Here's a tiny bit of history trivia courtesy of my daughter, Kimber, AKA Mrs. Lybbert. This morning she composed a pop quiz for her Advandced Placement [AP] Conference classmates. She asked, “ What popular early twentieth century song, written by a teacher and quoting Tennyson, will be sung by millions of people today?
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!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
"O Canada" is the
national anthem of
Canada. The song was originally commissioned by
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony;
Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which words were written by the poet and judge Sir
Adolphe-Basile Routhier (May 8, 1839 – June 27, 1920), whose occupation was lawyer, author, judge, and professor.
Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier was a
Canadian judge, author, and lyricist . He wrote the lyrics of the original
French version of the Canadian
national anthem O Canada. He was born in
Saint-Placide, Quebec, to Charles Routhier and Angélique Lafleur.
Official French
Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Translation of French:
O Canada!
Land of our forefathers,
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As is thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic
Of the most brilliant exploits.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights.
Will protect our homes and our rights.
The lyrics were originally in French and an English version was created in 1906.
Robert Stanley Weir wrote in 1908 another English version, which is the official and most popular version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir's lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered. "O Canada" had served as a
de facto national anthem since 1939, officially becoming Canada's national anthem in 1980 when the Act of Parliament making it so received
Royal Assent and became effective on July 1 as part of that year's
Dominion Day celebrations.
It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "March of the Priests" from the opera
The Magic Flute, composed in 1791 by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The line "The True North strong and free" is based on
the Lord Tennyson's description of Canada as "that true North, whereof we lately heard / A strain to shame us". In the context of Tennyson's poem To the Queen, the word true means "loyal" or "faithful".
"To the Queen" Alfred Tennyson, 1809-1892
O LOYAL to the royal in thyself,
And loyal to thy land, as this to thee--
Bear witness, that rememberable day,
When, pale as yet, and fever-worn, the Prince
Who scarce had pluck'd his flickering life again
From halfway down the shadow of the grave,
Past with thee thro' thy people and their love,
And London roll'd one tide of joy thro'all
Her trebled millions, and loud leages of man
And welcome! witness, too, the silent cry, 10
The prayer of many a race and creed, and clime--
Thunderless lightnings striking under sea
From sunset and sunrise of all thy realm,
And that true North, whereof we lately heard
A strain to shame us 'keep you to yourselves;
So loyal is too costly! friends--your love
Is but a burthen: loose the bond, and go.'
Is this the tone of empire? here the faith
That made us rulers? this, indeed, her voice
And meaning, whom the roar of Hougoumont 20
Left mightiest of all peoples under heaven?
What shock has fool'd her since, that she should speak
So feebly? wealther--wealthier--hour by hour!
The voice of Britain, or a sinking land,
Some third-rate isle half-lost among her seas?
There rang her voice, when the full city peal'd
Thee and thy Prince! The loyal to their crown
Are loyal to their own far sons, who love
Our ocean-empire with her boundless homes
For ever-broadening England, and her throne 30
In our vast Orient, and one isle, one isle,
That knows not her own greatness: if she knows
And dreads it we are fall'n.--But thous, my Queen,
Not for itslef, but thro' thy living love
For one to whom I made it o'er his grave
Sacred, accept this old imperfect tale,
New-old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul
Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost,
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak,
And cleaves and cromlech still; or him 40
Of Geoffrey's book, or him of Malleor's one
Touch'd by the adulterous finger of a time
That hover'd between war and wantonness,
And crownings and dethronements: take withal
Thy poet's blessing, and his trust that Heaven
Will blow the tempest in the distance back
From thine and ours: for some are scared, who mark,
Or wisely or unwisely, signs of storm,
Waverings of every vane with every wind,
And wordy trucklings to the transient hour, 50
And fierce or careless looseners of the faith,
And Softness breeding scorn of simple life,
Or Cowardice, the child of lust for gold,
Or Labour, with a groan and not a voice,
Or Art with poisonous honey stol'n from France,
And that which knows, but careful for itself
And that which knows not, ruling that which knows
To its own harm: the goal of this great world
Lies beyond sight: yet--if our slowly-grown
And crown'd Republic's crowning common-sense, 60
That saved her many times, not fail--their fears
Are morning shadows huger than the shapes
That cast them, not those gloomier which forego
The darkness of that battle in the West,
Where all of high and holy dies away.
from The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate (London: Kegan Paul, 1878).
