The Patriotic Song
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"The Patriotic Song" ("Патриотическая Песня"; "Patriotičeskaja Pesnja"; also translatable as "A Patriotic Song") was the national anthem of the Russian SFSR and of Russia from 1990 to 2000. It was originally a piano piece without lyrics, written by Mikhail Glinka, with the French title "Motif de chant national." Some have confused this piece with the closing chorus of Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar, probably because both begin with the same word "Slav'sja," but the two compositions are unrelated (indeed, the opera music has been suggested as another candidate for a Russian anthem as well).
The tune of this instrumental anthem, which was chosen by Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s and favored by the Russian Orthodox church, went without lyrics for several years. In 1999 a contest to provide suitable words for the anthem was won by Viktor Radugin with his poem "Славься, Россия!" ("Slav'sja, Rossija!"; "Be glorious, Russia!"). Having never become popular enough, however, Glinka's anthem was replaced soon after Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, took over. Putin preferred the old Soviet anthem, which was approved by the legislature in December 2000, with Putin's signature and modified lyrics.
[edit] Unofficial Lyrics to "Славься, Россия!" by Viktor Radugin
| Russian | English Translation | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Славься, славься, родина-Россия! Сквозь века и грозы ты прошла |
Be glorious, be glorious, homeland-Russia! You passed through the centuries and the thunderstorms |
Slav'sja, Slav'sja, rodina Rossija! Skvoz' veka i grozy ty prošla! |
| Над старинным московским Кремлем Вьется знамя с двуглавым орлом |
Above the ancient Moscow Kremlin Waves the banner with the two-headed eagle |
Nad starinnym moskovskim Kremlem V'etsja znamja s dvuglavim orlom |
[edit] External links
- Russian National Anthems, including the score for Glinka's tune
- Russian Anthems Museum, including MP3 recordings of Glinka's anthem with and without words
| Preceded by: Hymn of the Soviet Union Soviet Union |
Anthem of Russia 1991–2000 |
Succeeded by: Hymn of the Russian Federation |
