"The Anacreontic Song", also known by its incipit "To Anacreon in Heaven", was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. Composed b
First page of the A. Blands edition (c. 1784–1790)
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, a
The Anacreontic Song
…songs by Francis Scott Key, most famously his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry". The combination of Key's poem and Smith's composition became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner", which was adopted as the official national anthem of the United States of America in 1931. The Anacreontic Society was a gentlemen's club of the kind…
Francis Scott Key's original manuscript copy of his "Defence of Fort M'Henry" poem, now on display at the Maryland Historical Society
An artist's rendering of the battle at Fort McHenry
The 15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" that inspired the poem
A memorial to John Stafford Smith in Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England