- The election of the National Anthem of Peru
- The apocryphal stanza of the National Anthem of Peru
- National anthem of Peru
- References
The National Anthem of Peru was sung for the first time by Rosa Merino de Arenas. The music of this national symbol is due to Bernardo Alcedo, while the lyrics are by José de la Torre Ugarte.
The anthem is the product of a call for competition by the independence hero San Martin on August 7, 1821. The purpose of the call was to choose a National March of Peru that represented the national ideals.
Rosa Merino de Arenas
According to the most accepted version, the soprano Rosa Merino sang the National Anthem of Peru for the first time in the old Main Theater of Lima, on September 23. However, other authors locate the date of its premiere a few days before or a few months later.
The election of the National Anthem of Peru
Seven compositions responded to the summons, and on the appointed day they were performed in the presence of El Protector del Perú, General José de San Martín.
When the work by Alcedo and Torre Ugarte ended, We are free, let's be it forever, San Martín stood up and proclaimed it the undisputed winner. Then some of the attendees objected to one of the stanzas for showing excessive complacency:
Everywhere Saint Martin inflamed,
freedom, freedom, pronounced, and rocking its base the Andes
they announced it, too, with one voice.
However, the hymn prevailed. Since then it has undergone some changes. In fact, the version sung for the first time by soprano Rosa Merino was not documented.
And the other versions found later differ from each other both in lyrics and music.
The apocryphal stanza of the National Anthem of Peru
The first stanza of the National Anthem of Peru has been the subject of much controversy over the years. Those who oppose her say that her lyrics affect the self-esteem of Peruvians. However, others consider that tradition should be respected and kept intact.
This stanza, whose author is anonymous, was added around 1825 spontaneously during the government of Simón Bolívar.
Hence, Sanmartinianos consider that their lyrics denote a servility that does not correspond to the values of Peruvian traditions, while Bolivarians defend their strength because they have a popular origin.
National anthem of Peru
We're free! Let's always be!
And before the sun denies its lights, That we miss the solemn vow
That the Fatherland to the Eternal raised.
Verse I
Long time the oppressed Peruvian
The ominous chain dragged
Condemned to cruel servitude, Long time in silence he moaned.
But just the sacred cry:
Freedom! on its shores it was heard, The indolence of a slave shakes, The humiliated cervix lifted.
Verse II
Already the roar of hoarse chains
Who heard three centuries of horror
From the free, to the sacred cry
That the world heard astonished, ceased.
Everywhere Saint Martin inflamed, Freedom! freedom! pronounced:
And rocking its base the Andes, They also enunciated it with one voice.
Verse III
With its influence the peoples awaken
And what lightning, opinion ran, From the Isthmus to the lands of fire
From the fire to the frozen region.
They all swear to break the link
That Nature denied both worlds, And break that scepter that Spain
She reclined proudly on both of them.
Stanza IV
Lima, fulfill your solemn vow, And severe his anger showed, To the powerful tyrant throwing, That he was trying to lengthen his oppression.
At his effort, the irons jumped
And the grooves that he repaired in himself
They stoked hatred and revenge
That he inherited from his Inca and Lord.
Verse V
Countrymen, no more seeing her a slave
If humiliated for three centuries she groaned, Forever let's swear her free
Maintaining its own splendor
Our arms, until today unarmed,
Always be priming the cannon, That one day the beaches of Iberia, They will feel terror from its roar.
Verse VI
Let's excite the jealousy of Spain
Well, he senses with decline and fury
That in competition of great nations
Our homeland will be compared.
In the list that of these is formed
We will fill in the line first, That the ambitious Iberian tyrant, That the whole America devastated.
Stanza VII
At its peak the Andes hold
The bicolor flag or banner, Let the effort announce to the centuries
That being free, forever gave us.
In its shadow we live in peace, And when the Sun rises from its peaks, Let's renew the great oath
That we surrender to the God of Jacob.
References
- Tamayo Vargas, A. (1992). Of emancipation, Costumbrismo and romanticism, Realism and premodernism, Modernism. Lima: PEISA.
- Ortemberg, P. (2006). Celebration and war: the symbolic independence policy of General San
- Martín in Peru. Meeting of Spanish Latin Americanists: Old and new alliances between Latin America and Spain. CEEIB, pp. 1269-1291.
- Terragno, R. (2011). Intimate Diary of San Martín: London, 1824. A secret mission. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.
- Documentary Collection of the Independence of Peru, Volume 10. (1974). Documentary Collection of the Independence of Peru. Lima: National Commission of the Sesquicentennial of the Independence of Peru.
- Tissera, A. (2013). San Martín and Bolívar: the national anthems of Peru. Working Document, 190. History Series 30. Lima: IEP.
- Pinedo García, P. (2005, June 19). Controversy over a stanza of the Peruvian anthem. Time. Recovered from eltiempo.com.