The Star-Spangled Banner (1814). FS Key /as played at the la phil concert/

Glass Notes hints at a controversy about the National Anthem at the recent Hollywood Bowl Philip Glass/LA Philharmonic concert.

I, of course, like the arrangement. But then, I blog about classic American music, I'm a real patriot since I grew up in small-town America (more or less), I've been to the Baltimore site of the original composition's inspiration, I obsess about one or more works of Philip Glass, and my favorite Igor Stravinsky music is his arrangement of the anthem that resulted in the composer's arrest in Boston for illegal reharmonization (mugshot via the Angry Organist).

Thanks again, Francis Scott, Phil and Igor (and Michael Riesman).

Glass Notes has the MP3. Wikipedia has the lead-in story about the lyrics:

On September 3, 1814, Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner, an American prisoner-exchange agent, set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro, and a friend of Key’s who had been captured in his home. Beanes was accused of aiding the arrest of British soldiers. Key and Skinner boarded the British flagship HMS Tonnant on September 7 and spoke with Major General Robert Ross and then-Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner, while they discussed war plans. At first, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes, but relented after Key and Skinner showed them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment.

lala has a version of the Stravinsky arrangement (although not my favorite):

The Star Spangled Banner (Voic...

---

prior aworks overview of the anthem

Comments

[------------The star 7----------]

WOW!!! The star

[michael wilhelms]

I was at the Hollywood Bowl that night and was blown away by the arrangement and have been trying to find the version on the internet to no avail...you have a synth version which pales in comparison to the live version with soprano...do you have it?

[Robert Gable]

No, but I'd like to hear it as well.