[To make sure we're all on the same page, Carolyn Kunin here references Alexey Skylarenko's discussion of the song beginning "Let the crown of Bacchus's haze be on thy head!," sung the day after Stepan Glebov's execution in Merezhkovski's "Peter and Alexey," which he yesterday proposed as a source for some allusions in ADA.  - SES]

 

Dear Alexey,

I don't know if it's pertinent, but to me 'Bacchus' has a patriotic ring to it.
I wouldn't mention it except I heard a bit of an interview yesterday on the
radio with the author of a new book on Nabokov and she mentioned how much of an
American patriot he was.

That aside, the 'Star Spangled Banner', the American anthem, is based on a
British drinking song called 'To Anacreon in Heav'n'. The words, from memory
(and thus first stanza only) are:

To Anacreon in Heav'n where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of Harmony sent a Petition:
That he their inspirer and patron should be;
And an Answer arose from the charming old Grecian:
Voice, Fiddle and Flute no longer be Mute!
I'll lend you my name and inspire you to boot.
And besides that I 'll instruct you like me to entwine
The Myrtle of Venus and Bacchus' Vine.

Carolyn

p.s. For those of a musical bent, it's worth looking up the music - the original
tune is not in the major mode. I can't be sure now, but it's possibly phrygian
or mixolydian. Charming and Grecian?