The origin of the tune is surrounded by uncertainty, myth and speculation. In
The Oxford Companion to Music,
Percy Scholes devotes about four pages to this subject,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2">
[3]</sup> pointing out the similarities to an early
plainsong melody, although the rhythm is very distinctly that of a
galliard, and he gives examples of several such dance tunes that bear a striking resemblance to "God Save the King/Queen". Scholes quotes a keyboard piece by Dr.
John Bull (1619) which has some strong similarities to the modern tune, depending on the placing of
accidentals which at that time were unwritten in certain cases and left to the discretion of the player (see
musica ficta). He also points to several pieces by
Henry Purcell, one of which includes the opening notes of the modern tune, set to the words "God Save The King". Nineteenth century scholars and commentators mention the widespread belief that an old Scots carol, "Remember O Thou Man" was the source of the tune.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3">
[4]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4">
[5]</sup>
The first definitive published version of the present tune appeared in 1744 in
Thesaurus Musicus, as a setting of the familiar first verse, and the song was popularised in
Scotland and
England the following year, with the landing of
Charles Edward Stuart. It was recorded as being sung in London theatres in 1745, with, for example,
Thomas Arne writing a setting of the tune for the
Drury Lane Theatre.
Scholes' analysis includes mention of "untenable" and "doubtful" claims, as well as "an American misattribution". Some of these are:
- A tale, widely believed in France, that the tune Grand Dieu Sauve Le Roi, was written by Jean-Baptiste Lully to celebrate the healing of Louis XIV's anal fistula.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5">[6]</sup> Lully set words by the Duchess of Brinon to music, and the tune was plagiarised by Händel. Translated in Latin under the name Domine, Salvum Fac Regem, it became the French anthem until 1792.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6">[7]</sup> After the Battle of Culloden, the Hanover dynasty would have adopted this melody as the British anthem. Scholes points out gross errors of date which render these claims untenable, and they have been ascribed to a 19th-century forgery, the Souvenirs of the Marquise de Créquy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7">[8]</sup>
- James Oswald: He is a possible author of the Thesaurus Musicus, so may have played a part in the history of the song, but is not a strong enough candidate to be cited as the composer of the tune.
- Dr. Henry Carey: Scholes refutes this attribution, firstly, on the grounds that Carey himself never made such a claim. Secondly, when the claim was made by Carey's son (as late as 1795), it was accompanied by a request for a pension from the British Government on that score. Thirdly, the younger Carey claimed that his father had written parts of it in 1745, even though the older Carey had died in 1743. It has also been claimed that the work was first publicly performed by Carey during a dinner in 1740 in honour of Admiral Edward "Grog" Vernon, who had captured the Spanish harbour of Porto Bello (then in Colombia, now Panama) during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
Scholes recommends the attribution "traditional" or "traditional; earliest known version by John Bull (1562–1628)". The
English Hymnal (musical editor
Ralph Vaughan Williams) gives no attribution, stating merely "17th or 18th cent."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8">
[9]</sup>
).