Photograph: Rischgitz/Getty ImagesĪlso performed every meeting was the society’s anthem, To Anacreon in Heaven, whose music was composed by Smith. Samuel Johnson was a member of the Anacreontic Society. Following dinner, various songs, puppet shows, and other convivial activities would transpire. At the concert’s conclusion, dinner was served.

This venue was needed to hold its increasing membership, which rose from a few dozen to 80, according to the 1780 edition of The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle.Īnacreontic Society events, which occurred every other Wednesday, would begin with a concert featuring London musicians. Though Boyce was old and growing deaf, he nurtured Smith’s growing musical prowess, which saw him accepted into the Anacreontic Society (named after the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, who was known for lyrics about drinking and romance), an elite social club boasting such members as writers Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.įounded in the mid-1760s, the Anacreontic Society first met in various London taverns before relocating to the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand. The son of a cathedral organist, Smith, as a young man, joined the Chapel Royal in London, where he received instruction from the composer William Boyce. The British composer’s identity was a subject of speculation until the 20th-century discovery of a manuscript that identified him as John Stafford Smith, a Gloucester native born in March 1750.

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