyou my hero? Saw you my hero
George" According to the song,
Mrs. Washington goes on to say
that she has been out looking for
her hero. She has inquired of
every swami unIy 20 be told that
the missing general was in the van
of the battle. The song ends with
a dramatic line in which Lady
Washington implores the SWANS to
return my hero George"
The conception of this emotional
song was certainly lofty enough,
and sincere. But it is a little diff
ficult for us to picture the digni-
fled Mrs. Washington of Mt. Ver-
non going about the countryside to
inquire of the SWANS if they have
seen George. Whether this sim
pie ditty was ever performed be-
fore Mrs. Washington or what she
may have thought of it is, unfor-
|tunately, not recorded.
One of the Oldest looking manu-
III tllb thlllDll ID
ton of the best psalm tunes en-
graved by Paul Revere and sold by
him and Josiah Flag, Boston. 1854"
The preface of the little old vol
ume closes with the quaint remark:
ut Is hoped it will not diminish
the Value of this Book in the Es-
timatlon of any, but may in some
Degree recommend it even to those
who have no particular Relish for
the Musick, that however we are
obliged to the other Side of the
Atlantick chiefly for our Tunes
the Paper on which they are print
ed is the Manufacture of our own
Country"
In spite of the intensely patriot
ic character of the early music OF
the republic, almost all the COM
posers were foreign born. The
first native born American COM
poser, Francis Hopkinson, is rep
resented in the exhibit by one of
his manuscript song books and a
letter written to him by Thomas
jefferson. 1t was the son of this
Francis Hopkinson who wrote the
words OF Hail, Columbia"
Composer Statesman, Too.
The first American composer
was one of the signers of the Dec
laration of Independence, and his
portrait hangs today in Declara-
ton chamber of independence
hall, Philadelphia. 1t shows a!
man with mild. idealistic face,
holding a quill pen.
Much of the music Of the colon
ial composers has passed into his
toric collections and much into
oblivion. The march written for
Jefferson's Inauguration and the
national song concentrating the
Louisiana Purchase are forgotten.
But a few of those exalted out
bursts of patriotism are still de-
pended upon to inspire patriotic
emotion today. The words to "The
Star Spangled Banner" written
during the war Of 1912, place this
famous song in later period than
that covered by colonial music
collection. The tune, however. was
known and widely used long be-
fore. The melody had been first
called "Anacreon in Heaven" and |
a song called adams and Liberty
had been sung to it long before |
Francis Scott Key wrote his set Of |
verses.
Hail, Columbia" both words !,
and music, survived this colonial
era, and is now an American clas- |
sic. America" came later, but its |
tune Of God Save the King" Dor !
rowed from England, was a promi- /
nent feature of a number of popu- |
lar songs in colonial America.
Our most inspiring nationa, |
songs are souvenirs of this golden
age OF patriotic music. Today |
composers and poets seem to have
lost the knack, of producing ma
tional songs. There is more de-
mand for songs for home, mother,
and the girl, and the law OF sup
ply and demand works Just as
surely now as it did in 1890. But |
some Americans believe that the
Great American national anthem is
not among these colonial pieces,
that 1t is still to be written in an
other golden age of patriotic song.