The history of the anthem of Russia - the history of the country
A lot of what happens in this life passes us by. We do not notice that every phenomenon leaves a mark and is evidence of those changes that occur without our participation and desire. One of these pages is the history of the anthem of the Russian Federation, which clearly shows how our country was torn from one extreme to another.
Oddly enough, for a very long time Russia did not have a national anthem and ceremonies with the participation of foreign ambassadors, and other events of national significance took place, initially, under a variety of church chants. Most often, the prayer “Many summers” was performed and this situation continued until the end of the 1780s. True, after Emperor Peter the Great “cut a window into Europe,” these chants began to alternate with the medieval pan-European hymn “We praise you, God.” All victorious events during the Northern War were marked by the singing of this work after all other prayer chants. Toward the end of the reign, Peter the Great also ordered the oratorio "Preobrazhensky March of Peter the Great" to be performed. This moment can be considered the time when the real history of the anthem of Russia began, because the Preobrazhensky march has since become the main one in the country. Even since 1917, for some time this march served as a hymn to the state of the Soviets.
In general, the first anthem of Russia, the history of which originates from the end of the Patriotic War of 1812 , is the “Prayer of the Russians” to verses by A.V. Zhukovsky, which is popularly known as "God Save the Tsar!" It was first performed when the anniversary of the opening of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was celebrated. And the history of the anthem of Russia was already marked by the fact that A.S. Pushkin added two more additional verses performed on the same day to the main words. Alexander I liked the song so much that he ordered it to be made the main one for performance at the emperor’s meetings and the regiment’s orchestra included the “Russian Prayer” in his obligatory repertoire.
On December 25, 1833, when the anniversary of the victory of the Russian army over the hordes of Napoleon was celebrated, the history of the Russian anthem was continued in the form of the official anthem, “God Save the Tsar!”, Rewritten by Prince A.F. Lviv. And this anthem of Russia, the history of which lasted until the day of Nicholas II’s abdication, is better known to the modern generation.
The history of the anthem of the Russian Federation was then continued until the February Revolution of 1917 in the form of “Russian Marseillaise”. But the leader of the proletariat, V.I. Lenin, did not like the bourgeois work, and he issued a decree to replace it with the "International", which was first performed as an anthem on January 10, 1918 after the final victory of the socialist revolution, which was noted at the Third Congress of Soviets.
And the story of today's anthem of Russia began in the communist version with the performance on January 1, 1944 on the radio of a work authored by S.V. Mikhalkova and G.A. El-Registan, which began with the words "Union of the indestructible republics of the free." From March 15, 1944 to December 11, 1993, this particular hymn was officially performed at government ceremonies and ceremonies.
The national anthem of the new, post-perestroika Russia was to sound to the music of the “Patriotic Song” by M.I. Glinka. None of the texts submitted for consideration by the tender committee passed selection. In total, over 6,000 texts of various authors from all over the great Russian Federation were examined. The work of the commission was suspended. And in the end they settled on S.V. Mikhalkov copy of the last hymn to the music of A. Alexandrov. The anthem of the Russian Federation was approved and became official since March 24, 2001 from the moment of signing the decree by President V.V. Putin.