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Giacomo Puccini uses the first few notes of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” in his 1904 opera, Madama Butterfly (Chapter 10: Music and Love), as a leitmotive representing the Navy Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton. When the opera was written “The Star-Spangled Banner” was the anthem of the U.S. Navy. It did not become the national anthem until 1931. The leitmotive is first heard in Act I, in aria “Dovunque al mondo” (Throughout the world”), when Lieutenant Pinkerton and Sharpless (The American Consul at Nagasaki) meet and toast the United States over whisky.

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2. In 1918 Russian composer Serge Rachmaninoff wrote an arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Having fled his native Russia during the Revolution of 1917, Rachmaninoff and his family eventually settled in America. Rachmaninoff premiered his arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on his first American tour in Boston, December 1918. Rachmaninoff himself performs at the piano.

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German-Jewish composer Kurt Weill fled Nazi Germany in 1933. He moved first to Paris, then settled in New York City in 1935. When the United States entered WWII, Weill collaborated on a number of projects supporting the war effort. One was his Four Patriotic Melodramas (1942), orchestral fantasies on patriotic tunes accompanied by actress Helen Hayes reciting the words. The work was recorded on the RCA album Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (1942)and is included on the more recent recording, Kurt Weill: From Berlin to Broadway, vol. 2 (1997). Unfortunately, there are no internet clips of these recordings.

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Russian composer Igor Stravinsky moved to France in 1920, then to the United States and at the outbreak of W.W. II. His arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was premiered in Boston on January 13, 1944. Because his harmonies were not those expected by an American audience, some complained. As a result Stravinsky was accused of violating a Massachusetts ordinance against “tampering” with national property. He was threatened with a $100 fine but was never officially charged. On various internet sites, there is a “mug shot” of Stravinsky, said to have been taken when he was “arrested” after the concert. The date on that photo is April 15, 1940, nearly four years before the work’s premiere. Stravinsky scholar Stephen Walsh speculates that the photo was taken at the time of his visa renewal. Here is what his arrangement sounds like:

Woody Guthrie's most famous song is “This Land Is Your Land” (1940). Although the song is generally thought of as a celebration of American opportunity, a careful listening reveals Guthrie’s displeasure with the social dystopia he experienced in the Great Depression-era 1930s.

Odetta (Odetta Holmes), folk and blues singer from Birmingham, Alabama, was known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” Rosa Parks, when asked which songs meant the most to her answered “all of the songs of Odetta.” Appearing with Dr. Martin Luther King at the 1963 March on Washington, Odetta sang the three songs “Oh Freedom,” “Come and Go With Me,” and “I’m on My Way.”

Odetta’s obituary (The New York Times, Dec. 3, 2008)

Singer/songwriter Phil Ochs was known for his fervent performances at many social rights rallies in the 1960s. He once described himself as a “singing journalist.” See below for a sample of Phil Ochs singing “Too Many Martyrs” about the death of Medgar Evers.

Phil Ochs’s sister remembers her brother.

Joan Baez began her career as a folk singer in the coffee houses of Cambridge, Massachusetts and rose to fame at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. In August of 1963, Baez led nearly 300,000 people at the March on Washington in singing “We Shall Overcome,” the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement.

In the 1960s, Bob Dylan’s songs personified the music of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Works such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They are a Changin” became huge hits and were covered by numerous folk artists. Though his early works are considered to be cultural icons of the 1960s protest movements, Dylan soon distanced himself from politics, claiming he had oversimplified the issues. In 2017 Bob Dylan was presented with the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Along with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger is one of the folk artists most responsible for popularizing “We Shall Overcome,” having overseen the publication of the song in 1947 and with his own performances and recordings. Seeger’s long career as a singer/songwriter/activist has resulted in numerous awards and honors, including Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts (both in 1994).  Seeger and members of his extended family are also long time advocates for American folk music.

Folk singer Pete Seeger talks about and performs political songs in the documentary, The Power of Song. You can often find unauthorized copies of this documentary if you search the internet.

Other sites of interest:

Visit the Alan Lomax Archive. 400 hours of video footage shot by folklorist/ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax between1978-1985.

Also see: “SNCC Freedom Singers (1962-1966)” and Freedom Singer: 'Without Music, There Would Be No Movement'