16
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
Music Week. This year The National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music of America decided to glean
from half a dozen cities, in widely different parts of
America, material for forming a national campaign,
with one special week to be uniformly observed
throughout our land.
Portland, one of the cities selected, is eager to
make an outstanding record. Already The National
Bureau has accepted the 'banquet program plans of
the local committee and ordered sufficient copies of
these books to supply over five hundred cities.
When New York City was preparing to observe
her second Music Week, the query came to the
ecutives through various channels,** Why so much
commotion for one week in a city already surfeited
with music, the ackuowledged musical center of
America ?”
The answer which they gave is applicable to the
people of this city, feeling the need of an answer to
this question, in regard to Portland’s Music Week
Festival, November Fifth to Twelfth.
The influence of Music must reach those vast circules of
the people who have not yet come under its beniflcent power,
and its blessings must be extended to every man, woman and
child, whatever be their age or their station in life, if music
is to fulfill its mission as a servant to all.
To emphasize the need of bringing music to the
masses, the information is supplied that less than
five per cent of the population of Portland can, gen­
erally speaking, be considered interested in musical
concerts.
The purpose of Music Week is to focus public at­
tention on music, through a concentration of musical
activities and to spread the influence and benefits of
music more widely among the people.
A more liberal appreciation of good music is part
of this nation’s Americanization purpose. Through
music, all races and nationalities may be brought
into closer touch and the language of music may be
readily made a vehicle to better understanding in the
development of American unity.
A Singing America will be more like home to
many people from foreign lands, who have brought
with them to the new homeland a world of goodness
contained in .the tender words and simple melodies
of the folksongs they learned in the land of their
birth.
SONGS AND POEMS OF AMERICA
17 EW OF THOSE who rise to their feet when the
1 strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is being
played or sung have familiarized themselves with
the circumstances under which this song was writ­
ten, who write it and who set it to music.
On another page, under the heading “Songs and
poems of America,” this foremost song of America
is printed in its entirety.
If the song has gained a preeminent place in the
hearts of Americans, the story of the song should,
likewise, make its impression, for the two are insep-
erable and incomplete one without the other.
The author of the words of the Star-Spangled Ban­
ner, America’s most stirring song of patriotism, is
Francis Scott Key. He was born in Frederick
county, in the state of Maryland, on the 1st of Aug­
ust, 1779.
The author’s family was among the early settlers,
and his father was an officer in the Revolutionary
army. Young Francis studied to become a lawyer, and,
upon being admitted to practice, entered upon a pro-
October, 1922«
fessional career in his home county. He became, early I
in life, known as a writer of lyrics and while he scat-1
tered his poetic products broadcast among his friends, I
he never thought of having them published. Most of I
them were scrawled upon the backs of letters and I
scraps of odd paper. After his death, friends, who I
attempted to gather his many verses with the ob-lI
ject of having them-published, found them too scat-1
tered and too incomplete to make an arrangement I
possible. Francis Key attained the height of his 1
legal career when he was elected District Attorney!
of Washington, D. C. He died in that city on the 11 th|
of January, in 1841.
During the war of 1812-1815, when the British I
fleet lay in Chesapeake Bay, Mr. Key went out from]
Baltimore in a small boat, under a flag of truce, to (
ask Lord Cockbum for the realease of a friend, a
civilian, who had (been captured and was held pris-l
oner onboard the Lord’s vessel. Instead of comply-1
ing with the request, Lord Cockbum also retained 1
Mr. Key. The following morning, September 13th,I
1814, Lord Cockburn commenced his bombardment!
of Fort McHenry, which continued twenty-four hours.!
Before the battle, Cockburn boasted that the!
American flag over the Fort would “yield in a few
hours.” Exposed to the fire from his friends, Francis
Key watched the battle all night, and when dawn!
came and he sighted “Old Glory,” still at the mast-1
head over Fort McHenry, he snatched an old letter!
from his pocket and, laying it on a barrel, gave vent!
to his delight in the writing of a poem, entitled “The!
Defense of Fort McHenry.” Subsequently, the poem!
was printed in the Baltimore Patriot and immediately
it found its way into the hands of the American de l
fenders.
Ferdinand Durany, a dramatic actor, read the poem!
effectively to the soldiers in encampment at Balti­
more. They begged him to set the words to music.!
He complied by taking the old air of “Adams antiI
Liberty,” and set the words to it. The effect was!
tremendous, as he sang it to the soldiers, who enthu­
siastically joined in the singing. Durany died in Ball
timore in 1815.
Shortly afterward, the original title was dropped!
and the song appeared under the new title, “The
Star-Spangled Banner.” Francis Key only wrote the I
first four verses of the song.
It was in 1861, forty-seven years after Mr. Key!
had written the song, and twenty years after his]
death, that Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes added another
stanza, a beautiful finale, to the illustrious song, that
carries at once a promise and a warning to all who
live under the folds of the Star-Spangled Banner.
This stanza should never be omitted today, when
the Star-Spangled Banner is being sung. The sug­
gestion is timely that this verse be added to the first I
and the fourth stanzas (usually the verses of the I
song that are being sung in public) whenever the song I
is being sung, either as a part of a program, at the I
opening or closing of a public meeting, on festival!
days or on our National Holiday.
It is said that the particular flag which inspired
the song, was a new one that Gen. George Armistead!
the defender of Fort McHenry, had made to replace!
the old one, which was badly tattered. The new ban­
ner was flung to the breeze for the first time on the
day the Lord Cockburn bombardment began!
During the battle, the General’s daughter!
Georgeanna, was born within the fort. With per mis-1
sion of the government, the hero of Fort McHenry