National anthem of Russia
The State Anthem of the Russian Federation is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with Gabriel El-Registan on the original anthem. From 1944, that earliest version replaced "The Internationale" as a new, more Soviet-centric and Russia-centric Soviet anthem. The same melody, but without any lyrics, was used after 1956. A second version of the lyrics was written by Mikhalkov in 1970 and adopted in 1977, placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism, and without mentioning Joseph Stalin by name.
The Russian SFSR was the only constituent republic of the Soviet Union without its own regional anthem, instead using the national anthem of the Soviet Union. The lyric-free "Patriotic Song", composed by Mikhail Glinka, was officially adopted in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, and confirmed in 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. This anthem proved to be unpopular with the Russian public and with many politicians and public figures, because of its tune and lack of lyrics, and consequently its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions. The government sponsored contests to create lyrics for the unpopular anthem, but none of the entries were adopted.
Glinka's anthem was replaced soon after Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, first took office on May 7, 2000. The federal legislature established and approved the music of the national anthem of the Soviet Union, with newly written lyrics, in December 2000, and it became the second anthem used by Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The government sponsored a contest to find lyrics, eventually settling upon a new composition by Mikhalkov; according to the government, the lyrics were selected to evoke and eulogize the history and traditions of Russia. Yeltsin criticized Putin for supporting the reintroduction of the Soviet-era national anthem even though opinion polls showed that many Russians favored this decision.
Public perception of the anthem is positive among Russians. A 2009 poll showed that 56% of respondents felt proud when hearing the national anthem, and that 25% liked it.
Historical anthems
Before "The Prayer of the Russians" was chosen as the national anthem of Imperial Russia in 1816, various church hymns and military marches were used to honor the country and the Tsars. Songs used include "Let the Thunder of Victory Rumble!" and "How Glorious is our Lord". "The Prayer of the Russians" was adopted around 1816, and used lyrics by Vasily Zhukovsky set to the music of the British anthem, "God Save the King". Russia's anthem was also influenced by the anthems of France and the Netherlands, and by the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!".In 1833, Zhukovsky was asked to set lyrics to a musical composition by Prince Alexei Lvov called "The Russian People's Prayer", known more commonly as "God Save the Tsar!". It was well received by Nicholas I, who chose the song to be the next anthem of Imperial Russia. The song resembled a hymn, and its musical style was similar to that of other anthems used by European monarchs. "God Save the Tsar!" was performed for the first time on December 8, 1833, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. It was later played at the Winter Palace on Christmas Day, by order of Nicholas I. Public singing of the anthem began at opera houses in 1834, but it was not widely known across the Russian Empire until 1837.
"God Save the Tsar!" was used until the February Revolution, when the Russian monarchy was overthrown. Upon the overthrow, in March 1917, the "Worker's Marseillaise", Pyotr Lavrov's modification of the French anthem "La Marseillaise", was used as an unofficial anthem by the Russian Provisional Government. The modifications Lavrov made to "La Marseillaise" included a change in meter from 2/2 to 4/4 and music harmonization to make it sound more Russian. It was used at governmental meetings, welcoming ceremonies for diplomats and state funerals.
After the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government in the 1917 October Revolution, the anthem of international revolutionary socialism, "L'Internationale", was adopted as the new anthem. The lyrics had been written by Eugène Pottier, and Pierre Degeyter had composed the music in 1871 to honor the creation of the Second Socialist International organization; in 1902, Arkadij Jakovlevich Kots translated Pottier's lyrics into Russian. Kots also changed the grammatical tense of the song, to make it more decisive in nature. The first major use of the song was at the funeral of victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd. Lenin also wanted "The Internationale" to be played more often because it was more socialist, and could not be confused with the French anthem; other persons in the new Soviet government believed "La Marseillaise" to be too bourgeois. "The Internationale" was used as the state anthem of Soviet Russia from 1918, adopted by the newly created Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922, and was used until 1944.
Post-1944 Soviet anthem
Music
The music of the national anthem, created by Alexander Alexandrov, had previously been incorporated in several hymns and compositions. The music was first used in the Hymn of the Bolshevik Party, created in 1939. When the Comintern was dissolved in 1943, the government argued that "The Internationale", which was historically associated with the Comintern, should be replaced as the National Anthem of the Soviet Union. Alexandrov's music was chosen as the new anthem by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after a contest in 1943. Stalin praised the song for fulfilling what a national anthem should be, though he criticized the song's orchestration.In response, Alexandrov blamed the problems on Viktor Knushevitsky, who was responsible for orchestrating the entries for the final contest rounds. When writing the Bolshevik party anthem, Alexandrov incorporated pieces from the song "Life Has Become Better", a musical comedy that he composed. This comedy was based on a slogan Stalin first used in 1935. Over 200 entries were submitted for the anthem contest, including some by famous Soviet composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Iona Tuskiya. Later, the rejected joint entry by Khachaturian and Shostakovich became Song of the Red Army, and Khachaturian went on to compose the Anthem of the Armenian SSR. There was also an entry from Boris Alexandrov, the son of Alexander. His rejected entry, "Long Live our State", became a popular patriotic song and was adopted as the anthem of Transnistria.
During the 2000 debate on the anthem, Boris Gryzlov, the leader of the Unity faction in the Duma, noted that the music which Alexandrov wrote for the Soviet anthem was similar to Vasily Kalinnikov's 1892 overture, "Bylina". Supporters of the Soviet anthem mentioned this in the various debates held in the Duma on the change of anthem, but there is no evidence that Alexandrov consciously used parts of "Bylina" in his composition.
Lyrics
After selecting the music by Alexandrov for the national anthem, Stalin needed new lyrics. He thought that the song was short and, because of the Great Patriotic War, that it needed a statement about the impending defeat of Germany by the Red Army. The poets Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan were called to Moscow by one of Stalin's staffers, and were told to fix the lyrics to Alexandrov's music. They were instructed to keep the verses the same, but to find a way to change the refrains which described "a Country of Soviets". Because of the difficulty of expressing the concepts of the Great Patriotic War in song, that idea was dropped from the version which El-Registan and Mikhalkov completed overnight. After a few minor changes to emphasize the Soviet Fatherland, Stalin approved the anthem and had it published on 7 November 1943, including a line about Stalin "inspir us to keep the faith with the people". The revised anthem was announced to all of the USSR on January 1, 1944, and became official on March 15, 1944.After Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet government examined his legacy. The government began the de-Stalinization process, which included downplaying the role of Stalin and moving his corpse from Lenin's Mausoleum to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. In addition, the anthem lyrics composed by Mikhalkov and El-Registan were officially scrapped by the Soviet government in 1956. The anthem was still used by the Soviet government, but without any official lyrics. In private, this anthem became known the "Song Without Words". Mikhalkov wrote a new set of lyrics in 1970, but they were not submitted to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet until May 27, 1977. The new lyrics, which eliminated any mention of Stalin, were approved on September 1, and were made official with the printing of the new Soviet Constitution in October 1977. In the credits for the 1977 lyrics, Mikhalkov was mentioned, but references to El-Registan, who died in 1945, were dropped for unknown reasons.
"The Patriotic Song"
With the impending collapse of the Soviet Union in early 1990, a new national anthem was needed to help define the reorganized nation and to reject the Soviet past. The Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, Boris Yeltsin, was advised to revive "God Save The Tsar" with modifications to the lyrics. However, he instead selected a piece composed by Mikhail Glinka. The piece, known as "The Patriotic Song", was a wordless piano composition discovered after Glinka's death. It was performed in front of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on November 23, 1990. The song was decreed by the Supreme Soviet to be the new Russian anthem that same day. This anthem was intended to be permanent, which can be seen from the parliamentary draft of the Constitution, approved and drafted by Supreme Soviet, Congress of People's Deputies and its Constitutional Commission. The draft, among other things, reads that:The National Anthem of the Russian Federation is the Patriotic Song composed by Mikhail Glinka. The text of the National Anthem of the Russian Federation shall be endorsed by the federal law.
However, conflict between President and Congress made passage of that draft less likely: the Congress shifted onto more and more rewriting of the 1978 Russian Constitution, while President pushed forward with new draft Constitution, which does not define state symbols. After 1993 Russian constitutional crisis and just one day before the constitutional referendum Yeltsin, then President of the Russian Federation, issued a presidential decree on December 11, 1993, retaining "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" the official anthem for Russia, but this decree was provisional, since the draft Constitution explicitly referred this matter to legislation, enacted by parliament. According to Article 70 of the Constitution, state symbols required further definition by future legislation. As it was a constitutional matter, it had to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Duma.
Between 1994 and 1999, many votes were called for in the State Duma to retain "The Patriotic Song" as the official anthem of Russia. However, it faced stiff opposition from members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who wanted the Soviet anthem restored. Because any anthem had to be approved by a two-thirds supermajority, this disagreement between Duma factions for nearly a decade prevented passage of an anthem.