What is a national anthem? This is one of the state symbols of any country. Surely, there is no such person who would not know what a hymn is.
Each nation has its own
solemnly musical piece, uniting and inspiring all its citizens. The words of the anthem sometimes reflect the essence of the state itself, its politics, internal structure and so on.
History of the Russian anthem
The coat of arms, flag, anthem of Russia - these are its three main state symbols. Of course, all of them certainly deserve respect, but in this article we are interested in the anthem. In our country, there have long been several national anthems, patriotic and spiritual. They originated in the time of Peter the Great as solemn songs. The king really liked the viva cantas, usually performed by the choir during any official celebrations. One of the known historical facts related to this says that during the conclusion of the Nishtadt peace with Sweden , Tsar Peter the Great, on his knees, sang a church hymn called "Praise God." In the era of Great Peter the Army performed military marches, the most famous of which was the Transfiguration Regiment march .
The first officially performed anthem of Russia was "Song to the Russian Tsar." She was performed to the tune of the anthem of England "God Save the King."
A little later, he had a new text - a poem by the poet V. Zhukovsky, “Prayer of the Russians”. And only in 1833 the Russian musical symbol acquired its final form. The people learned what the anthem is from the point of view of its majestic, sensitive and powerful performance. This, of course, "God save the king." Since then, he sounded everywhere and everywhere - at the court of the emperor, in the army, during civil celebrations and events. He acquired the status of the national anthem of the Russian Empire. Its execution was mandatory in military parades, during the consecration of banners, as well as in the army and navy. And only the
February Revolution abolished it. Since then, several hymns have been used. At the end of 2000, the
decree of President V. Putin approved the sounding music of A. Alexandrov and the words of S. Mikhalkov.
The music of the present anthem was still familiar to Soviet citizens during the reign of Joseph Dzhugashvili - Stalin. That is why the chosen people, who had the honor of accepting a new national musical symbol, did not want to do this in any way. The fact is that the Russian anthem, whose music evoked associations with Stalinist repressions, seemed unacceptable to many. Nevertheless, after a long debate, it was still approved.
So let's summarize what a hymn is. This is a musical identification mark of one or another state. This is a specific piece of music or theme that performs the function of identifying the state whose official symbol it is. Today, for insulting (abusing) the anthem of the Russian Federation, you can go to jail for up to one year, or pay a fine of up to three hundred minimum wages.