‘God Save The King’ became known as the National Anthem from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century. The song was first publicly performed in London in 1745.
In September 1745 the ‘Young Pretender’ to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
After news of the victory had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged ‘God Save The King’ to be played after the performance. It was a tremendous success and wasrepeated nightly thereafter.
This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting the Monarch with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was established.
The words
There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.
The words used are the same as those sung in 1745, substituting ‘Queen’ for ‘King’ where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung:
God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.
An additional verse is occasionally sung:
Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And give us ever cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen.
The music
The British tune has been used in other countries - as European visitors to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country possessing such a recognised musical symbol - including Germany, Russia, Switzerland and America (where use of the tune continued after independence).
Some 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.
delicious
digg
facebook
