Godowsky - The Star Spangled Banner

[andhow04]

just for fun is Godowsky's concert arrangement of the usa national anthem. on imslp they had versions by rachmaninoff and hofmann, and godowsky clearly put the most effort into making his unique.  at the bottom it says it was published in 1921; i wonder if it was  tradition for immigrant pianists to play the anthem at the beginning of concerts?  if anyone knows about this i would love to know more.

the arrangemtn is typical of godowsky in the amount of notes and some fanciful inner voices, but not a huge number.  hope yolu like it

UPDATE
attached is a video of a live performance of this.

[pianoplayjl]

This one's definitely a lot harder than Rachmaninoff's. I like this one better. I think Van Cliburn had a habit playing the Star Bangled Banner before the commencement of a concert.

[scottmcc]

well it's intriguing to say the least, although i prefer a more restrained, straight-up-the-middle approach when it comes to the national anthem.  but living on a military base as I do, I hear a lot of different versions of the tune, and this is certainly far from the worst arrangement out there. 

[andhow04]

well it's intriguing to say the least, although i prefer a more restrained, straight-up-the-middle approach when it comes to the national anthem.  but living on a military base as I do, I hear a lot of different versions of the tune, and this is certainly far from the worst arrangement out there. 

this is definitely not restrained!  That's interesting, is your militray base in japan.  i think you said you were moving there.  is it possible to practice?

[49410enrique]

very pretty.  

this treatment of the theme is also very good, just thought i'd share as a related musical work (by content).

Louis Moreau Gottschalk - The Union

note, about 2:35 in introductory material before Star Spangled Banner theme emerges (for those not familiar with this work)

also pretty sure at the time of this compostion this wasn't the national anthem just yet, but Gottschalk was a staunch abolitionist and very loyal to the union cause (if my musicology is wrong on this ill def revisit the history so sorry if i'm incorrect )
ref pdf if anyone wants to follow along w score

[scottmcc]

this is definitely not restrained!  That's interesting, is your militray base in japan.  i think you said you were moving there.  is it possible to practice?

Yes, I am indeed based in Japan.  I live in base housing which is relatively similar to a small American house.  My piano arrived about a month ago so I am able to practice again.  I was without for a solid three months which was very painful.  But now I am actually making some progress. I actually started on the wtc bk1 c min prelude, which is pretty challenging for me but is finally seeming like a manageable hurdle.  I tried it a while ago and it was a disaster...

[pianoplayjl]

Wow scott based in Japan! I never knew you're in the military! Good luck with the p&F. The prelude's not that hard although there are squasky parts. Fugue is always hard.

BTW this is a very majestic version of the star bangled banner. Thnks for sharing, Andhow!

[scottmcc]

well I try to keep quiet about my professional life and focus on the piano, at least on this website.  I can play the prelude at tempo with my hands separate, but putting them together is the challenge, of course, as there are just enough differences between them to tie my hands in knots.  but it's good for me.

[andhow04]

very pretty.  

this treatment of the theme is also very good, just thought i'd share as a related musical work (by content).

Louis Moreau Gottschalk - The Union

note, about 2:35 in introductory material before Star Spangled Banner theme emerges (for those not familiar with this work)

also pretty sure at the time of this compostion this wasn't the national anthem just yet, but Gottschalk was a staunch abolitionist and very loyal to the union cause (if my musicology is wrong on this ill def revisit the history so sorry if i'm incorrect )
ref pdf if anyone wants to follow along w score

thanks for that, actually I had heard this piece somehwere before, i had a friend who was a gottschalk devotee and played a lot of his music, and he must have played this one.  i didn't know the anthem hadn't been chosen yet, that's interesting.  but gottschalk would have written this probably in the day when cities employed city organists, and i wonder what they did to show patriotism.  They must have had a repertoire of nationalistic tunes.  it's too bad that all that has disappeared, and everything is so serious now...

[andhow04]

Updated this with a video from a live performance recently.  i played this at the beginning of a concrt which i called "The Cosmopolitan Pianist."  every piece had a national reference in its title, ie, Italian Concerto, Spanish Rhapsody, Bulgarian Dances, etc.  this came to me naturally as the opener.  godowsky's arrangement is the best out there i think.

he originally published it as the last piece of "Triakontameron" and called it "Requiem (1914 - 1918): Epilogue."  however the whole anthem wasn't included; he must have later arranged the entire thing to make it suitable for concerts.  the material that is in the Triakontameron is reproduced note for note, then he adds the first verse to make it complete.  the video is up top:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=43550.msg475344#msg475344

[49410enrique]

good show man! really really loved this. and i loved the venue. i've always liked churches as artistic music venues. also with the natural daylight, the folks standing for the tune, it was all so great!

where was this if we may ask?

[pianoman53]

I like the reversed standing ovation..
Maybe not my favorite piece of music, but it would fit very well in a program like yours, and the audience seems enjoy it.

So nicely done

[andhow04]

I like the reversed standing ovation..
Maybe not my favorite piece of music, but it would fit very well in a program like yours, and the audience seems enjoy it.

So nicely done

haha, thank you.  yes the reversed ovation was a bit of performance art on my part, but meant unironically. after all it is a great arrangement of the national anthem, and it preceded a program of all "cosmopolitan" music, pieces written with national references in their title (italian concerto, spanish rhapsody, etc.) by composers who didn't come from those nations.  what better than to start with a lithuanian pianist's heartfelt and stirring version of the american anthem!  i did want people to stand secretly and was glad they did.

[oxy60]

Before we drifted into our present politically correct socialist tendencies the Star Spangled Banner was played at the start of every gathering. I can't remember any time we didn't play it. I had it memorized because I was playing it more than once a week. Even organ concerts started with it. However we used the sing-along version because people were expected to know the words. (look up the second and third verses)

There are a few caveats about it. You need to be very clear about differentiating between triplet eighths and the dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythms. And be very sure we hear those minor chords.

Check out the US Marine Band Version.     

[andhow04]

Before we drifted into our present politically correct socialist tendencies the Star Spangled Banner was played at the start of every gathering. I can't remember any time we didn't play it. I had it memorized because I was playing it more than once a week. Even organ concerts started with it. However we used the sing-along version because people were expected to know the words. (look up the second and third verses)

There are a few caveats about it. You need to be very clear about differentiating between triplet eighths and the dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythms. And be very sure we hear those minor chords.

Check out the US Marine Band Version.     

thanks for the interesting reply!  I have also noticed a certain aversion to patriotic symbols like the anthem or flags etc. these days. it's too bad, because everybody in the usa has a lot to appreciate about it that should be remembered no matter who is in the government!
i don't know what you mean about socialist though, do you consider that the opposite of patriotic? what about the french and english.

in this arrangement there are no triplet eighths, maybe my dotted sixteenths just weren't sharp enough. thanks again for listening, i'll go find that version.

[oxy60]

thanks for the interesting reply!  I have also noticed a certain aversion to patriotic symbols like the anthem or flags etc. these days. it's too bad, because everybody in the usa has a lot to appreciate about it that should be remembered no matter who is in the government!
i don't know what you mean about socialist though, do you consider that the opposite of patriotic? what about the french and english.

in this arrangement there are no triplet eighths, maybe my dotted sixteenths just weren't sharp enough. thanks again for listening, i'll go find that version.

Those remarks were not directed at your performance but to all the others who must play it on a regular basis. There is tendency to turn those rhythms into triplet sounding patterns. When I did it with orchestra and organ we started with a drum roll, then laid into the first note almost too long and the sixteenth always seemed a little short. We stayed in octaves until the second root. This got our public on the right tract. Often, if I was the only player I would kick it up to C major so I could use the big 16' or 32' diapason. Also I would never try it if I didn't know for sure that I had a soprano who could get that high G cleanly.

It is often beneficial to just read the poem and try to put yourself in the place of the writer.

We should try to keep this tradition alive because with having pop singers "try" to sing it we seem to be mocking the tradition.