A documentary on the National Anthem will be broadcast on Maryland Public Television next week. The one-hour program entitled "Anthem" is a product of brothers Mark and David Hildebrand. Mark Hildebrand is the producer and director of the documentary, and David Hildebrand is the musical consultant.

"This is a unique approach. It's a musical approach. There's a lot of musical performances, and explanations of music history," says Mark Hildebrand. "And it really also highlights Maryland's role in what would shape our national identity."

"Anthem" will be broadcast on MPT on Wednesday, December 19th at 9:00 PM. It will be aired again on Friday, December 21st at 11:00 PM on MPT Two.

Many of us have heard the story of Francis Scott Key on board a British ship in Baltimore Harbor who was inspired by the bombardment of Fort McHenry to write a poem to remember the event. "He wasn't on a British ship and he didn't write a poem," says David Hildebrand. Rather, Key, who was previously on board a British ship to try to win the release of a Maryland resident, was actually on an American ship, says David Hildebrand. It was being closely watched by the British at that time.

It's also not known how soon Key wrote the "Star Spangled Banner" after witnessing the "rockets red glare, and bombs bursting in air." David Hildebrand says the Maryland Historical Society has the handwritten lyrics Key composed following the bombardment, with all of its corrections. "It's very possible that the draft that survives was written a couple of days after the bombardment, when he was back in Baltimore in a hotel room, the night before he delivered the words to the printer's office to have them printed up in a broadsheet that was then circulated," he says.

Another belief is that the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner" was actually a drinking song. Mark Hildebrand says it may have been at one time. He says the melody was developed in the 1770's for a gentleman's society in London, and made its way across the Atlantic Ocean. "So over the course of time, a number of songs were written to that melody. One of the most popular in the United States was the song called 'Adams and Liberty,'" says Mark Hildebrand. "It was probably more familiar to Francis Scott Key as a patriotic melody than a drinking melody."

In this day and age, many people can watch videos of armed conflicts in other parts of the world which have been transmitted to the US by satellite. But no such technology existed in 1814,and Mark Hildebrand says songs, such as the "Star Spangled Banner," often described the war to people far away. "Lot of the music related to the War of 1812 is very functional, it's descriptive reporting about about particular battles and events, and the heroes, the politics and the economic turmoil we went through," he says. Hildebrand says there were songs written and sung about then-President James Madison, who was pushing for the US to get into a war with Britain.

Even though the "Star Spangled Banner" was written in 1814, it didn't become the National Anthem until more than a century later. Mark Hildebrand says Maryland Congressman John Charles Linthicum introduced a bill to make the "Star Spangled Banner" the National Anthem in 1918. "And it was defeated time and time and time again. It did not actually reach the floor of Congress until 1929, over 11 years later. Many debates ensued, and it wasn't until March 3rd, 1931 when {then-President} Herbert Hoover signed it into law, making it our National Anthem," says Hildebrand.

The two brothers hope "Anthem" will be rebroadcast on MPT as the bicentennial of the bombardment of Fort McHenry approaches in 2014, and that it will be picked up by the PBS chain and be aired nationwide.

Francis Scott Key is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick.