On Sept. 14, Old St. Paul’s Church in downtown Baltimore commemorated both the Battle of Baltimore and the publishing of “The Star Spangled Banner” with a program titled “Singing on Key: A Concert to Celebrate our National Anthem.” About 200 people were present at this event.
Over the past several months, Baltimore has hosted a range of events celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of the national anthem’s publication by Francis Scott Key.
Church Rector Mark Stanley came up with the idea of this concert two years ago. He explained the history of the song and said that Old St. Paul’s Church is directly affiliated with its production.
“The organist at Old St. Paul’s at that time was a man named Thomas Carr, and Thomas Carr is the person who adapted and arranged the music for Francis Scott Key. He is often overlooked,” Stanley said. “[Carr] changed the name of it. Francis Scott Key wanted to call [‘The Star Spangled Banner’] The Defense of Fort McHenry.”
Stanley explained how the show was developed and planned.
“We [wanted] to try to have some readings from the time mixed in with the music,” said Stanley.
At the concert, the songs were interspersed with historical backgrounds and readings. This information was intended to help the audience understand the origins of the songs.
The program included a medley of songs, including “The Battle of Baltimore.” This was sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle,” which, at the time of the battle, was considered to be a lowbrow tune. The song was meant to mimic what would have been a call to arms at Fort McHenry.
This concert was interactive and included many sing-along songs.
The audience learned about the history of the tune for “The Star Spangled Banner.” The tune comes from the melody of an old English drinking song. The song originated in an upper class club called the Anacreontic Society, and it was originally called “Anacreon in Heaven.”
Before the American lyrics were written, the melody was set to “Adams & Liberty,” a hit song of 1798, and a song honoring Stephen Decatur’s war victory in taking the British ship Macedonian, which was titled “A Song when the Warrior Returns.” The melody was later adapted to the words of the anthem.
All of the renditions between the original version and the current anthem were included in the concert. The songs in the concert were performed in chronological order, based on the time period in which they were composed.
Colonial music experts David and Ginger Hildebrand were key in organizing and performing vocals in the event. The pair originally became fascinated by colonial music while they were living in Annapolis, Md.
“Take the colonial music, and then start to love it, and start to get inspired by it — start to understand the history behind it and how that works, and then you just dive in... And by now, there are a lot of people who call us the national experts on colonial music,” David Hildebrand said.
The couple now runs an online resource called the Colonial Music Institute, which is designed as a research tool for colonial music.
“It’s been almost five years now since we started researching, arranging and reporting and performing. We just sort of picked our favorites,” David Hildebrand said. “We wanted to reach beyond the voice and have instrumental brass music.”
Vocals by the Hildebrands as well as the Chamber Chorus of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society served as complements to the instrumental elements of the show.
John Cain, a member of the Chamber Chorus of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, commented on his experience.
“We [previously] did a program with David Hildebrand and sang some of these songs, and he talked about the history of the anthem, and his work has all been leading up to this,” Cain said.
“We added a few new pieces this time. This is a different take than the one we did a couple of years ago. I’ve worked with David and Ginger before, and they’re terrific,” said Tom Hall, music director of The Chamber Chorus of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.
The concert also included Sousa marches, such as the famous patriotic tunes “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.”
“The Star Spangled Banner,” as it is commonly known, was the finale of the concert. The entire audience joined together in singing the national anthem.
Overall, members of the audience expressed positive reactions to the performance.
“It was just such a beautiful production... and the Sousa marches were just chilling,” said Mary Hall, a member of the church vestry.
“I thought it was lovely. I love how they mixed the history and the explanation of the music and all of the different variables — they all played together really well. And then to have it all culminate with ‘The Star Spangled Banner;’ it was really moving,” said Adri Belkot, a member of the audience.
