• GOD SAVE THE KING

No one knows when the song was written or even when the words and lyrics were first put together. The earliest known publication of the work was in 1744, according to the Oxford Companion to Music, which notes that the song was the world’s first national anthem.

It all started on Sept. 28, 1745, at London’s Drury Lane Theatre. The nation was in crisis. A Scottish army led by Charles Edward Stuart — known as Bonnie Prince Charlie — was marching south, intent on capturing the British crown taken from his grandfather.

The King was the German-born George II, whose father was given the throne to ensure Britain was ruled by a Protestant. At the end of September 1745, with the Catholic army of Charles about 160 k from the capital, the possibility of regime change loomed over London.

One of England’s most famous composers wanted to help raise morale. Thomas Arne was the musical director at the Drury Lane Theatre and the composer of the patriotic song Rule, Britannia!

He decided the troubled times needed another inspirational song, so he created a new arrangement of a work published the previous year in the songbook Thesaurus Musicus. He then got his sister, the celebrated singer Susannah Maria Cibber, to lead a surprise performance to end the evening’s entertainment at the theatre.

The song was God Save the King, and it was a huge hit. The Daily Advertiser newspaper reported it was greeted with “universal applause” and “repeated Huzzas.” Other theaters adopted the practice, even using the song as a selling point.

The General Advertiser carried this notice four days later: “At the Theatre in Goodman’s Fields, by desire, God Save the King, as it was performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, with great applause.” Popular magazines printed both the music and lyrics.

The music even crossed the Atlantic and almost became the American anthem when it was used for My Country ‘Tis of Thee, a staple of presidential inaugurations.