It is a march in 4/4 time, although it is popularly sung in 12/8. It was premiered in the city of La Paz, in front of the Palacio de Gobierno, at noon on 18 November 1845, by about 90 instrumentalists belonging to the military bands of the 5th, 6th and 8th battalions. That day, the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Ingavi was celebrated with several acts of extraordinary magnitude, a highlight of which was the opening of the Municipal Theatre [es].
In 1851, during the government of General Manuel Isidoro Belzu, the national anthem of Bolivia was made official by a supreme decree, and it was sent out to print for distribution in schools. It has since been performed and sung in all official school functions.[1][2]
History
Background
In the city of Chuquisaca (modern Sucre) in 1835, the composition called "Marcha Nacional" ("National March") came to light, the first national anthem, the work of the Peruvian teacher Pedro Ximénez Abril Tirado, who was the chapelmaster of Chuquisaca Cathedral.[3] This composition did not become official, quite possibly due to the creation, organisation and subsequent elimination of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839).
The original scores are found in the Historical Archive of Chuquisaca Cathedral, where they are part of the musical heritage of Bolivia. A piano performance, performed by the teacher María Antonieta García Meza de Pacheco, exists in a compilation on CD as a tribute to the work of Ximenez Abrill Tirado.
National anthem
Once the independence and sovereignty of Bolivia was consolidated in the Battle of Ingavi on 18 November 1841, the need for a patriotic song was noted again, because General José Ballivián, then president of Bolivia, noted that small bands of the Army were not managing to conquer popular fervour by performing inherited Spanish marches and popular pieces.[1]
It was under these circumstances that Ballivián learned of the visit to Chile of Italian teacher and composer Leopoldo Benedetto Vincenti, whom he invited in 1844 to exercise the position of general director of bands of the Bolivian army and to compose, under contract, the music of the "Canción Patriótica" ("Patriotic Song"), under which name it was to be known at the time.[1][2][4] Vincenti arrived in La Paz in September 1844 and found the musical bands in a dire state, as could be established in his family letters. His work was exhausting; many times, he went to bed dressed to go to the barracks at dawn. The trials were long and pressing. Vincenti rejected one text after another; it was then that lawyer and poet José Ignacio Sanjinéz presented him with the verses of what is now the Bolivian national anthem, originally written in Spanish.[1]
In the La Paz Plaza Murillo at noon on 18 November 1845, after Te Deum was performed at the Cathedral of La Paz in honour of the Battle of Ingavi, the military bands of the Battalions 5th, 6th and 8th played, for the first time, the chords of the Bolivian national anthem. Ballivián came out excited to one of the balconies of the Palacio Quemado, profusely congratulating the performance.[1]
That same night, simultaneously, the Municipal Theatre of La Paz [es] was premiered in a lyrical-musical programme, a central part of which was the interpretation of the "Canción Patriótica". The new theatre was packed: the president of the republic, José Ballivián, attended with his cabinet; prefectural, municipal and public authorities gathered.[1]
Lyrics
The first verse and chorus are usually performed at official events. If brevity is required, only the chorus may be performed.
I
Bolivianos: el hado propicio
coronó nuestros votos y anhelo.[a]
Es ya libre, ya libre este suelo,[b]
ya cesó su servil condición.
Al estruendo marcial que ayer fuera
y al clamor de la guerra horroroso,[c]
𝄆 siguen hoy, en contraste armonioso,
dulces himnos de paz y de unión. 𝄇
Coro:
De la Patria, el alto nombre,
en glorioso esplendor conservemos.
Y en sus aras de nuevo juremos:
¡Morir antes que esclavos vivir!
¡Morir antes que esclavos vivir!
¡Morir antes que esclavos vivir!
II
Loor eterno a los bravos guerreros,
cuyo heroico valor y firmeza,
conquistaron las glorias que empieza
hoy Bolivia feliz a gozar.
Que sus nombres, en mármol y en bronce,
a remotas edades transmitan,
𝄆 y en sonoros cantares repitan:
¡Libertad, Libertad, Libertad! 𝄇
Coro
III
Aquí alzó la justicia su trono
que la vil opresión desconoce,
y en su timbre glorioso legose
libertad, libertad, libertad.
Esta tierra innocente y hermosa
que ha debido a Bolívar su nombre
𝄆 es la patria feliz donde el hombre
goza el bien de la dicha y la paz. 𝄇
Coro
IV
Si extranjero poder algún día
sojuzgar a Bolivia intentare,
al destino fatal se prepare
que amenaza a soberbio agresor.
Que los hijos del grande Bolívar
hayan mil y mil veces jurado:
𝄆 morir antes que ver humillado
de la Patria el augusto pendón. 𝄇
Coro
I Bolivians, a propitious fate
has at long last crowned our vows and longings; This land is free, free at last.
Its servile state has now finally ceased.
Chorus:
Let us keep the lofty name of our Fatherland
in glorious splendor.
And, on its altars, once more we must swear: To die before we would live as slaves!
To die before we would live as slaves!
To die before we would live as slaves!
II
Eternal praise to the brave warriors
whose heroic valor and firmness
conquered the freedom and glories that now
a happy Bolivia justly begins to enjoy!
Let their names, preserved forever in marble and bronze,
transmit their glory to remote future ages.
𝄆 And in resounding songs let them repeat:
Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! 𝄇
Chorus
III
Here has Justice erected its throne
which vile oppression ignores
and, on its glorious laurel it bequeathed us
Freedom, freedom, freedom
This innocent and beautiful land,
which owes its name to Bolívar,
𝄆 is the happy homeland where mankind
enjoys the benefits of bliss and peace. 𝄇
Chorus
IV
If a foreigner may, any given day
even attempt to subjugate Bolivia,
let him prepare for a fatal destiny,
which menaces such superb aggressor.
For the sons of the mighty Bolívar
have sworn, thousands upon thousands of times:
𝄆 to die rather than see the country's majestic banner humiliated. 𝄇
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Bolivia
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