NATIONAL HYMNS are popular airs which are peculiar to and characteristic c2 partienlar nation. It is a singular fact that the composers of national hymns an colde:r... tnown. The Germans call their national music To:left ntwik„ a designation which iC appropriate, as a people collectively may not improperly be considered as the ae!.;r12! liomposer of its national times. A short melody extemporized by somc one in a raornaD2i patriotic emotion, is often taken up by others and ,traditionally preserved., In tin course of Limo it generally unaerious inodilitatiOni until it attained those conditions which insure it a anneral acceptance. This fully explains what W. Grimm means in his laconic saying, national song composes itself " (Ein Volkeled dichtet skit relbst), for the attempts of celebrated musicians to invest a tune with universal and permanent popularity have been successful in a few instances only. Among the most popular European national hymns. is God save the King, but the authorship of the tune has not hitherto been satisfactorily ascertained. In Prussia it is called Heil Dir urn Sieger Kranz, and in the United St:,t3s the melody is sung with the words "iffy 'country 'Us of thee," etc. A1111°11,7,11 there is no satisfactory evidence of its having been in existence before the reign of George II., there are several tuna known of an earlier date in some degree it. Dr. Bull's tune, discovered in an old manuscript dated 1619, certainly bears a remarkable resemblance to the present God save the Queen, hut with none of these melodies have the words God save the King, or similar words, been found. The Aus trian national hymn, Gott i•hatte [Franz] den Kaiser, is a composition by Joseph Haydn. Having during his visit to England witnessed the effect of God save the King, on public occasions, Haydn resolved after Ids return to Vienna, to present his country with a sim ilar composition. Baron Swicten and count Saurau procured the poetry for him, and the hymn was sung for the first time on the birthday of the emperor Franz, Feb. 12, 1797. The poetry was written by L. Leopold Hasehlta. The Russian hymn dates from the year 1830, when the emperor Nicholas ordered it to be performed hi concerts and representations on the stage. Its composer was Alexis. Lwoff, and the air appears to have
been suggested by the Sicilian ifarin,er's Hymn, which is also a favorite melody of the gondoliers in Venice. The poetry of the patriotic song of the Danes, Kong Christian slevl red Fli:7en Jfrrst, was written by Ewald, and the music is by a German composer. Johann Hartmann. The French national hymn, the .1/arse/naive, dates from the yeat 17s n. It was composed by Ronget de Fisk during the French revolution. The hational hymn of the Germans, Die Wercht am Rhein, came into great popularity during the Franco-German war of 1870. Was let des Dentschen Vatertand was written by Ernst Moritz Arndt, a German patriot, during the wars of Napoleon I. There have been ninny attempts to manufacture national songs in the United States. but the great national hymn of America will probably be a spontaneous production. The SUt•-,:Saangled Ban ner was written by F. S. Key, in 1814, and the words were adapted by F. Durang to an old French air, long known in England as AllOCIT017. in Heaven, and in America as Adams and Lihe•ty. It grew in favor in the loyal states during the rebellion, and was played eo.hinnally by all military and orchestral bands. But as a patriotic song for the people at large it is almost useless, as the range of the air, an octave and a half, places it out of the, compass of ordinary voices. Yankee Doodle has the claim of long association, and will probably always retain a certain degree of favor. Its words are mere childish bur lesque, and it is reported to have been a popular tune in England during the common wealth Some state that its doggerel words originated at that time, Oliver Cromwell being designated as Nankee Doodle. Others state that it was the tune originally set to the old English song Lydia Locket lost her Pocket, and that the present words were written by a British sergeant in Boston in 1775. Hatli.Cohttabia was written by Joseph Hopkin son in 1798, and was set to the music of the President's march, which was composed by one Phylas or Fayles, a German leader of orchestra in New York. Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, and Harrison Millard's Viva l' America hare also attained considerable popti laeity.