The national anthem of Slovenia is based on "

Zdravljica "Zdravljica" (; English: "A Toast") is a ''carmen figuratum'' poem by the 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet France Prešeren, inspired by the ideals of ''Liberté, égalité, fraternité''. It was written in 1844 and published with some change ...

" , a ''

carmen figuratum ''Carmen figuratum'' (plural: ''carmina figurata'') is a poem that has a certain shape or pattern formed either by all the words it contains or just by certain ones therein. An example is France Prešeren's "Zdravljica", where the shape of each s ...

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

by the 19th-century Romantic

Slovene poet Slovene literature is the literature written in Slovene. It spans across all literary genres with historically the Slovene historical fiction as the most widespread Slovene fiction genre. The Romantic 19th-century epic poetry written by the le ...

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

, inspired by the ideals of ''

Liberté, égalité, fraternité ''Liberté, égalité, fraternité'' (), French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it ...

'', and set to music by

Stanko Premrl Stanko Premrl (28 September 1880 – 14 March 1965) was a Slovene Roman Catholic priest, composer, and music teacher. He is best known as the composer of the music for the Slovene national anthem, "Zdravljica". Premrl was born in the village o ...

. As the country's

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 ...

, it is one of the state symbols of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

History

Background

Historically, the national anthem from 1860 until the beginning of the 1990s, was "

Naprej, zastava slave "" or "" () is a former national anthem of Slovenia, used from 1860 to 1989. It is now used as the official service song of the Slovenian Armed Forces. Lyrics and music It tells about a boy who goes to defend his homeland, meaning him more than h ...

" ("Forward, Flag of Glory"), the first ever piece of Slovene literature to be translated into English.

Lyrics and music

The words of the current Slovene national anthem are all or part of "

", written by the 19th-century Slovene poet

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

for which music was written by the Slovene composer

in 1905. Emphasising

internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectur ...

, it was defined in 1994 as the anthem with the ''Act on the national symbols of Slovenia''. However, even before the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, the lyrics and music were together adopted as the regional anthem of the

Socialist Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

on 27 September 1989. Therefore, it was the regional anthem of the

(known as simply the "Republic of Slovenia" from 1990 to 1991) as a constituent republic of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

from 8 March 1990 to 25 June 1991, as well.

Legal status

As a work of arts, published in the official journal ''

Official Gazette A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...

'', the text and melody of the seventh stanza of "Zdravljica" qualify as an official work and are per Article 9 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act not protected by the copyrights. Their usage is regulated by the ''Act Regulating the Coat-of-Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Slovenia and the Flag of the Slovene Nation'', published in the ''Official Gazette'' in 1994.
Zakon o grbu, zastavi in himni Republike Slovenije ter o slovenski narodni zastavi
' (Slovene) ct Regulating the Coat-of-Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Slovenia and the Flag of the Slovene Nation ''Official Gazette''. 67/1994. The official melody is played in

B-flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: : Many transposing instr ...

Lyrics

Notes

References

External links

*
Anthem of the Slovenian Armed Forces
Music and lyrics. Themarches09. YouTube. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2012. {{Authority control Anthems of Slovenia European anthems National anthems National anthem compositions in B-flat major