Ananthem is amusical composition ofcelebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly thenational anthems ofcountries. Originally, and inmusic theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacredchoral work (still frequently seen inSacred Harp and other types ofshape note singing) and still more particularly to a specific form ofliturgical music. In this sense, its use beganc. 1550 in English-speaking churches; it uses English language words, in contrast to the originallyRoman Catholic 'motet' which sets aLatin text.[1]
Anthem is derived from theGreekἀντίφωνα (antíphōna) viaOld Englishantefn. Both words originally referred toantiphons, acall-and-response style of the singing.[2] The adjectival form is "anthemic".
Anthems were originally a form ofliturgical music. In theChurch of England, therubric appoints them to follow the thirdcollect at morning and evening prayer. Several anthems are included in theBritish coronation service.[2] The words are selected fromHoly Scripture or in some cases from theLiturgy and the music is generally more elaborate and varied than that ofpsalm orhymn tunes.[2] Being written for a trainedchoir rather than the congregation, the Anglican anthem is analogous to themotet of theCatholic andLutheran Churches but represents an essentially Englishmusical form.[3] Anthems may be described as "verse", "full", or "full with verse", depending on whether they are intended forsoloists, thefull choir, or both. Another way of describing an anthem is that it is a piece of music written specifically to fit a certain accompanying text, and it is often difficult to make any other text fit that same melodic arrangement. It also often changes melody and/or meter, frequently multiple times within a single song, and is sung straight through from start to finish, without repeating the melody for following verses like a normal song (although certain sections may be repeated when marked). An example of an anthem with multiple meter shifts, fuguing, and repeated sections is "Claremont",[4] or "Vital Spark of Heav'nly Flame".[4] Another well known example isWilliam Billing's "Easter Anthem",[5] also known as "The Lord Is Risen Indeed!" after the opening lines. This anthem is still one of the more popular songs in the Sacred Harp tune book.[2]
The anthem developed as a replacement for theCatholic "votive antiphon" commonly sung as an appendix to the mainoffice to theBlessed Virgin Mary orother saints.
During theElizabethan period, notable anthems were composed byThomas Tallis,William Byrd, Tye, and Farrant[2] but they were not mentioned in theBook of Common Prayer until 1662 when the famousrubric "In quires and places where they sing here followeth the Anthem" first appears. Early anthems tended to be simple andhomophonic in texture, so that the words could be clearly heard. During the 17th century, notable anthems were composed byOrlando Gibbons,Henry Purcell, andJohn Blow,[2] with theverse anthem becoming the dominant musical form of theRestoration.[6] In the 18th century, famed anthems were composed by Croft, Boyce,James Kent,James Nares,Benjamin Cooke, andSamuel Arnold.[2] In the 19th century,Samuel Sebastian Wesley wrote anthems influenced by contemporaryoratorio which stretch to severalmovements and last twenty minutes or longer. Later in the century,Charles Villiers Stanford used symphonic techniques to produce a more concise and unified structure. Many anthems have been written since then, generally byspecialists in organ music rather thancomposers, and often in a conservative style. Major composers have usually written anthems in response to commissions and for special occasions: for instanceEdward Elgar's 1912 "Great is the Lord" and 1914 "Give unto the Lord" (both with orchestral accompaniment);Benjamin Britten's 1943 "Rejoice in the Lamb" (a modern example of a multi-movement anthem, today heard mainly as a concert piece); and, on a much smaller scale,Ralph Vaughan Williams's 1952 "O Taste and See" written for the coronation ofQueen Elizabeth II. With the relaxation of the rule, in England at least, that anthems should only be in English, the repertoire has been greatly enhanced by the addition of many works from the Latin repertoire.
The word "anthem" is commonly used to describe any celebratory song or composition for a distinct group, as innational anthems. Further, some songs are artistically styled as anthems, whether or not they are used as such, includingMarilyn Manson's "Irresponsible Hate Anthem",Silverchair's "Anthem for the Year 2000", andToto's "Child's Anthem".
A national anthem (also state anthem, national hymn, national song, etc.) is generally apatriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions, and struggles of acountry's people, recognized either by that state'sgovernment as the official nationalsong, or byconvention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems aremarches orhymns in style. The countries ofLatin America,Central Asia, andEurope tend towards more ornate andoperatic pieces, while those in theMiddle East,Oceania,Africa, and theCaribbean use a simplerfanfare. Somecountries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them (such as with the United Kingdom, Russian Federation, and the former Soviet Union); their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are notsovereign states.
Aflag anthem is generally apatriotic musical composition that extols and praises a flag, typically one of a country, in which case it is sometimes called a national flag anthem. It is often either sung or performed during or immediately before the raising or lowering of a flag during a ceremony. Most countries use their respective national anthems or some other patriotic song for this purpose.[7] However, some countries, particularly in South America, use a separate flag anthem for such purposes. Not all countries have flag anthems. Some used them in the past but no longer do so, such as Iran, China, and South Africa. Flag anthems can be officially codified in law, or unofficially recognized by custom and convention. In some countries, the flag anthem may be just another song, and in others, it may be an official symbol of the state akin to a second national anthem, such as in Taiwan.
Manypop songs are used assports anthems, notably includingQueen's "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You", and some sporting events have their own anthems, most notably includingUEFA Champions League.
Although anthems are used to distinguish states and territories, there are instances of shared anthems. "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" became apan-African liberation anthem and was later adopted as the national anthem of five countries inAfrica includingZambia,Tanzania,Namibia andZimbabwe after independence. Zimbabwe and Namibia have since adopted new national anthems. Since 1997, theSouth African national anthem has been a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" and the former state anthem "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika".
For North and South Korea, the folk songArirang is considered a shared anthem for both countries. For example, it was played when the two Koreas marched together during the2018 Winter Olympics.[8]
"Hymn to Liberty" is the longest national anthem in the world by length of text.[9] In 1865, the first three stanzas and later the first two officially became the national anthem ofGreece and later also that of theRepublic of Cyprus.
"Forged from the Love of Liberty" was composed as the national anthem for the short-livedWest Indies Federation (1958–1962) and was adopted byTrinidad and Tobago when it became independent in 1962.[10]
"Esta É a Nossa Pátria Bem Amada" is the national anthem ofGuinea-Bissau and was also the national anthem ofCape Verde until 1996.
"Oben am jungen Rhein", the national anthem ofLiechtenstein, is set to the tune of "God Save the King/Queen". Other anthems that have used the same melody include "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" (Germany), "Kongesangen" (Norway), "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (United States), "Rufst du, mein Vaterland" (Switzerland), "E Ola Ke Alii Ke Akua" (Hawaiʻi), and "The Prayer of Russians".
TheEstonian anthem "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm" is set to a melody composed in 1848 byFredrik (Friedrich) Pacius which is also that of the national anthem ofFinland: "Maamme" ("Vårt Land" in Swedish).[11] It is also considered to be the ethnic anthem for theLivonian people with lyrics "Min izāmō, min sindimō" ("My Fatherland, my native land").
"Hey, Slavs" is dedicated toSlavic peoples. Its first lyrics were written in 1834 under the title "Hey, Slovaks" ("Hej, Slováci") bySamuel Tomášik and it has since served as the ethnic anthem of thePan-Slavic movement, the organizational anthem of theSokol physical education and political movement, the national anthem ofYugoslavia and the transitional anthem of the State Union ofSerbia and Montenegro. The song is also considered to be the second, unofficial anthem of the Slovaks. Its melody is based onMazurek Dąbrowskiego, which has also been the anthem ofPoland since 1926, but the Yugoslav variation is much slower and more accentuated.[12]
Between 1991 and 1994 "Deșteaptă-te, române!" was the national anthem of bothRomania (which adopted it in 1990) andMoldova, but in the case of the latter it was replaced by the current Moldovan national anthem, "Limba noastră". Between 1975 and 1977, the national anthem of Romania "E scris pe tricolor Unire" shared the same melody as the national anthem ofAlbania "Himni i Flamurit", which is the melody of a Romanian patriotic song "Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire".
The modern national anthem ofGermany, "Das Lied der Deutschen",[a] uses the same tune as the 19th- and early 20th-centuryAustro-Hungarian imperial anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser".[b]
The "Hymn of the Soviet Union",[c] was used until its dissolution in 1991, and was given new words andadopted by theRussian Federation in 2000 to replace an instrumental national anthem that had been introduced in 1990.[13][14]
"Bro Gozh ma Zadoù", the regional anthem ofBrittany and, "Bro Goth Agan Tasow", theCornish regional anthem, are sung to the same tune as that of the Welsh regional anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", with similar words.
Some countries, such as the formerSoviet Union,Spain, and theUnited Kingdom, among others, are held to be unions of several "nations" by various definitions. Each of the different "nations" may have their own anthem and these songs may or may not be officially recognized; these compositions are typically referred to as regional anthems[15] though may be known by other names as well (e.g. "state songs" in theUnited States).
InAustria, the situation is similar to that in Germany. The regional anthem ofUpper Austria, the "Hoamatgsang" (English:"Chant of the Homeland"), is notable as the only (official) German-language anthem written – and sung – entirely in dialect.
InBelgium,Wallonia uses "Le Chant des Wallons" and Flanders uses "De Vlaamse Leeuw".
Most of the Brazilianstates have official anthems.Minas Gerais uses an adapted version of the traditional Italian song "Vieni sul mar" as its unofficial anthem. During theVargas Era (1937–1945) all regional symbols including anthems were banned, but they were legalized again by theEurico Gaspar Dutra government.
The Canadian province ofNewfoundland and Labrador, having been the independentDominion of Newfoundland before 1949, also has its own regional anthem from its days as a dominion and colony of the UK, the "Ode to Newfoundland". It was the only Canadian province with its own anthem until 2010, whenPrince Edward Island adopted the 1908 song "The Island Hymn" as its provincial anthem.
Czechoslovakia had a national anthem composed of two parts, theCzech anthem followed by one verse of theSlovak one. After thedissolution of Czechoslovakia, theCzech Republic adopted its own regional anthem as its national one, whereasSlovakia did so with slightly changed lyrics and an additional stanza.
InGermany, many of theLänder (states) have their own anthems, some of which predate theunification of Germany in 1871. A prominent example is theHymn of Bavaria, which also has the status of an official anthem (and thus enjoys legal protection). There are also several unofficial regional anthems, like the "Badnerlied" and the "Niedersachsenlied".
Some of thestates and union territories of India have officially adopted their ownstate anthem for use during state government functions.
All the individual states ofMalaysia have their own anthems.
InMexico, after the national anthem was established in 1854, most of the states of the federation adopted their own regional anthems, which often emphasize heroes, virtues or particular landscapes. In particular, the regional anthem ofZacatecas, the "Marcha de Zacatecas", is one of the more well-known of Mexico's various regional anthems.[16]
In 2004 and 2005 respectively, theMontenegrin andSerbian regions ofSerbia and Montenegro adopted their own regional anthems. When the two regions both became independentsovereign states in mid-2006, their regional anthems became their national anthems.
Fourteen of the fifteenconstituent states of the Soviet Union had their own official song which was used at events connected to that region, and also written and sung in that region's own language. TheRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic used the Soviet Union's national anthem as its regional anthem ("The Internationale" from 1917 to 1944 and the "National Anthem of the Soviet Union" from 1944 to 1990) until 1990, the last of the Soviet constituent states to do so. After the Soviet Union disbanded in the early 1990s, some of its former constituent states, now sovereign nations in their own right, retained the melodies of their old Soviet-era regional anthems until replacing them or, in some cases, still use them today.
Unlike most national anthems, few of which were composed by renowned composers, the Soviet Union's various regional anthems were composed by some of the best Soviet composers, including world-renownedGustav Ernesaks (Estonia),Aram Khachaturian (Armenia),Otar Taktakishvili (Georgia), andUzeyir Hajibeyov (Azerbaijan).
The lyrics present great similarities, all having mentions toVladimir Lenin (and most, in their initial versions, toJoseph Stalin, the Armenian and Uzbek anthems being exceptions), to the guiding role of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union, and to the brotherhood of the Soviet peoples, including a specific reference to the friendship of theRussian people (the Estonian, Georgian and Karelo-Finnish anthems were apparently an exception to this last rule).
Some of the Soviet regional anthems' melodies can be sung in theSoviet Union anthem lyrics (Ukrainian and Belarus are the most fitted in this case).
Most of these regional anthems were replaced with new national ones during or after thedissolution of the Soviet Union;Belarus,Kazakhstan (until 2006),Tajikistan,Turkmenistan (until 1997), andUzbekistan kept the melodies, but with different lyrics.Russia itself had abandoned the Soviet hymn, replacing it witha tune byGlinka. However, withVladimir Putin coming to power, the old Soviet tune was restored, withnew lyrics written to it.
Like thehammer and sickle andred star, the public performance of the anthems of the Soviet Union's various regional anthems the national anthem of the Soviet Union itself are considered as occupation symbols as well as symbols oftotalitarianism andstate terror by several countries formerly either members of or occupied by theSoviet Union. Accordingly, Latvia,[17] Lithuania,[18] Hungary,[19] andUkraine[20][21][22] have banned those anthems amongst other things deemed to be symbols of fascism, socialism, communism, and the Soviet Union and its republics. InPoland, dissemination of items which are “media of fascist, communist, or other totalitarian symbolism” was criminalized in 1997. However, in 2011 theConstitutional Tribunal found this sanction to be unconstitutional.[23] In contrast to this treatment of thesymbolism, promotion of fascist, communist and other totalitarianideology remains illegal. Those laws do not apply to the anthems ofRussia,Belarus,Uzbekistan,Kazakhstan, andTajikistan which used the melody with different lyrics.
InSpain, the situation is similar to that in Austria and Germany. Unlike the national anthem, most of theanthems of the autonomous communities have words. All are official. Three prominent examples are "Els Segadors" ofCatalonia, "Eusko Abendaren Ereserkia" of theBasque Country, and "Os Pinos" ofGalicia, all written and sung in the local languages.
The United Kingdom's national anthem is "God Save the King" butits constituent countries andCrown Dependencies also have their own equivalent songs which have varying degrees of official recognition.England,Scotland,Wales, andNorthern Ireland each have anthems which are played at occasions such as sports matches and official events.[24]
TheIsle of Man, a Crown dependency, uses "God Save the King" as a Royal anthem, but also has its own local anthem,"O Land of Our Birth" (Manx: "O Halloo Nyn Ghooie").
Although the United States has "The Star-Spangled Banner" as its official national anthem, all except two of its constituent states and territories also have their own regional anthem (referred to by most US states as a "state song"), along withWashington, DC. The two exceptions areNew Jersey, which has never had an official state song,[25] andMaryland, which rescinded"Maryland, My Maryland" in 2021 due to its racist language and has yet to adopt a replacement.[26]
The state songs are selected by eachstate legislature, and/or state governor, as a symbol (or emblem) of that particular US state.
Some US states have more than one official state song, and may refer to some of their official songs by other names; for example,Arkansas officially has two state songs, plus a state anthem, and a state historical song.Tennessee has the most state songs, with 12 official state songs and an official bicentennialrap.
Arizona has a song that was written specifically as a state anthem in 1915, as well as the 1981 country hit "Arizona", which it adopted as the alternate state anthem in 1982.[27]
Two individuals,Stephen Foster, andJohn Denver, have written or co-written two state songs. Foster's two state songs, "Old Folks at Home" (better known as "Swanee Ribber" or "Suwannee River"), adopted by Florida, and "My Old Kentucky Home" are among the best-known songs in the US On March 12, 2007, the Colorado Senate passed a resolution to make Denver's trademark 1972 hit "Rocky Mountain High" one of the state's two official state songs, sharing duties with its predecessor, "Where the Columbines Grow".[28] On March 7, 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" one of four official state songs of West Virginia. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8, 2014.[29]Additionally,Woody Guthrie wrote or co-wrote two statefolk songs –Roll On, Columbia, Roll On andOklahoma Hills – but they have separate status from the official statesongs of Washington and Oklahoma, respectively. Other well-known state songs include "Yankee Doodle", "You Are My Sunshine", "Rocky Top", and "Home on the Range"; a number of others are popular standards, including "Oklahoma" (from theRodgers and Hammerstein musical),Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind", "Tennessee Waltz", "Missouri Waltz", and "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away". Many of the others are much less well-known, especially outside the state.
New Jersey has no official state song, whileVirginia's previous state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", adopted in 1940,[27] was later rescinded in 1997 due to its racist language by theVirginia General Assembly.[30] In 2015, "Our Great Virginia" was made the new state song of Virginia.[31]
Iowa ("The Song of Iowa") uses the tune from the song "O Tannenbaum" as the melody to its official state song.[32]
InYugoslavia, each of the country's constituent states (except forBosnia and Herzegovina) had the right to have its own anthem, but only theCroatian one actually did so initially, later joined by theSlovene one on the brink of thebreakup of Yugoslavia. Before 1989,Macedonia did not officially use a regional anthem, even though one was proclaimed during theWorld War II by theAnti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM).
Larger entities also sometimes have anthems, in some cases known as 'international anthems'.Lullaby is the official anthem ofUNICEF composed bySteve Barakatt.[33] "The Internationale" is the organizational anthem of varioussocialist movements. Before March 1944, it was also the anthem of the Soviet Union and theComintern.ASEAN Way is the official anthem ofASEAN. The tune of the "Ode to Joy" fromBeethoven's Symphony No. 9 is the officialanthem of the European Union and of theCouncil of Europe. Let's All Unite and Celebrate is the official anthem of the African Union[34] ("Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together").
The Olympic Movement also has its ownorganizational anthem.Esperanto speakers at meetings often use the song "La Espero" as their linguistic anthem. The firstSouth Asian Anthem by poet-diplomatAbhay K may inspireSAARC to come up with an officialSAARC Anthem.[35]
"Ireland's Call" was commissioned as the sporting anthem of both theIreland national rugby union team and theIreland national rugby league team, which are composed of players from both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, in response to dissatisfaction among Northern Irelandunionists with the use of theIrish national anthem. "Ireland's Call" has since been used by some other all-island bodies.
An international anthem also unifies a group of organizations sharing the same appellation such as the International Anthem of the Royal Golf Clubs composed bySteve Barakatt. Same applies to theEuropean Broadcasting Union:[36] the prelude ofTe Deum in D Major byMarc-Antoine Charpentier is played before each officialEurovision andEuroradio broadcast. The prelude's first bars are heavily associated with theEurovision Song Contest.
Various artists have created "Earth anthems" for the entire planet, typically extolling the ideas ofplanetary consciousness. ThoughUNESCO have praised the idea of a global anthem,[37] theUnited Nations has never adopted an official song.
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