The Anacreontic Song

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"The Anacreontic Song" was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century club of amateur musicians in London who gathered regularly to perform concerts. The song is commonly (albeit incorrectly) referred to as "To Anacreon in Heaven", which is not the title, but rather the opening line of the lyrics. These barristers, doctors, and other professional men named their club after the Greek court poet Anacreon (6th century BC), whose poems, "anacreontics", were used to entertain patrons in Teos and Athens. His songs often celebrated women, wine, and entertaining, and today can be considered eroticism.

The connection with Anacreon, along with the "drinking" nature of the lyrics, have caused many people to label "The Anacreontic Song" a drinking song. The chorus certainly suggests Bacchanalia with its lyrics "And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine the myrtle of Venus with Bacchus' vine." In all probability some drinking did occur at Society meetings, but the primary purpose of the Society (and its song) was to promote an interest in music.^{[citation needed]} This absence of an official connection to drinking did not keep the song from being associated with alcohol, as it was commonly used as a sobriety test: If you could sing a stanza of the notoriously difficult melody and stay on key, you were sober enough for another round.

1 Composition
2 Popularity and use
3 The Star-Spangled Banner
4 External links

[edit] Composition

The tune was probably composed (there is only one known firsthand account, by Society member John Samuel Stevens) by a member of the Society, John Stafford Smith (but see the discussion under the entry for The Star-Spangled Banner, where an alternative, earlier, composer is suggested), to lyrics by the Society's president, Ralph Tomlinson. Smith wrote the tune in the mid-1760s, while still a teenager. It was first published by Longman & Broderip in London in 1778/1779.

[edit] Popularity and use

The song, through its bawdy and imbibing lyrics, gained popularity in London and elsewhere beyond the Anacreontic Society, and new lyrics were also fashioned for it, including, in the United States, under such patriotic titles as "Adams and Liberty" and "Jefferson and Liberty."

[edit] The Star-Spangled Banner

The melody, if not the original lyrics, became well-known after Francis Scott Key, an attorney, wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" while detained on a British ship during the night of September 13, 1814, as the British forces bombarded the American fort. His brother, on hearing the poem Key had written, realised it fit the tune of "The Anacreontic Song". Key had also written a different poem in 1805 to the same metrical scheme. Later retitled "The Star-Spangled Banner," Key's words, with a modified version of Stafford Smith's music, became a well-known and recognized patriotic song throughout the United States and was officially designated as the U.S. national anthem in 1931.

Text of The Anacreontic Song

I.: To Anacreon in Heav'n,
Where he sat in full glee,
A few Sons of Harmony
Sent a petition
That he their Inspirer
And Patron would be;
When this answer arrived
From the Jolly Old Grecian:
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
No longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name
And inspire you to boot,
Chorus: And besides I'll instruct you,
Like me, to intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
II.: The news through Olympus
Immediately flew;
When Old Thunder pretended
To give himself airs.
"If these Mortals are suffered
Their scheme to pursue,
The devil a Goddess,
Will stay above stairs.
Hark, already they cry,
In transports of joy,
'Away to the Sons
Of Anacreon we'll fly,
Chorus: And there with good fellows,
We'll learn to intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine.'
III.: The Yellow-Haired God
And his nine fusty Maids
From Helicon's banks
Will incontinent flee,
Idalia will boast
But of tenantless shades,
And the bi-forked hill
A mere desert will be.
My Thunder no fear on't,
Shall soon do its errand,
And dam'me I'll swing
The Ringleaders I warrant.
Chorus: I'll trim the young dogs,
For thus daring to twine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
IV.: Apollo rose up,
And said, "Pry'thee ne'er quarrel,
Good King of the Gods,
With My Vot'ries below:
Your Thunder is useless"--
Then showing his laurel,
Cry'd "Sic evitabile
Fulmen, you know!
Then over each head,
My laurels I'll spread,
So my sons from your Crackers
No mischief shall dread,
Chorus: While, snug in their clubroom,
They jovially twine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
V.: Next Momus got up
With his risible Phiz
And swore with Apollo
He'd cheerfully join --
"The full tide of Harmony
Still shall be his,
But the Song, and the Catch,
And the Laugh shall be mine.
Then, Jove, be not jealous
Of these honest fellows."
Cry'd Jove, "We relent,
Since the truth you now tell us:
Chorus: And swear by Old Styx,
That they long shall intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."
VI.: Ye Sons of Anacreon,
Then join hand in hand;
Preserve Unanimity,
Friendship, and Love!
'Tis yours to support
What's so happily plann'd;
You've the sanction of Gods,
And the Fiat of Jove.
While thus we agree,
Our toast let it be:
"May our Club flourish Happy,
United, and Free!
Chorus: And long may the Sons
Of Anacreon intwine
The Myrtle of Venus
With Bacchus' Vine."