National Anthems

 History

With the Olympics in the Republic of China, there will be the the playing of numerous national anthems. The characteristics of national anthems, in the  majority, is that they are either marches or hymns,  and they are strongly scored  to emulate a march.

Anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the nineteenth century; the oldest national anthem is "Het Wilhelmus", the Dutch national anthem, written during the Dutch Revolt between 1568 and 1572. The Japanese anthem, "Kimi ga Yo", has its lyrics taken from a Kamakura period poem, yet it was not set to music until 1880.[1] "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of England, was first performed in 1745 under the title "God Save the King". Spain's national anthem, the "Marcha Real" (The Royal March), dates from 1770. "La Marseillaise", the French anthem, was written in 1792 and adopted in 1795.
During the rise of the nation-state in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most remaining nations adopted an anthem upon attaining nationhood. Because of European colonial influence, many were influenced in a similar way to adopt a national anthem, and thus several anthems outside Europe are in the European style. Only a handful of non-European countries have anthems rooted in other styles including Pakistan India, China, Japan, Costa Rica, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

An anthem can become a country's national anthem by a provision in the country's constitution, by a law enacted by its legislature or simply by tradition. The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while a handful of countries use a simple fanfare.

National anthems are usually in the most common language of the country, whether de facto or official. India's anthem, “Jana Gana Mana”, is a highly Sanskritized version of Bengali. On the other hand, Pakistan's anthem is not in Urdu or English (the official languages) or in anyone of its 72 provincial or regional languages but rather in Persian. This is due to the Pakistan tradition that it represents the culmination of muslim states and empires in the region; the language of many of them was Persian. States with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem. For instance, Switzerland's anthem has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages (French, German, Italian and Romansh).

Conversely, South Africa's national anthem is unique in that five of the eleven official languages are used in the same anthem (each language comprising a stanza). Another multilingual country, Spain, has no words in its anthem, “La Marcha Real”, although in 2007 a national competition to write words was launched.The Canadian National  anthem “O ‘ Canada” is in English and French, honouring their two official language status.

At the commencement of international sporting events, or occasionally (such as in the United States) at domestic events, spectators customarily stand for the duration of the national anthem.

National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. They are played on national holidays and festivals, and have also come to be closely connected with sporting events. During sporting competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the national anthem of the gold medal winner is played at each medal ceremony. National anthems are also played before games in many sports leagues, since being adopted in baseball during World War II. The use of a national anthem outside of its country, however, is dependent on the international recognition of that country. For instance, Taiwan is not recognized by the Olympics as a separate nation and must compete as Chinese Taipei; its National Banner Song is used instead of its national anthem.

In some countries, the national anthem is played to students each day at the start of school as an exercise in patriotism. In other countries, the anthem may be played in a theatre before a play or in a cinema before a movie. Many radio and television stations have adopted this and play the national anthem when they sign on in the morning and again when they sign off at night.

Nations in the cultural sense or subnational units may also have royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems, or anthems for officially recognized constitutive parts of federal or confederal states. These are sometimes described as "regional anthems", as in the case of the regions of Belgium.

Some countries, like the United Kingdom are multinational, which adds complexity to ideas of nationhood and officialdom. "God Save the Queen" is the UK's official national anthem, but the constituent countries the UK is comprised of have their own official, 'de-facto', or 'unofficial' anthems too. In the case of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own national sports teams, where national anthems are played. As England does not have an 'official' English national anthem, it usually uses the UK national anthem “God Save the Queen”. However, for some sports it uses its 'unofficial' national anthems, “Jerusalem” and “Land of Hope and Glory”. Scotland and Wales play their own recognized national anthems at sporting and cultural events. In Northern Ireland, “God Save the Queen” has been traditionally played at matches, though it is considered to be more neutral to the significant number of people in Northern Ireland who are opposed to being part of the UK.

Larger entities also sometimes have 'national' anthems, in some cases known as 'international anthems'. “The Internationale” is the anthem of the socialist movement, the world communist movement, the Comintern and, for a time, by the Soviet Union. The tune of the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is the European anthem; the United Nations and the African Union also have unofficial anthems. In addition, The Olympic Movement has its own anthem. Esperanto Speakers at meetings often use the song “La Espero” as its anthem. Some islands also have anthems. For example, Puerto Rico has "La Borinquena".

Official Versions

The United States Navy Band maintains National Anthem  musical scores of all world anthems for military bands in the United States. The official versions of anthems are available in various books  in a piano format.The official version is in a military band setting which can be transcribed for almost any combination. Very often performers will sing national anthems without accompaniment. The temp markings are always indicated on all instrumental parts for anthems.

Lyrics

A few anthems have been composed by Nobel prize winners. India and Bangladesh adopted two songs written by the Indian Nobel prize winner and noted poet/author Rabindranath Tagore as their national anthems, “Jana Gana Mana” and “Amar Shonar Bangla”, respectively. Nobel prize winner Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote the lyrics for the Norwegian national anthem “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”.

Some national anthems have no official lyrics at all, including those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, and San Marino.