Listen: instrumental (mid 21KB) or vocal (mp3 383KB)
History of the National Anthem
The first Chilean National Anthem dates back to 1819, when the government called for, on the 19th of July, the creation of music and lyrics for this purpose.
The composer Manuel Robles and the poet Bernardo de Vera y Pintado fulfilled this mandate and their “National Song” debuted on the 20th of August, 1820 in the Domingo Arteaga theater, although other historians claim that it was played and sung during the festivities of September 1819.
In the beginning, everyone would stand for the song. O’Higgins and Freire listened to it with respect and full of emotion, for they had marched to victory to its tune more than once.
The custom of always singing it at the theater slowly disappeared, until it was ordered that it only be sung at the anniversary of the country.
The doctor Bernardo Vera, known in the history of the independence, was the author of the verses that were sung to Robles’ music.
This first hymn was sung until 1828, when it was replaced with what is sung today.
New Version
The second Chilean National Anthem was composed by the Spanish composer Ramón Carnicer, when he was exiled in England because of this liberal ideas. Mariano Egaña, Chilean Minister in London, acting on the criticism that Robles’ song was receiving, asked Carnicer to compose a new hymn with Bernardo de Vera’s original text.
The Spanish musician probably wrote the work by 1827, the date he returned to Barcelona, and his hymn debuted in Santiago, in the Arteaga theater, the 23rd of December 1828.
Years later, in 1847, the Chilean Government el Gobierno de Chile entrusted the young poet Eusebio Lillo with a new text that would replace the anit-Spanish poem of Vera y Pintado, and after being analyzed by Andrés Bello, retained the original chorus (“Dulce patria, recibe los votos…).
Chorus:
Dulce Patria, recibe los votos
Con que Chile en tus aras juró
Que o la tumba serás de los libres
O el asilo contra la opresión.
1:
Ha cesado la lucha sangrienta;
Ya es hermano el que ayer invasor;
De tres siglos lavamos la afrenta
Combatiendo en el campo de honor.
El que ayer doblegábase esclavo
Libre al fin y triunfante se ve;
Libertad es la herencia del bravo,
La Victoria se humilla a sus pies.
2:
Alza, Chile, sin mancha la frente;
Conquistaste tu nombre en la lid;
Siempre noble, constante y valiente
Te encontraron los hijos del Cid.
Que tus libres tranquilos coronen
A las artes, la industria y la paz,
Y de triunfos cantares entonen
Que amedrenten al déspota audaz.
3:
Vuestros nombres, valientes soldados,
Que habéis sido de Chile el sostén,
Nuestros pechos los llevan grabados;
Los sabrán nuestros hijos también.
Sean ellos el grito de muerte
Que lancemos marchando a lidiar,
Y sonando en la boca del fuerte
Hagan siempre al tirano temblar.
4:
Si pretende el cañón extranjero
Nuestros pueblos osado invadir;
Desnudemos al punto el acero
Y sepamos vencer o morir.
Con su sangre el altivo araucano
Nos legó por herencia el valor;
Y no tiembla la espada en la mano
Defendiendo de Chile el honor
5:
Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado,
Puras brisas te cruzan también,
Y tu campo de flores bordado
Es la copia feliz del Edén.
Majestuosa es la blanca montaña
Que te dio por baluarte el Señor,
Y ese mar que tranquilo te baña
Te promete futuro esplendor.
6:
Esas galas, ¡oh, Patria!, esas flores
Que tapizan tu suelo feraz,
No las pisen jamás invasores;
Con tu sombra las cubra la paz.
Nuestros pechos serán tu baluarte,
Con tu nombre sabremos vencer,
O tu noble, glorioso estandarte,
Nos verá combatiendo caer.
Note: The chorus and the fifth verse constitute what is officially sung as the national anthem.
Chilean National Anthem Sheet Music
You can download the sheet music of the Chilean National Anthem from this site:
www.national-anthems.org
However, I haven’t purchased from them so I’m not sure of the quality.
You can also buy National Anthems from Around the World a book which has national anthems from around the world, including Chile.
