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 Cylinder
selection number 2, "America," for Edison's National
Phonograph Company, was recorded in the brown-wax era
of the late 1890s by the Edison Grand Concert Band.
This month's feature is the same catalogue number, but
recorded anew for the Gold Moulded format by the Edison
Military Band. Perennial favorites such as "America,"
other band performances, and some vocal selections were
kept from the brown-wax era, with their original catalogue
numbers, and simply re-recorded by an appropriate band
or other artist once Edison began mass-producing cylinders.
Andover Baptist seminarian Samuel Francis Smith reputedly
penned "America" (also known as "My Country 'Tis of
Thee") in only half an hour in February 1832. Smith
was inspired by the German patriotic hymn "God Bless
Our Native Land," which he was translating from the
German for a song book edited by musician Lowell Mason.
The tune to "America" had already been England's national
anthem ("God Save the King") for over a century, but
its origins are as old as the 17th century, having been
used in Swiss, German, Russian, and Swedish patriotic
songs. Smith's new song was first performed by a children's
choir on July 4, 1832 at the Park Street Congregational
Church in Boston.
Our hearts go out to all those who have been impacted
by the events of September 11.
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