- John Stafford Smith
John Stafford Smith (
March 30 ,1750 –September 21 ,1836 ) was an English composer born in Gloucester, churchorganist , and earlymusicologist . He was one of the first serious collectors of manuscripts of works byJohann Sebastian Bach .He is best known for writing the music for "The Anacreontic Song", which became the tune for the American patriotic song
Star Spangled Banner following thewar of 1812 and in 1931 was adopted as the American national anthem.Life
John Stafford Smith was baptised in
Gloucester Cathedral on 30 March 1750, the son of Martin Smith, organist ofGloucester Cathedral from 1743-1782. He attended the Gloucester cathedral school where he became a boy-singer. He furthered his career as a choir boy at theChapel Royal ,London and also studied under the famous DrWilliam Boyce .By the 1770's he had gained himself a reputation as a composer and organist. He was elected as a member of the select
Anacreontic Society which boasted amongst its membership such persons asDr Johnson ,James Boswell , SirJoshua Reynolds andHenry Purcell .About 1780 Smith composed music for the society's constitutional song entitled "To Anachreon in Heaven". The words were by
Ralph Tomlinson (1744-1778) president of the society, and were inspired by the sixth-century BC Greek lyric poet ,Anacreon , who wrote odes on the pleasures of love and wine. The song became popular in Britain and also America following the establishment of several Anarchreontic Societies there.Stafford Smith later became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1784, organist for the Chapel Royal in 1802 and
Master of the Children in 1805. he also became lay-vicar ofWestminster Abbey . He was organist at theThree Choirs Festival held at Gloucester in 1790.John Stafford Smith is considered to be the first Englishman to be a serious
antiquarian andmusicologist . He began by publishing his "A Collection of English Song" in 1779. Smith's library included the "Old Hall Manuscript" as well as a copy of "Ulm Gesangbuch" from 1538. He also collected works that dated back to the twelfth century including someGregorian chants . His publication "Musica Antiqua" (1812) included musical scores of works byJacob Obrecht ,Adrian Willaert , Jacob Clemens andCristóbal de Morales with historical notes on each piece.He died in 1836 at the age of eighty-six, allegedly caused by a grape-pip lodged in his windpipe.
American national anthem
In 1814
Francis Scott Key wrote the poem "The Defence of Fort McHenry" (later re-titled, "The Star-Spangled Banner"), which came to be sung to the tune of "Anacreon". This was officially designated as thenational anthem of the United States in 1931. At one time, the same Stafford Smith tune was also used as the national anthem ofLuxembourg , but their anthem has since changed.References
* [http://www.gloucester.gov.uk/Content.aspx?urn=1664 John Stafford Smith] at Gloucester City Council. Accessed February 2008
*"Historic Gloucester" by Phillip Moss, Published 30/04/2005 Publisher: Nonsuch Publishing ISBN 9781845880774
* John Stafford Smith entry at , "All Music Guide" by Keith Johnson [http://www.answers.com/topic/john-stafford-smith?cat=entertainment]
* [http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/search/resultsn.cfm?NID=7345&RID= Manuscripts Catalogue] John Stafford Smith , University of Glasgow. Accessed march 2008External links
*IMSLP|id=Smith, John Stafford|cname=John Stafford Smith
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