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"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, "Pikes Peak", first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical ''The Congregationalist'' in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled "America" for publication. Ward had originally written the music, "Materna", for the hymn "O Mother dear, Jerusalem" in 1882, though it was not first published until 1892.〔 (McKim notes that Ward mailed a friend a postcard in which he stated the hymn had been composed in 1882, however).〕 Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled ''America the Beautiful''. The song is one of the most popular of the many American patriotic songs. ==History== In 1893, at the age of 33, Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach a short summer school session at Colorado College. Several of the sights on her trip inspired her, and they found their way into her poem, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its alabaster buildings; the wheat fields of America's heartland Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 16; and the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Zebulon's Pikes Peak. On the pinnacle of that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room at the original Antlers Hotel. The poem was initially published two years later in ''The Congregationalist'' to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public's fancy. Amended versions were published in 1904 and 1913. Several existing pieces of music were adapted to the poem. A hymn tune composed by Samuel A. Ward was generally considered the best music as early as 1910 and is still the popular tune today. Just as Bates had been inspired to write her poem, Ward, too, was inspired to compose his tune. The tune came to him while he was on a ferryboat trip from Coney Island back to his home in New York City, after a leisurely summer day in 1882, and he immediately wrote it down. He was so anxious to capture the tune in his head, he asked fellow passenger friend Harry Martin for his shirt cuff to write the tune on. He composed the tune for the old hymn "O Mother Dear, Jerusalem", retitling the work "Materna". Ward's music combined with Bates's poem were first published together in 1910 and titled "America the Beautiful". Ward died in 1903, not knowing the national stature his music would attain since the music was only first applied to the song in 1904. Bates was more fortunate since the song's popularity was well established by the time of her death in 1929. At various times in the more than 100 years that have elapsed since the song was written, particularly during the John F. Kennedy administration, there have been efforts to give "America the Beautiful" legal status either as a national hymn or as a national anthem equal to, or in place of, "The Star-Spangled Banner", but so far this has not succeeded. Proponents prefer "America the Beautiful" for various reasons, saying it is easier to sing, more melodic, and more adaptable to new orchestrations while still remaining as easily recognizable as "The Star-Spangled Banner". Some prefer "America the Beautiful" over "The Star-Spangled Banner" due to the latter's war-oriented imagery. Others prefer "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the same reason. While that national dichotomy has stymied any effort at changing the tradition of the national anthem, "America the Beautiful" continues to be held in high esteem by a large number of Americans. The melody of this song was the school song of the former University of Shanghai, which closed in 1952. Currently, it is used by Shanghai Alumni Primary School in Hong Kong and Hujiang High School in Taiwan as the melody of their school song. At Colorado College, where Bates was teaching at the time of writing it, "America the Beautiful" is commonly sung at events such as convocations, commencement, and baccalaureate and has become somewhat of a second anthem for the school. When Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, this song was played as the welcome music. This song was used as the background music of the television broadcast of the Tiangong-1 launch.〔http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/30/china-launch-america-the-beautiful〕 The song is often included in songbooks in a wide variety of religious congregations in the United States. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「America the Beautiful」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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