Hildegard’s Play of Virtues is not my favorite piece of music, but I still appreciate its unique style. By opening the piece with a man shouting -not singing- in an unfamiliar language, it subverts the audience’s expectations. They expected a song; instead, they listen to Satan shouting at them. This makes the actual start of the music more powerful. The woman’s voice, combined with the lyrics of beginning for deliverance, makes the song feel otherworldly and serene. Compared to the shouting, this makes the audience feel hope instead of confusion, anger, and fear. Although Middle Age music is not my favorite, I can still appreciate the way Hildegard showed the difference between good and evil.

Moving on to Princess Leia’s Theme, John William’s song is one of the most memorable out of all the ones composed for the Star Wars franchise. The melody of this song -and all the songs in the franchise- is incredibly important; in Princess Leia’s Theme, it remains consistent throughout, with several jumps, rapid changes between slow and fast tempo, and an otherworldly atmosphere. Being a Star Wars fan, this song always makes me feel equal parts hope, nostalgia, and loss; it captures the complex, heartbreaking story of Leia while promising that, although sorrow is present, there is always hope for tomorrow.

The Imperial March, meanwhile, is the theme associated with the Empire and its leader -Darth Vader. It instantly makes you think of conquest, victory, and war. While Leia’s theme focused on hope in dark times, this song is about striving towards victory no matter the cost. It makes perfect sense; the Empire is ruthless in achieving its goals, making Imperial March a fantastic theme for showing who is truly evil in the Star Wars universe.

Compared to Hildegard’s work, the two pieces from Star Wars have a far larger impact on me. Nostalgia and having a full orchestra performing the pieces instead of a few voices helps convey their themes more clearly than Hildegard’s piece. But, as I said before, I can still appreciate her work even if it is not my preference; for its time, it was an incredible piece of music. It managed to convey the struggle between good and evil in one song, while John Williams had two songs with very different themes.

Between Gottschalk and South City Voices, I prefer the South City Voices version. Gottschalk takes his time to even introduce the melody of The Star-Spangled Banner in his piece, then continues after it ends. His version makes me feel as if the original song he was paying homage to was not important as his own composition. Meanwhile, the South City Voices version had creativity while keeping the melody almost entirely the same as the original song.

Moving on to Stravinsky’s version, it is clear within the first few notes that his composition changes the original melody considerably. The changes aren’t significant -he adds flats that weren’t originally in the piece- but the fact that Stravinsky’s composition opens with the same notes as The Star-Spangled Banner means the listener can think they are about to listen to the original song; when these changes are heard, it can’t be jarring and take them out of enjoying the piece.

I personally believe neither Stravinsky’s version nor Hendrix’s versions of The Star-Spangled Banner are offensive. While they are very different from the original composition, the skill with which these versions are played are impressive enough to make the changes okay. When they were originally played, however, it is understandable why people would be offended -people don’t always react well to change, especially when it involves something “sacred,” like a national anthem. While they may find fault with a guitar solo in the national anthem, I remain impressed that people can look at a piece of music and add their own personal touch to it.

The Star-Spangled Banner is more than an iconic piece of American history. It is a musical piece that combines a unique melody, lyrics, and harmony to result in a song both patriotic and inspiring. The core of the song is the melody. While not complex, it does make several leaps throughout the piece, especially when the song reaches its emotional climax. When combined with the harmony, the song takes on a heroic, victorious tone -it makes a listener think about a winning side of a battle. When the lyrics are introduced, that initial feeling is confirmed; the lyrics tell of the joy at seeing the flag still flying after a night of bombardment. Since I grew up with The Star-Spangled Banner as my national anthem, it first makes me think about what it took to found this nation. I feel pride when I listen to this song, and at the end, hope for the future. The lyrics of the song serve as a reminder for how this country came into being; once they end, there is nowhere to go now but forward as a people.