madrid@auvax (Roslyn Madrid) (07/18/83)
Here it is, folks. From the "Encyclopedia Canadiana" (1975,
vol. 7) to you. More than you ever wanted to know about Canadian
National Songs.
"The "national" songs of Canada - those that are sung or played
on public occasions - have tended to be three in number: "O
Canada," originally a chant national of French-speaking Canada,
nowadays with accepted versions in both French and Englisn (in
May 1964 the Government introduced in the House of Commons, at the
same time as the flag resolution was introduced, a resolution
naming "O Canada" as the national anthem and "God Save the Queen"
as the Royal anthem, but it was not acted upon at the time); "The
Maple Leaf Forever," which for many years was widely used in
English-speaking Canada; and "God Save the Queen."
O CANADA
"O Canada" as a musical composition was commissioned for the
occasion of the official visit to Quevec in 1880 of the Governor
General (the Marquess of Lorne) and H.R.H. Princess Louise.
The music was written by Calixa Lavallee (1842-91), a native of
Vercheres, who had a wide musical training, as a student, bandsman,
teacher and promoter.
The stirring music that Lavallee wrote (reputedly in a single
night) was intended to be first heard during an open-air Mass on
the Plains of Abraham. Some of Lavallee's friends, on learning
that this plan might be changed, hastily recruited a hundred
trumpets and other brass instruments, and "O Canada" was first
played at a banquet in the Skating Pavilion in Quevec a day ahead
of the religious service. In French-speaking Canada it was received
with enthusiasm. The original words were written by the Hon. Sir
Adolphe Routhier (1839-1920), sometime chief justice of Quebec,
a charter member of the Royal Society of Canada and its president
in 1915-1916. Of the French words, the first stanza is now generally
the only one that is sung.
O Canada! terre de nos aieux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux.
Car ton bras sait porter l'epee,
Il sait porter la croix;
Ton histoire est une epopee
Des plus brilliants exploits;
Et ta valeur, de foi trempee,
Protegera nos foyers et nos droits.
Nearly 20 versions in English (which are adaptations rather than
translations) have been published. Among these, the words written
on the occasion of the tercentenary of Quebec in 1908 by the Hon.
R. Stanley Weir (1856-1926) - recorder of Montreal, and sometime
judge of the Exchequer Court of Canada - have attained the most
general acceptance and are now most widely sung. They owe their
deserved popularity to the fact that they were officially adopted
by the Association of Canadian Clubs and other national bodies and
were printed (from 1921 onwards) in many of the public-school readers
of the several provinces. They were also published in an official
form at the time of the Diamond Jubilee of Canadian federation in
1927 and on the occasion of the Royal visit to Canada in 1939. The
music has been specially arranged to be played on the carillon
of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot-love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free,
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, glorious and free!
We stand on guard, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada! Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow,
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and Free!
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada contains a version
by Dr. Albert Durrand Watson (1859-1926), the physician and
writer, that is commonly sung in churches.
Lord of the lands, beneath Thy bending skies,
On field and flood, where'er our banner flies,
Thy people lift their hearts to Thee,
Their grateful voices raise:
May our Dominion ever be
A temple to Thy praise.
Thy will alone let all enthrone;
Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own:
Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own!
Almighty Love, by Thy mysterious power,
In wisdom guide, with faith and freedom dower;
Be ours a nation evermore
That no oppression blights,
Where justice rules from shore to shore,
From lakes to northern lights.
May love alone for wrong atone;
Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own:
Lord of the lands, make Canada Thine own!
Lord of the worlds, with strong eternal hand,
Hold us in honour, truth and self-command;
The loyal heart, the constant mond,
The courage to be true,
Our wide extending Empire bind,
And all the earth renew.
Thy Name be known through every zone;
Lord of the worlds, make all the lands Thine own:
Lord of the worlds, make all the lands Thine own!
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
The words and music to "God Save the Queen" reach back
for over 200 years. At the time when the tune was played on
successive nights at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and at
Covent Garden in London (1745), much of present-day Canada was
still in French domain, and Halifax had not yet been founded.
It cannot be stated with certainty
when the tune was first played on a public occasion in Canada, though
possibly it was in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. In
Canada the song has never had the "royalist" or "anti-Jacobite"
flavour of its earliest public performances in London, and for this
reason verses after the first are very rarely sung; but for several
generations has become a symbol of loyalty to the Sovereign in a
personal sense. In certain provinces of Canada the playing of
"God Save the Queen" (or the first six bars of it) is a statutory
requirement at the conclusion of theatrical performances, and it
has become a widely accepted means of terminating the proceedings
at public meetings of various kinds. It is not, in any legal sense,
the national anthem, although it may sometimes be so referred to as
a matter of convenience.
God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen;
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen.
THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER
In an earlier generation in English-speaking Canada (though
not in French-speaking areas), "The Maple Leaf Forever" had
a considerable popularity, partly because it was authorized
for use in the schools of many of the provinces. Words and
music were written in 1867 by Alexander Muir (1830-1906), who
came to Canada as a child, was educated at Queen's University
and taught school in Toronto for many years. In 1867 the
maple leaf first appeared on the armorial bearings of the then
new provinces of Ontario and Quevec, and the song picked up
the enthusiasm of the movement for what had indeed been a national
symbol from still earlier days.
Though the tune is still occasionally heard, the words have
fallen into disuse, partly because of the general acceptance of one
of the English versions of "O Canada."
In days of yore, from Britain's shore,
Wolfe the dauntless hero came,
And planted firm Britannia's flag
On Canada's fair domain.
Here may it wave, our boast, our pride,
And joined in love together,
The Thistle, Shamrock, Rose entwine
The Maple Leaf for ever!
The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear,
The Maple Leaf for ever!
God save our Queen and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf forever!
At Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane,
Our brave fathers, side by side,
For freedom, homes, and loved ones dear
Firmly stood and nobly died:
And those dear rights which they maintained,
We swear to yield them never!
Our watchword ever more shall be,
The Maple Leaf for ever!
The Maple Leaf, etc.
Our fair Dominion now extends
From Cape Race to Nootka Sound;
May peace for ever be our lot,
And plenteous store abound:
And may those ties of love be ours
Which discord cannot sever,
And flourish green o'er Freedom's home,
The Maple Leaf for ever!
The Maple Leaf, etc.
On merry England's far-famed land
May kind Heaven sweetly smile;
God bless Old Scotland ever-more,
And Ireland's Emerald Isle!
Then swell the sound, both loud and long,
Till rocks and forest quiver
God save our Queen and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf for ever!
The Maple Leaf, etc."
ntt@dciem.UUCP (07/28/83)
Words to O Canada...
auvax!madrid's posting from the Encyclopedia Canadiana was correct in 1975,
but in about 1980, new English words were made official, as I think somebody
else noted. The three verses are unchanged but the chorus now goes:
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Prior to that time, the MUSIC was the official national anthem, but there
were no official words in any language. Incidentally, I always thought it
amusing that the English words go "...we stand on guard for thee", while the
French "Et ta valeur ... protegera nos foyers..." says roughly the opposite.
God Save the Queen...
is God Save the King when the reigning monarch is male. One school I
attended (in Ontario) in the 1960's played God Save the Queen routinely in
the morning rather than O Canada.
The music for God Save the King/Queen was re-used for the song America
("My country, 'tis of thee...") by someone who didn't know what it was.
This makes British and Canadian people rather amused when America turns up
in movies,
The Star-Spangled Banner...
according to a reprinted "Ripley's Believe It or Not" I saw, used the
music of an old drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven", and the usual version
was made the official national anthem shortly after RBIoN printed this fact
under the heading "America has no National Anthem".
Mark Brader, NTT Systems Inc.