The Star Spangled Banner

This version of The Star-Spangled Banner was written by John Philip Sousa in 1886 during his tenure as the 17 the Director of the United States Marine Band. It was the encore piece to a very long work he called The International Congress a medley of ethnic songs (American British French German Turkish etc.). He wrote The Banner in the style of his friend Richard Wag-ner (the music of the flutes and clarinets are derived from Wagners Pilgrims Chorus). The words to The Banner are from the poem Defense of Ft. McHenry by Francis Scott Key; the music is derived from To Anacreon in Heaven a popular British and American pub song by John Stafford Smith.