Bože pravde

"" (, ; 'O God of Justice') is the national anthem of Serbia, as defined by the Article 7 of the Constitution of Serbia. "Bože pravde" was adopted in 1882 and had been the national anthem of the Kingdom of Serbia until 1919 when Serbia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was re-adopted as the national anthem at first by the parliamentary recommendation in 2004 and then constitutionally sanctioned in 2006, after Serbia restored its independence.

History

Before Serbia had an official national anthem, there were several songs that were unofficially used in this manner. The most popular of these was " Rado ide Srbin u vojnike" also known as "Graničarska pesma" ('' Granichary Song''), which was written in 1844 by Vasa Živković on a melody composed by Nikola Đurković. It was used as a Serbian anthem during the Revolution of 1848.

The first initiative to create an official Serbian anthem came from Prince Mihailo in 1865. He hired (through the Ministry of Education) poet Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, to write lyrics, and composer Kornelije Stanković, to compose a melody for a new anthem. This anthem was created, but was not adopted, and was soon completely forgotten. Although it had no title, the first verse of this anthem was also "Bože pravde".

After the assassination of Prince Mihailo in 1868, Prince Milan came to the throne. In 1872, celebrating his coming of age, he ordered a play from the manager of the National Theater in Belgrade, Jovan Đorđević. Đorđević quickly wrote and presented the play "" ('' Marko's sword''), with the aim of glorifying Serbian history and the ruling house of Obrenović. The song "Bože pravde", composed by Davorin Jenko, was part of the play's musical score. The song gained more popularity among the people than the piece itself, and in 1882, on the occasion of Milan's enthronement as Serbian king, Đorđević reworked the text and so his new version became the first official anthem of Serbia.

In 1903, after the May Coup, the Obrenović dynasty died out and the house of Karađorđević came to the helm of Serbia. A competition for a new anthem was announced. It was won by Aleksa Šantić with a song titled "Bože, na polja zemlje ove" for which he wrote both lyrics and melody, but this new anthem was not officially adopted. Eventually, in 1909, King Peter I decided to make the anthem "Bože pravde" official again, with minor changes to the text.

Various rulers of Serbia changed the words of the anthem to suit them. During the rule of Prince Milan I, the words were ('God save Prince Milan'), which was changed to ('God save King Milan'), when Serbia became a kingdom. It was later tailored to Alexander I with the verse ('God save King Alexander'), and Peter I with ('God save King Peter') as well.

During World War I, in the territories of Serbia occupied by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, the performance of the national anthem, as well as the display of the symbols of the Kingdom of Serbia, was prohibited. During the time of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), "Bože pravde" was part of its national anthem. On the eve of the World War II, at the great international gathering of the Music Confederation, held in Paris, this anthem was declared one of the three most beautiful in the world.

"Bože pravde" was officially abandoned and banned after the World War II in 1945, in favour of "Hej, Sloveni" ('Hey, Slavs'), which was the national anthem of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 47 years, from 1945 to 1992. After the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991-1992, only Serbia and Montenegro remained in the federation (i.e. the newly-formed Serbia and Montenegro), but since no agreement over the anthem could be reached, "Hej, Sloveni" remained the national anthem. Many Serbs disliked the song during this period and booed it whenever it was played, such as at sporting events. In 1992, " Vostani Serbije" and " March on the Drina" were proposed as the anthem of Serbia along with "Bоže pravde". "March on the Drina", popularized by then-ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, even received a plurality of popular vote on referendum, but was never officially adopted.
The recommendation on the use of "Bože pravde" was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly in 2004 and constitutionally sanctioned in 2006, after Serbia restored its independence, while the recommended text was promulgated into the law in 2009.
It utilizes slightly modified original lyrics, asserting that Serbia is no longer a monarchy — all the verses that had a monarchist overtone were changed. In three verses, ('Serbian king') was changed to ('Serbian lands'), and the verse ('God save the Serbian king') was changed to ('God protect, God defend'). In public performances, the verses ('God protect, God bless') and ('Serbian lands, Serbian race') are often sung on the repeat as ('Our Serbia, God defend') and ('our whole race prays to you'), respectively.

"Bože pravde" was also used until 2006 as the regional anthem of the Republika Srpska, a constituency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it was ruled down by the country's constitutional court for being unconstitutional and replaced with " Moja Republika". In 2024, during the heightened tensions in the Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliament of Republika Srpska passed a law regarding the national symbols, which accepts "Bože Pravde" to be in official use in Republika Srpska, alongside "Moja Republika", though not naming "Bože Pravde" anthem of the Republika Srpska.

Lyrics

The full Serbian national anthem as officially defined consists of eight stanzas, but usually only the first two are performed on public occasions for reasons of brevity. The third verse is also usually omitted in full performances.

See also

* National symbols of Serbia
* List of Serbian anthems

Notes

References

External links

Serbian anthem streaming audio, lyrics and infoarchive link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boze Pravde
European anthems
Royal anthems
National anthems
National symbols of Serbia
Anthems of Serbia
Principality of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
Culture of Serbia
Culture of Republika Srpska
Serbian patriotic songs
Articles containing video clips
Compositions in B-flat major
1872 compositions
1872 poems
1872 songs
Songs in Serbian
Serbian Cyrillic texts