Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

British Isles

Music and words anonymous.

The origins of this, the oldest of all national anthems, remain obscure. The earliest known source is a printed volume of miscellaneous songs issued with the title of Harmonia anglicana in 1744 by John Simpson ‘at the Bass Viol and Flute in Sweeting’s Alley opposite the East Door of the Royal Exchange’. The existence of this volume was first reported by William Chappell (1855–9), but later scholars, failing to find a publication with that title containing God Save the King, assumed Chappell to be in error, and a similar volume with the title Thesaurus musicus had been generally regarded as the earliest source for the anthem. But Kidson suggested in 1916 (and again in his article on the anthem in Grove3) that a faint line discernible about 5 cm from the top of the title-page indicated that the words Thesaurus musicus had been inserted in place of another title, presumably Harmonia anglicana, and this theory was proved correct by the discovery of a unique copy of the original publication in the music division of the Library of Congress, Washington. Kidson suggested that Simpson might have altered the title because of the existence of five earlier collections with the title Harmonia anglicana, published by Walsh & Hare in 1701–3. Krummel advanced the theory that Simpson changed his title to a less nationalistic one in anticipation of a Stuart defeat and consequently of a more stable foreign commerce, but the existence of yet another Harmonia anglicana, published by Walsh and dated about 1745 by Smith and Humphries, might suggest a still more plausible reason.

The earliest recorded performances of God Save the King took place at the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres, where the anthem was sung on several successive nights in September 1745 following the defeat of Sir John Cope’s army at Prestonpans. Arne’s arrangement (in E) for Drury Lane is in the British Library, and another version (in G, with optional flute part in F) appeared in The Gentleman’s Magazine for October 1745 as ‘a song for two voices, as sung at both the playhouses’. None of the early sources bears a composer’s name, and although Thomas Arne, James Oswald, Henry Carey and others have all at various times been credited with its composition, it seems likely that the melody existed in some form before the 18th century. An Ayre that might be taken for a minor-key version of the anthem and said to be by John Bull exists in a 19th-century copy in the hand of George Smart. It was transcribed from a manuscript, formerly in the library of J.C. Pepusch and later owned by William Kitchiner, dating from 1619 and containing keyboard pieces by Bull. After Kitchiner’s death in 1827 the manuscript passed into the hands of Richard Clark, who is said to have made certain alterations to the Ayre in order to support his attribution of the anthem to Bull. Since the manuscript has now disappeared it is impossible to judge how far Smart’s copy represents Bull’s original tune, but the similarity as it now stands is quite striking. Further evidence of the possibility of a 17th-century origin for the anthem is found in a catch by Henry Purcell, Since the duke is returned, where the words ‘God save the king’ are prominently set to its first four notes.

Both the words and the music have undergone minor alterations since the 18th century, and no ‘official’ version has ever been approved. Only the first of the three strophes is now normally sung, and the tendentious second strophe (‘Confound their politics/Frustrate their knavish tricks’) is avoided altogether. As far as the music is concerned, only the last line is now subject to different renderings, each one of the following versions being frequently encountered:

The first of these three versions is generally preferred, but any movement towards a standardization of the anthem’s melody and harmony at this point would do well to consider a return to Arne’s altogether sturdier version for Drury Lane in 1745:

There exist numerous arrangements, including choral ones by Elgar (1902) and Britten (1961).

During the 19th century the music of God Save the King served as the national anthem for many other countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the USA and several independent German states. It is still used for the national anthem of Liechtenstein. The melody has also found its way into several musical compositions, although references frequently found to its use in Handel’s Occasional Oratorio are mistaken. Beethoven used it for his Wellingtons Sieg, oder Die Schlacht bei Vittoria (1813) and also for a set of piano variations (1802/3). Paganini composed a set of variations on it for violin and orchestra (1829), Marschner introduced it into a concert overture for the baptism of the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) in 1842, Weber used it as the Saxon anthem in his Jubel-Ouvertüre, written in 1818 to celebrate the jubilee of King Friedrich August I, and Ives based his Variations on ‘America’ for organ (1891–2) on it. A long list of works using the melody will be found in Scholes’s God Save the Queen! (1954).

The Isle of Man and the Principality of Wales have their own anthems which are used in conjunction with, and sometimes independently of, God Save the King/Queen.

Music traditional, adapted by William Henry Gill (1839–1923). Words by William Henry Gill.

This melody is based on a traditional Manx air. The anthem was dedicated to Lady Raglan in 1907. The Manx translation is by John J. Kneen (1873–1939).

Music by James James (1832–1902). Words by Evan James (1809–93).

This anthem was composed in 1856 and became popular in Wales after its performance at the Llangollen Eisteddfod in 1858. It first appeared in print in John Owain’s Gems of Welsh Melody (1860).