Speed our Republic (Matthias Keller)

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  • (Posted 2010-04-16)  CPDL #21453:          (Sibelius 4)
Editor: Ashley Etzkorn (submitted 2010-04-16).   Score information: Letter, 1 page, 121 kB   Copyright: Public Domain
Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Speed Our Republic (Angel of Peace)
Composer: Matthias Keller
Lyricist: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Number of voices: 1v   Voicing: Unison

Genre: SecularHymn

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1917

Description: Both words and music of this stately patriotic hymn were written during the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) by Matthias Keller, a German, who lived in Boston. It was sung at the Peace Jubilee in Boston in 1869, but since then has not received the attention in deserves. Eventually it should become well-known and loved throughout the United States. The words by Oliver Wendell Holmes (Angel of Peace, lyric lines 4-6) are equally suitable for general use and perhaps more significant.

External websites:

Original text and translations

English.png English text

1. Speed our Republic, O Father on high!
Lead us in pathways of justice and right;
Rulers as well as the ruled, one and all,
Girdle with virtue the armor of might!
Hail, three times hail to our country and flag!
Rulers as well as the ruled, one and all,
Girdle with virtue the armor of might!
Hail, three times hail to our country and flag!

2. Faithful and honest to friend and foe,
Willing to die in humanity's cause;
Thus we defy all tyrannical pow'r,
While we contend for our union and laws!
Hail, three times hail to our country and flag!
Thus we defy all tyrannical pow'r,
While we contend for our union and laws!
Hail, three times hail to our country and flag!

3. Rise up, proud eagle, rise up to the clouds!
Spread thy broad wings o'er this fair western world!
Fling from thy beak our dear banner of old,
Show that it still is for freedom unfurled!
Hail, three times hail to our country and flag!
Fling from thy beak our dear banner of old,
Show that it still is for freedom unfurled!
Hail, three times to our country and flag!

4. Angel of Peace, thou hast wandered too long;
Spread thy white wings to the sunshine of love!
Come while our voices are blended in song.
Fly to our ark like the storm-beaten dove.
Fly to our ark on the wings of the dove,
Speed o'er the far-sounding billows of song,
Crowned with the olive-leaf garland of love;
Angel of Peace, thou hast waited too long!

5. Brothers we meet on this altar of thine,
Mingling the gifts we have gathered for thee;
Sweet with the odors of myrtle and pine,
Breeze of the prairie and breath of the sea,
Meadow and mountain and forest and sea;
Sweet is the fragrance of myrtle and pine,
Sweeter the incense we offer to thee,
Brothers once more round this altar of thine!