JOIN US TO CELEBRATE A BANNER BIRTHDAY! The Star Spangled Music Foundation (SSMF) is pleased to announce a national Star-Spangled Music Day #3 for Wednesday, September 14, 2016 in celebration of the 202nd anniversary of the United States National Anthem — “The Star-Spangled Banner.” For this day we ask that Americans far-and-wide and especially K-12…
Month: September 2015
Star Spangled Songbook Published!
Our book of sheet music and anthem history—the Star Spangled Songbook—has been published to mark the song’s 201st anniversary!The Star Spangled Songbook tells a largely forgotten story of the United States of America—of the symbiosis of both anthem and nation—in more than seventy songs with full text and performable sheet music. These all-new scholarly editions…
Concert Variations on the Star Spangled Banner for Organ
In 1861 American composer and organist, John Knowles Paine (1839–1906) composed the Concert Variations on “The Star Spangled Banner,” Op. 3, No. 2. It is paired as Opus 3 with a set of “Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn” (Op. 3, No. 1) and thus links the musical traditions of the New World with the…
Guest Post—Marc Leepson on Francis Scott Key (Facts #6–10)
Ten Little-Known Facts about Francis Scott Key (#6–10)By Marc Leepson Key was a close confidant of President Andrew Jackson and a member of his Kitchen Cabinet. Informal meetings often took place in Key’s expansive house on M Street (then known as Bridge Street) in Georgetown. Key served for eight years as U.S. Attorney, appointed by…
Guest Post—Marc Leepson on Francis Scott Key (Facts #1–5)
Ten Little-Known Facts about Francis Scott Key By Marc Leepson Virtually everyone knows the name Francis Scott Key. And virtually everyone knows it for one reason: for the fact that he was the author of the words that became our National Anthem. But there was much more to Frank Key—as he was known to family…