Today we will analyze a very serious issue. Is the US anthem really the Russian folk song "Khas-Bulat the daring"? Listening to both works leads to a stupor. Who stole the melody from whom?
Let's figure it out. Let's start with the Americans. Their anthem appeared in the early 19th century during the War of Independence from the British Empire. The words were written by Francis Scott Key. The author witnessed how the British fleet bombed the American Fort McHenry.
The bombing lasted all day and all the following night. The man was impressed by this battle and by the fortitude of the Americans. In the early morning of September 14, the famous Stars and Stripes flag was raised over the fort.
"Portrait of Francis Scott Key". John Wood.
Key was inspired by the victory of the United States and the sight of a large banner flying triumphantly over the fort. This flag was made by Mary Young Pickersgill and her associates in a house on Pratt Street in Baltimore.
The next day, Key wrote a poem on the back of a letter he kept in his pocket. He named it "The Defense of Fort McHenry". The poem was written in four verses and quickly spread throughout the city. Then it was published in the national magazine Analectic.
Now let's go back to Russia. The romance "Khasbulat the daring", the words to which were composed by Alexander Nikolaevich Ammosov, in 1858 was published in the newspaper "Russian invalid". The poem continued the theme of the glorification of the Caucasian highlanders, begun by M. Yu. Lermontov.
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Ammosov was an officer in the Russian army and went through the Caucasian War. His impressions of the service are reflected in the song. The poems were set to music by Olga Khristoforovna Agreneva-Slavyanskaya. There is a version that she just slightly corrected the notes, and the poems were already performed to certain music.
It would seem that the Yankees wrote their song much earlier than we did. Moreover, we know how similar our hits are to foreign versions. But this is not the case. The song is not written by us or the Americans. The melody was created by the Englishman John Stafford Smith.
John Stafford Smith.
It is called "Anacreon Canto" and was the anthem of the Anacreon Society of Gentlemen. It was known in 18th century London. The society itself existed from 1766 to 1792 and was dedicated to the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, famous for his lyrical odes. Its members were generally of the English aristocracy and gathered on Wednesday evenings to enjoy music, poetry, delicious food and wine.
The Society met twelve times a year, and each meeting began with a hymn, the text of which was humorous. Since “some of the comic songs were not exactly timed to entertain the ladies, this displeased many of the participants, they resigned one by one; and at the general meeting the society was dissolved."
Pavel Romanutenko
