Official Lyrics of O Canada!
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.
The History of the
National Anthem
Summary
"O Canada" was proclaimed
Canada's national anthem on July 1, 1980, 100 years
after it was first sung on June 24, 1880. The music
was composed by Calixa Lavallée, a well-known
composer; French lyrics to accompany the music were
written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The song
gained steadily in popularity. Many English versions
have appeared over the years. The version on which
the official English lyrics are based was written in
1908 by Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir. The official
English version includes changes recommended in 1968
by a Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House
of Commons. The French lyrics remain unaltered.
Full History of "O
Canada"
Many people think of Calixa Lavallée
as an obscure music teacher who dashed off a
patriotic song in a moment of inspiration. The truth
is quite different. Lavallée was, in fact, known as
"Canada's national musician" and it was on
this account that he was asked to compose the music
for a poem written by Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier.
The occasion was the "Congrès
national des Canadiens-Français" in 1880, which
was being held at the same time as the St.
Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations.
There had been some thought of
holding a competition for a national hymn to have its
first performance on St. Jean-Baptiste Day, June 24,
but by January the committee in charge decided there
was not enough time, so the Lieutenant Governor of
Quebec, the Honourable Théodore Robitaille,
commissioned Judge Routhier to write a hymn and
Lavallée to compose the tune. Lavallée made a
number of drafts before the tune we know was greeted
with enthusiasm by his musical friends. It is said
that in the excitement of success Lavallée rushed to
show his music to the Lieutenant Governor without
even stopping to sign the manuscript.
The first performance took place on
June 24, 1880 at a banquet in the "Pavillon des
Patineurs" in Quebec City as the climax of a
"Mosaïque sur des airs populaires
canadiens" arranged by JosephVézina, a
prominent composer and bandmaster.
Although this first performance of
"O Canada" with Routhier's French words was
well received on the evening, it does not seem to
have made a lasting impression at that time. Arthur
Lavigne, a Quebec musician and music dealer,
published it without copyright but there was no rush
to reprint. Lavallée's obit in 1891 doesn't mention
it among his accomplishments, nor does a biography of
Judge Routhier published in 1898. French Canada is
represented in the 1887 edition of the University of
Toronto song book by "Vive la canadienne",
"A la claire fontaine" and "Un
canadien errant".
English Canada in general probably
first heard "O Canada" when school children
sang it when the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later
King George V and Queen Mary) toured Canada in 1901.
Five years later Whaley and Royce in Toronto
published the music with the French text and a
translation into English made by Dr. Thomas Bedford
Richardson, a Toronto doctor. The Mendelssohn Choir
used the Richardson lyrics in one of their
performances about this time and Judge Routhier and
the French press complimented the author.
- Richardson version:
O Canada! Our fathers' land of old
Thy brow is crown'd with leaves of red and
gold.
Beneath the shade of the Holy Cross
Thy children own their birth
No stains thy glorious annals gloss
Since valour shield thy hearth.
Almighty God! On thee we call
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's
thrall,
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's
thrall.
In 1908 Collier's Weekly inaugurated
its Canadian edition with a competition for an
English text to Lavallée's music. It was won by
Mercy E. Powell McCulloch, but her version did not
take.
- McCulloch version :
O Canada! in praise of thee we
sing;
From echoing hills our anthems proudly ring.
With fertile plains and mountains grand
With lakes and rivers clear,
Eternal beauty, thos dost stand
Throughout the changing year.
Lord God of Hosts! We now implore
Bless our dear land this day and evermore,
Bless our dear land this day and evermore.
Since then many English versions have
been written for "O Canada". Poet Wilfred
Campbell wrote one. So did Augustus Bridle, Toronto
critic. Some were written for the 1908 tercentenary
of Quebec City. One version became popular in British
Columbia...
- Buchan version:
O Canada, our heritage, our love
Thy worth we praise all other lands above.
From sea to sea throughout their length
From Pole to borderland,
At Britain's side, whate'er betide
Unflinchingly we'll stand
With hearts we sing, "God save the
King",
Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,
And prosper Canada from shore to shore.
However the version that gained the
widest currency was made in 1908 by Robert Stanley
Weir, a lawyer and at the time Recorder of the City
of Montréal. This is the version which was published
in an official form for the Diamond Jubilee of
Confederation in 1927, and has since been generally
accepted in English speaking Canada.
- Weir version:
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!
Many musicians have made arrangements
of "O Canada" but there appears to be a
scarcity of recordings suitable for various purposes.
Calixa Lavallée
Calixa Lavallée was a "canadien
errant", a man who left his country for greener
fields, but who nevertheless loved Canada and
returned to it, returned with a reputation well
earned in the United States and France to become the
"national musician" of Canada. He was, in
his time, a composer of operettas, at least one
symphony, various occasional pieces and songs; he was
a pianist and organist of considerable note and he
was a teacher who wanted to found the first Canadian
Conservatory.
The famous Canadian choral conductor
Augustus Stephen Volt said of him: "I became
acquainted with Lavallée in the 80's of the last
century, when I was in Boston as a student of music,
and he impressed me as a man of extraordinary ability
- not merely as a clever executant of the piano, and
not merely as an adroit deviser of pretty melodies
and sensuous harmonies, but as a genuinely creative
artist, a pure musical genius".
Calixa Lavallée was born in
Verchères, Lower Canada, on December 28, 1842, the
son of Augustin Lavallée, a woodcutter and
blacksmith, who became an instrument repairman,
bandleader and music teacher. Later when the family
moved to St-Hyacinthe, the father worked for the
famous organ-builder Joseph Casavant and led the town
band. Calixa showed talent early and played the organ
in the cathedral at the age of eleven. Two years
later he gave a piano recital at the Théâtre Royal
in Montréal.
In Montréal Lavallée met Léon
Derome, a butcher who loved music. He became
Lavallée's lifelong patron and friend, often coming
to his aid in bad times.
About this time, Calixa tired of
regular lessons and left Montréal to try his luck in
the United States. In New Orleans, he won a
competition which in turn won him a job as
accompanist to the famous Spanish violinist Olivera.
After touring with Olivera in Brazil and the West
Indies, Lavallée joined the Northern army during the
American Civil War.
Leaving the U.S. army as a
lieutenant, Lavallée returned to Montréal where he
gave piano lessons and played cornet in a theatre
orchestra.
In 1865 he returned to the United
States to teach and give a series of concert tours.
He married and began to work with Arnold de Thiers,
with whom he composed a comic opera called
"Loulou". The night before its first
performance, the owner of the opera house was shot
and the theatre closed. Lavallée, who had been
conductor and artistic director of the theatre, the
New York Grand Opera House, found himself out of a
job.
He returned to Montréal in 1872 to a
warm welcome from his friends, and had soon setup a
studio with Jehin Prume and Rosita del Vecchio,
well-known musicians. Success in Montréal brought
him the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, to continue
his musical education in Paris. A group of friends
led by Derome made him a monthly allowance while he
studied with Bazin, Boieldieu and Marmontel. A
Lavallée symphony was performed by a Paris orchestra
in 1874 and his teachers predicted a great future for
him.
Lavallée decided to devote his life
to the establishment of a conservatory in Canada. To
prove that talent existed, he mounted a Gounod drama
with an all-Canadian cast of 80. The venture was a
great success and Lavallée had high hopes of
interesting the government in his idea. But although
the public responded warmly to his productions,
official quarters gave nothing but vague promises.
It was during this Quebec period, in
1880 that Lavallée composed the music of "O
Canada" for the "Congrès national des
Canadiens-Français". But he could see nothing
ahead but routine teaching and playing, so once again
he took off for the United States.
Things took a turn for the better. He
was appointed an organist and choirmaster; he toured
with the famous Hungarian soprano Etelka Gerster; he
increased his composing. many of his works were
performed including "Tiq", a
"melodramatic musical satire" on the Indian
question and his comic opera "The Widow".
As a member of the Music Teachers' National
Association, he organized a number of very successful
concerts, and finally, in 1887, was elected
president.
In 1888 Lavallée represented the
professional musicians of America in London and
introduced American compositions in London where the
Lord Mayor gave a dinner in his honour.
Lavallée's health had been poor for
some years and after his return to Boston became much
worse. By the autumn of 1890 he was bedridden and in
financial straits. He died on January 21, 1891, at
the age of 49, leaving some 60 works, only about half
of which have been found.
Lavallée was buried near Boston but
his body was brought back to Canada in 1933 and now
rests in Montréal Cemetery Côte-des- Neiges.
Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier
Adolphe Routhier (1839-1920) was born
in Saint-Placide (Lower Canada). He was a
distinguished lawyer who, like many members of his
profession, was active in the community life of both
his profession and his co-religionists. He was
appointed a judge in 1873 and was a founding member
of the Royal Society of Canada. He was probably
better known as a poet than as a judge, and it was
natural that the Honourable Théodore Robitaille,
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, should turn to him to
write the words of a hymn for the great
"Congrès national des Canadians-
Français" in 1880. Since Routhier was president
of the Congress at the time, a happier choice could
hardly have been made. His poem for "O
Canada!" was widely praised on its first
presentation.
Routhier who wrote under the name of
Jean Piquefort, was later Chief Justice of Quebec
until his retirement from the Bench in 1906.
The Honourable Robert Stanley Weir
Robert Stanley Weir (1856-1926) was
born in Hamilton, in what was then Upper Canada. He
took all his higher education in Montreal, and was
qualified for both teaching and the law. He chose law
and rose rapidly in the profession, becoming in due
course, like Routhier, a judge first as Recorder of
the City of Montréal and later to the Exchequer
Court of Canada (now the Federal Court of Canada). He
wrote both learned legal works and poetry, and his
fame as a writer won him election as a Fellow of the
Royal Society which Routhier had helped found.
Weir had been a member of the Quebec
Legislative Assembly for Argenteuil from 1903 to
1910, during which period he served in the Parent and
Gouin Ministries as Minister without portfolio,
Minister of Public Works or Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly.
Parliamentary Action
By the time the World War broke out
in 1914, "O Canada" was the best known
patriotic song in Canada, edging out "The Maple
leaf Forever" and others less well-known today.
1924 - The association of Canadian
Clubs passed a unanimous resolution recommending the
Weir version as suitable for use at Club meetings.
Since then the I.O.D.E. and the Canadian Authors
Association have endorsed it and in 1958 the Native
Sons of Canada found in favour of it.
1927 - An official version of "O
Canada" was authorized for singing in Canadian
schools and for use at public functions.
1942 - July 27. The Prime Minister,
the Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King, was
asked if he did not think this an appropriate time
for proclaiming a national anthem. He replied that
"There are times and seasons for all things and
this time of war when there are other more important
questions with which parliament has to deal, we might
well continue to follow what has become the custom in
Canada in recent years of regarding "God Save
The King" and "O Canada" each as
national anthems and entitled to similar
recognition." He said further that this was his
opinion, his government's opinion and he had no doubt
it was the opinion of most people in the country.
Some years later, his successor as Prime Minister,
the Right Honourable Louis St-Laurent made a similar
statement.
1964 - A government resolution
authorized the formation of a special joint committee
to consider the status of "God Save The
Queen" and "O Canada".
1966 - January 31. The Prime
Minister, the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson,
placed a notice of motion on the order paper
"That the government be authorized to take such
steps as may be necessary to provide that "O
Canada" shall be the National Anthem of Canada
while "God Save The Queen" shall be the
Royal Anthem of Canada.
1967 - March 15. The special joint
committee "unanimously recommends that the
government be authorized to adopt forthwith the music
for "O Canada" composed by Calixa Lavallée
as the music of the National Anthem of Canada with
the following notation added to the sheet music: With
dignity, not too slowly.
"God Save The Queen" was
found to be in the public domain as the Royal Anthem
of Canada, but for "O Canada" the committee
deemed it "essential to take such steps as
necessary to appropriate the copyright to the music
providing that it shall belong to Her Majesty in
right of Canada for all time. This provision would
also include that no other person shall be entitled
to copyright in the music or any arrangements or
adaptations thereof."
The committee recommended further
study of the lyrics. It discarded an otherwise
acceptable bilingual version as being difficult for
other ethnic groups in Canada to accept. It suggested
keeping the original French version and using the
Weir English version with minor changes - that is
replacing two of the "Stand on guard"
phrases with "From far and wide" and
"God keep our land".
There was no trouble with the music
copyright which had by now descended to Gordon V.
Thompson. They were willing to sell for $1, but the
heirs of Judge Weir objected to the changes in the
original version. Since Judge Weir died in 1926, the
Weir version would not come into public domain until
1976. There was some doubt that the Weir family had
legal grounds for objection since Thompson's
apparently held copyright on both music and English
words. However the committee preferred to settle the
matter amicably if at all possible. The Government
acquired the rights from G.V. Thompson in 1970.
- The version recommended by the
committee:
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.
1972 - February 28 - The Secretary of
State of Canada, the Honourable Gérard Pelletier,
presented a bill in the House of Commons proposing
the adoption of "O Canada" as the National
Anthem of Canada. The recommendations of the 1967
study in Parliament are incorporated in the bill,
which did not receive further study in Parliament and
died on the order paper. The same legislation was
reintroduced by Mr. Pelletier's successors at further
sessions of Parliament; no action was ever taken.
1980 - June 18 - The Secretary of
State of Canada, the Honourable Francis Fox,
presented a bill, similar to previously presented
bills on "O Canada", fulfilling a promise
made earlier in the House that "O Canada"
be proclaimed as Canada's national anthem as soon as
possible in this year of the centenary of the first
rendition. The bill was unanimously accepted by the
House of Commons and the Senate on June 27; Royal
assent was given the same day.
July 1 - The Governor General, His
Excellency the Right Honourable Edward Schreyer,
proclaimed the Act respecting the National Anthem of
Canada, thus making "O Canada" an official
symbol of the country. A public ceremony was held at
noon on Parliament Hill in front of thousands of
Canadians. Descendants of Weir and Routhier were on
the official platform, as well as the successor of
Robitaille, the Honourable Jean-Pierre Côté.
Original Poem by Weir
Originally "O Canada" was a
patriotic poem by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, a
Quebec judge. Calixa Lavallée, the well-known
Canadian composer, was commissioned to set it to
music, and it was first sung in 1880 during a
national convention of French Canadians in Quebec
City. Many English versions have appeared, but the
one which was widely accepted was written in 1908 by
another judge, R. Stanley Weir, in honour of the
300th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. It
was also published in an official form at the time of
the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927 and
during the Royal visit of 1939. A slightly modified
version of the first verse of Weir's poem was
proclaimed as Canada's national anthem in 1980.
- 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.Refrain
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!
Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
O Canada! Beneth 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!
Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
Ruler supreme, who hearest
humble prayer,
Hold our dominion whithin thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! etc
English Translation of Routhier's
Version
- O Canada! Land of our
forefathers
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland
of flowers.
As in 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.Ch.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.