"" (; "Hymn" or "Anthem") is the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
of
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
.
The lyrics were written by
Ferenc Kölcsey
Ferenc Kölcsey (archaically English: Francis Kolcsey, 8 August 1790 in Sződemeter – 24 August 1838) was a Hungarian poet, literary critic, orator, and politician, noted for his support of the liberal current in Hungary regarding the poli ...
, a nationally renowned poet, in 1823, and its currently official musical setting was composed by the romantic composer
Ferenc Erkel
Ferenc Erkel ( hu, Erkel Ferenc , german: link=no, Franz Erkel; November 7, 1810June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. He was the father of Hungarian grand opera, written mainly on historical themes, which are still o ...
in 1844, although other less-known musical versions exist. The poem bore the subtitle ''"A magyar nép zivataros századaiból"'' ("From the stormy centuries of the Hungarian nation"); it is often argued that this subtitle – by emphasising past rather than contemporary national troubles – was added expressly to enable the poem to pass
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
censorship. The full meaning of the poem's text is evident only to those well acquainted with
Hungarian history
Hungary in its modern (post-1946) borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain (the Pannonian Basin). During the Iron Age, it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of the Celtic tribes (such as the Scordisci, Boi ...
. The first
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
is sung at official ceremonies and as well in common. It was ''de facto'' used as hymn of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
from its composition in 1844, and was officially adopted as national anthem of the
Third Hungarian Republic
Hungary in its modern (post-1946) borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain (the Pannonian Basin). During the Iron Age, it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of the Celtic tribes (such as the Scordisci, Boii ...
in 1989.
The lyrics of "Himnusz" are a
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
beginning with the words () ().
Title
The title in the original manuscript is "Hymnus" — a Latin word meaning "song of praise", and one which is widely used in languages other than English (e.g., French or German) to mean "anthem". The phonetic transcription "Himnusz" replaced the original Latin spelling over time, and as the poem gained widespread acceptance as the ''de facto'' anthem of Hungary, so too the word "himnusz" took on the meaning "national anthem" for other countries as well.
History
Although
Kölcsey completed the poem on 22 January 1823, it was only published first in 1829 in
Károly Kisfaludy
Károly Kisfaludy (5 February 1788 – 21 November 1830) was a Hungarian dramatist and artist, brother of Sándor Kisfaludy. He was the founder of the national drama.
Early life
The youngest of eight children, his mother died in childbirth, an ...
's ''Aurora'', without the subtitle, despite it being part of the manuscript. It subsequently appeared in a collection of Kölcsey's works in 1832, this time with the subtitle.
A competition for composers to make the poem suitable to be sung by the public was staged in 1844 and won by
Erkel Erkel may refer to the following.
* Arjan Erkel (born 1970), Dutch medical aid worker
* Ferenc Erkel (1810–1893), Hungarian composer, who wrote the Hungarian national opera ''Bánk bán''
*Sándor Erkel
Sándor Erkel (2 January 1846 – 14 Octo ...
's entry. His version was first performed in the National Theatre (where he was conductor) in July 1844, then in front of a larger audience on 10 August 1844, at the inaugural voyage of the steamship Széchenyi. By the end of the 1850s it became customary to sing Himnusz at special occasions either alongside
Vörösmarty's
Szózat
The "Szózat" (in English: "Appeal" or "Summons") is a Hungarian patriotic song. It is considered as a second national anthem of Hungary, beside the Himnusz. Usually only its first two stanzas are sung at national celebrations. The official ant ...
or on its own.
In the early 1900s, various members of the Hungarian Parliament proposed making the status of Himnusz as the national anthem of Hungary within Austria-Hungary official, but their efforts never got enough traction for such a law to be passed.
Later, in the 1950s,
Rákosi made plans to have the anthem replaced by one more suited to the Communist ideology, but the poet and composer he had in mind for the task,
Illyés and
Kodály, both refused.
It wasn't until 1989 that Erkel's musical adaptation of Himnusz finally gained official recognition as Hungary's national anthem, by being mentioned as such in the
Constitution of Hungary
The Fundamental Law of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország alaptörvénye), the country's constitution, was adopted by parliament on 18 April 2011, promulgated by the president a week later and entered into force on 1 January 2012. It is Hungary's first c ...
.
Official uses
The public radio station
Kossuth Rádió
Kossuth Rádió (formerly known as ''MR1-Kossuth Rádió'', ''Radio Budapest'' and ''Budapest I.'') is the national radio station of Hungary. It was established in 1925 as Budapest I. and named after Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian national hero, in 19 ...
plays Himnusz at ten minutes past midnight each day at the close of transmissions in the AM band, as do the state TV channels at the end of the day's broadcasts. Himnusz is also traditionally played on Hungarian television at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
Alternative anthems
"
Szózat
The "Szózat" (in English: "Appeal" or "Summons") is a Hungarian patriotic song. It is considered as a second national anthem of Hungary, beside the Himnusz. Usually only its first two stanzas are sung at national celebrations. The official ant ...
" (), which starts with the words (To your homeland be faithful steadfastly, O Hungarian) enjoys a social status nearly equal to that of "Himnusz", even though only "Himnusz" is mentioned in the
Constitution of Hungary
The Fundamental Law of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország alaptörvénye), the country's constitution, was adopted by parliament on 18 April 2011, promulgated by the president a week later and entered into force on 1 January 2012. It is Hungary's first c ...
. Traditionally, Himnusz is sung at the beginning of ceremonies, and Szózat at the end (although the Himnusz, resembling a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Chorale
Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale:
* Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...
, is substantially easier to sing than the difficult rhythm of the Szózat, which is often only played from recording).
Recognition is also given to the "
Rákóczi March
The "Rákóczi March" ( Hungarian: ''Rákóczi-induló''), sometimes known as the "Hungarian March" was one of the unofficial state anthems of Hungary before Ferenc Kölcsey wrote the Himnusz. It was most likely composed by Nikolaus Scholl in 1820. ...
", a short wordless piece (composer unknown, but sometimes attributed to
János Bihari
János Bihari (21 October 1764 – 26 April 1827) was an influential Hungarian Romani violinist. He is one of the founders of Romani academic music and the musical genre verbunkos.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, "Gypsy music" w ...
and
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
) which is often used on state military occasions; and the poem ''
Nemzeti dal
The Nemzeti dal (''"National Song"'') is a Hungarian patriotic poem written by Sándor Petőfi that is said to have inspired the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Petőfi read the poem aloud on March 15 on the steps of the Hungarian National Museum in ...
'' written by
Sándor Petőfi
Sándor Petőfi ( []; né Petrovics; sk, Alexander Petrovič; sr, Александар Петровић; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet of Serbian origin and liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's ...
.
Another popular song is the "
Székely Himnusz Székely may refer to:
*Székelys, Hungarian people from the historical region of Transylvania, Romania
**Székely Land, historic and ethnographic area in Transylvania, Romania
*Székely (village), a village in northeastern Hungary
*Székely (surn ...
" (), an unofficial ethnic anthem of the Hungarian-speaking
Szekler living in Eastern
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, the
Székely Land
The Székely Land or Szeklerland ( hu, Székelyföld, ; ro, Ținutul Secuiesc and sometimes ; german: Szeklerland; la, Terra Siculorum) is a historic and ethnographic area in Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hungarians. ...
(now part of
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
) and in the rest of the world.
Lyrics
The first stanza is officially sung at ceremonies.
Two English versions are given below; both are free translations of the Hungarian words. As Hungarian is a
genderless language
A genderless language is a natural or constructed language that has no distinctions of grammatical gender—that is, no categories requiring morphological agreement for gender between nouns and associated pronouns, adjectives, articles, or verbs. ...
, masculine pronouns in the English translations are in fact addressed to all Hungarians regardless of gender.
Himnusz sculpture
On 7 May 2006, a sculpture was inaugurated for Himnusz at Szarvas Square,
Budakeszi
Budakeszi (german: Wudigess or ) is a town in Pest County, in the Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is located beyond the János Hill at the western city limits of Budapest, about west of the Zero Kilometre Stone in the city centre. A popul ...
, a small town close to Budapest. It was created by
Mária V. Majzik, an artist with the Hungarian Heritage Award, depicting the full text of the poem in a circle, centered around a two metres high bronze figure of God, with 21 bronze bells in seven arches between eight pieces of stone, each four and a half metres high. The musical form of the poem can be played on the bells. The cost of its construction, 40 million forints (roughly 200,000 USD), was collected through public subscription.
Notes
References
External links
Hungary: ''Himnusz'' - Audio of the national anthem of Hungary, with information and lyricsarchive link
National and historical symbols of Hungary has a page about the anthem, featuring a vocal sound file.
Sheet Musicis available at the Hungarian Electronic Library website.
Hungarian Anthem on Music Keyboard 2.4
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1823 poems
1844 compositions
1844 songs
European anthems
Hungarian culture
Hungarian patriotic songs
National anthems
National symbols of Hungary
National anthem compositions in E-flat major