Paraguayan national anthem

The national anthem of the Republic of Paraguay is the musical composition that represents Paraguay. In accordance with article 139 of the current Constitution, it makes up, together with the flag and the shield, the three official national symbols of the Republic. The lyrics were written by the Uruguayan Francisco Acuña de Figueroa as a "Patriotic Anthem" with score by Francesco Cassale and was delivered as a gift to the commissioners of the government of Carlos Antonio López on May 20, 1846. Acuña de Figueroa is also the author of the lyrics of the national anthem of Uruguay.

History

The lyrics of the song were officially completed by Francisco Acuña de Figueroa on May 20, 1846.

It is not yet clear who was responsible for the creation of the music. Some sources affirm that the composer was the Frenchman Francisco Sauvageot de Dupuis, while others affirm that it is the work of the Hungarian Francisco José Debali (Debály Ferenc József), who composed the melody of the Uruguayan national anthem. What is known with certainty is that it was the Paraguayan composer Remberto Giménez who in 1933 arranged and developed the version of the national anthem that Paraguay continues to use today.

Although the national anthem has many verses, most times only the first verse is sung followed by the chorus. Due to the song's length, the wordless introductory section and the second half of the first verse are often omitted for brevity when the national anthem is played before a sporting event such as a football game.

Regarding its composition, it was discovered in 2017 that the Italian composer Francesco Cassale composed the melody for the Uruguayan national anthem at first (that José Debalí is not responsible for the Paraguayan anthem as was previously believed), and then it would be adapted as the National Anthem of the Republic of Paraguay. Due to the great confusion of the original authorship of the musical score, it was repeatedly proposed to investigate the true one but they were ineffective. However, commissioned by President Eusebio Ayala, the composition was reconstructed by the Paraguayan composer and musician Remberto Giménez and decreed by the Executive Power on May 12, 1934 as the definitive National Anthem without recording the original author of the score, this being the adaptation used today.

Carlos Antonio López kept the score of the current anthem a secret for many years until he found a musician capable of creating a new melody for the Patriotic Anthem since he would not accept playing the same score from another country like the Eastern State, in June In 1853, the Parisian French musician and composer François Sauvageot Dupois (not to be confused with Dupuis, the last name of a French professor of arithmetic who lived in Paraguay) arrived in Paraguay. His main job was to harmonize the Military Orchestra as Head of Music of the Republic and as a music professor at the Literary Academy, inventing new melodies, including the composition for the Patriotic Hymn, this hymn was released on December 25, 1853 and the current lyrics were published for the first time on the thirty-first day of the same month. by the Paraguayan newspaper El Semanario de Avisos y Conocimientos Útiles with an added phrase in Latin at the end of the chorus: "Hæc mea Musa levis, magna tua gloria est" My muse is too small for your great glory. This anthem became more popular with the Paraguayans than with the National Anthem, eventually the melody composed by Dupois almost ended in oblivion but it was also meticulously arranged by Remberto Giménez and is currently known as the "Himno of Independence" with score attributed to the poet Natalicio Talavera.

This same melody, with lyrics by Acuña de Figueroa, was reconstructed for just one occasion by the Italian maestro Luis Cavedagni and it was to celebrate the promotion of Juan Bautista Gill as president on November 25, 1874.

The predecessor of this hymn dates from the government of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia; A patriotic song written entirely in Guarani was composed, entitled Tetã Purahéi, authored by the Paraguayan poet and guitarist Anastasio Rolón. This letter was delivered to the dictator and he elevated it to the category of "Hymn of the homeland", by means of an edict published on July 20, 1831. This was the composition that was executed translated into Spanish at the Fiesta de la Jura de Independence of 1842, later, the lyrics were published in the newspaper El Paraguayo Independiente, on May 3, 1845, this was not a surprise to anyone because the lyrics were already known to everyone three years later. of its premiere. This hymn ended up being slowly overshadowed by the Patriotic Hymn and until 1863 it was the official one, by order of President Francisco Solano López elevated the composition of Sauvageot Dupois as the National Anthem and with lyrics by Francisco Acuña this primitive anthem ended up in official disuse but was being scattered throughout the camps of Cerro León during the Guazú War, evolving into the Paraguayan epic polka of Camp Cerro León.

Official Lyrics of the Anthem