[lit-ideas] Re: Can Literature Make the World Safer?
- From: David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 22:50:26 -0700
On Apr 2, 2012, at 9:57 PM, Robert Paul wrote:
> Tom Hart wrote
>
>> I believe its /Cambridge/ not Oxford that puts out the Companion series.
>> I /bought /The Cambridge Companion to Dante and The Cambridge Companion
>> to Shaw.
>
>
> They both put out a Companion to English literature, and they both do
> companions to a multitude of other things.
>
> It's been my experience that 'Companions to....' are seldom good company.
>
They seem to have a very broad view of what constitutes "English" literature,
but how else would one know of the Shaving of Shagpat, Mikhail Evgrafovich
Saltykov's, "Old Times in Poshekhonsk," Henry Luttrel's "Advice to Julia," and
the origins of Pandemonium? It's the sort of thing you open at random and go,
"Pschaw" or "Didn't know that." Someone recently sent me notes for my magnum
opus on Scots among the English, saying that both God Save the King and Rule
Britannia have theatrical and Scottish connections which need a scholar's
attention. Here's what the Companion opens with on that subject, "The first
recorded public performance of 'God Save the King' took place at Drury Lane
Theatre on 28 Sept. 1745, during the excitement and alarm caused by the
Jacobite invasion of that year." Where was Bonnie Prince Charlie on 28 Sept
1745, celebrating having walloped Cope at the battle of Prestonpans.
"Excitement and alarm" is an aptly chosen phrase. Now we skip, "It became
customary about 1747 or 1748 to greet the king with [GSTK] when he entered a
place of public entertainment. In George iii's reign it figured as a political
battle-song in connection with the regency troubles and later during the
dissensions aroused by the French revolution...[snip]...The remoter origin of
'God Save the King' is obscure. Before being sung at Drury Lane in 1745, words
and tune, with slight differences, had appeared in *Thesaurus Musicus*, a song
collection published in 1744...There is good evidence that the song was
originally written in favour of James II in 1688...or possibly of Charles II in
1681...The tune has been adopted by a number of continental countries for their
national anthems."
I checked. Here's Wikipedia on the subject:
"God Save the King" was the first song to be used as a national anthem,
although the Netherlands' national anthem, Het Wilhelmus, is older. Its success
prompted a number of imitations, notably in France and, later, Germany. Both
commissioned their own songs to help construct a concrete national identity.
The first German national anthem used the melody of "God Save the King" with
the words changed to Heil dir im Siegerkranz, and sung to the same tune as the
UK version. The tune was either used or officially adopted as the national
anthem for several other countries, including those of Russia (Molitva
russkikh, until 1833) and Switzerland (Rufst Du, mein Vaterland or O monts
indépendants, until 1961).
"God Save the King" was used as the national anthem of the Kingdom of Hawaii
before 1860, and from 1860 to 1886 the national anthem E Ola Ke Alii Ke Akua
was set to the same melody.
The melody is used in the patriotic hymn "America" (also known by its first
line, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), the lyrics of which were written by Samuel
Francis Smith in 1831. The song is often quoted – alongside "Hail, Columbia" –
as a de facto national anthem for the United States, before the de jure
adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the 1930s.
It is Norway's royal anthem titled Kongesangen.
It was the Swedish royal anthem between 1805 and 1880, titled Bevare Gud vår
kung.
The tune is still used as the national anthem of Liechtenstein, Oben am jungen
Rhein. The same tune was therefore played twice before the Euro 96 qualifying
match between Northern Ireland and Liechtenstein; likewise when England played
Liechtenstein in a Euro 2004 qualifier. (When England play Northern Ireland,
the tune is only played once.)
The melody of "God Save the King" has been, and continues to be, used as a hymn
tune by Christian churches in various countries. The United Methodists of the
southern United States, Mexico, and Latin America, among other denominations
(usually Protestant), play the same melody as a hymn. The Christian hymn "Glory
to God on High" is frequently sung to the same tune, as well as an alternative
tune that fits both lyrics. Note also that in the Protestant Church of Korea,
it is sung as a choral hymn under the name of "Since I Have My Retreat".
Isn't that the kind of fun you expect from a companion?
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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