Blogtrek

To Anacreon in Heaven

Toastmaster Table Topics become blog topics. That's an easy transition. The one from today's meeting is "To Anacreon in Heaven". I was called upon to explain if anyone under the age of 50 knows the words to the Star Spangled Banner. [Warning: this hyperlink plays music.] I don't think it has anything to do with age. Most people know the words to the first verse but not the other verses. They were written by Francis Scott Key, and reflects the relief and joy that people found when they saw, throughout all the fighting at night, that the US Flag was tattered, but still flying over the fort. It seems to have been trivialized in our society to the extent where the last two words seem to be "play ball!"; perhaps we should reread the verses and ponder over their meaning.

Many people don't know the origin of the music. It was once a drinking song! "To Anacreon in Heaven" was sung in bars in colonial America in the 1700s. The range of the music is wide, an octave and a half. Not many of us have that kind of vocal range. It was purposely written that way, along with pompous and provocative words, to test the ability of people to sing it when half drunk. It begins "To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee…" and the first verse terminates with "The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine", referring to the ancient Roman god of wine and merriment. So next time we hear that anthem play, think of the drinking song which underlies it.