Kalakaua

Hawaiian National Hymn. (Hawaii Panoi.)  composed by His Majesty, Kalakaua.  Translated by H. L. Sheldon.  Honolulu: Thos. G. Thrum, c. 1874



Handbill (7  1/4  x 4  5/8  in.; 184 x 118 mm).  Spotting in margins, horizontal folds, printer's inked stamp on verso.

The Hawaiian state anthem was written by King Kalakaua in 1874, with music by Henri Berger, the Royal Bandmaster.  In 1872, Kamehameha V asked Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany to send a bandmaster to Hawai'i.  The Kaiser sent Berger, who based the melody of "Hawaii Ponoi" on a Prussian hymn, "Heil Dir im Siegerkranz."  The hymn was first sung by the Kawaiaha'o Church Choir on King Kalakaua's birthday, 16 November 1874.  The state legislature proclaimed "Hawaii Ponoi" the state anthem in 1967.