Ymnos is tin Eleftherian

Ύμνος είς την Ελευθερίαν
transcription	Ymnos is tin Eleftherian
Title in German	Hymn to freedom
country	Greece , Republic of Cyprus;
Usage period	Greece: since 1865 ; Republic of Cyprus: since 1966
text	Dionysios Solomos
melody	Nikolaos Mantzaros
Audio files

The Ymnos is tin Eleftherian ( Greek Ύμνος είς την Ελευθερίαν [ ˈimnos is tin ɛlɛfθɛˈrian ], German 'hymn to freedom' ) is the national anthem of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus .

The text comes from the eponymous poem of 158 quatrains written by Dionysios Solomos in 1823 , the music comes from Nikolaos Mantzaros , the 'father' of the Ionian School , the first composer school in modern Greece. The Ymnos is tin Eleftherian has been the national anthem of Greece since 1865 . It has also been used as the national anthem of the Republic of Cyprus since 1966. It is the only national anthem that is used by two sovereign states at the same time with an identical text and an identical melody. It is also heard at the celebrations of the modern Olympic Games as a reminder of their place of origin.

poetry

Title page of the first Greek edition of Ymnos is tin Eleftherian from 1825 by Dionysios Solomos

According to the first printed edition, Solomos composed the text in May 1823 in Zakynthos . The island was then part of the first Greek-speaking state of modern times, the United States of the Ionian Islands , whose intellectuals followed the Greek Revolution on the mainland with enthusiasm. Solomos had completed his training in Italy in 1818 and initially wrote poems in Italian , and from 1822 onwards in Greek at the suggestion of Spyridon Trikoupis . In doing so, he used a vernacular that was close to the dialect of his home island , which became authoritative for the Ionian School he founded. The hymn to freedom is the first of a large series of patriotic poems that reflect the Greek struggle for freedom and that Solomos composed in the following years. The first print was published in 1824 in Greek and Italian in the city of Mesolongi , which soon fell under the Ottoman siege for years and became a symbol of the Greek struggle in Europe.

The 158 stanzas are quatrains with the rhyme scheme ABAB, in four - footed troches , the second and fourth lines end with an incomplete trochee, i.e. catalectic .

The hymn is addressed to the allegorical figure of freedom and praises the Greek struggle for freedom, which is to end victoriously guided by the idea of freedom. The text describes the initial attempts at Greek emancipation in the 18th century, mentions Rigas Velestinlis , the 'liberated' Greeks of the Ionian Islands, the attitude of leading western states, namely the USA , Spain , Great Britain and Austria , whose Foreign Minister Metternich is one of the most prominent opponents the Greek Revolution was. This is followed by descriptions of the events of the first two years of the revolution and the justification of the revolution from the Christian religion in whose name it is conducted. The second stanza ("Yes, you are new to us ...", see below) is repeated like a chorus as the 16th, 74th and 87th stanza, the first stanza appears a second time as the 122nd; these repetitions structure the work, which ends with an appeal of freedom to the unity of the Greeks and an ironic swipe at Europe: “May we save ourselves / Our freedom has come from us / Or has been condemned to eternal chains / Politics doomed us ? // So when you have decided / see: the cross is here in front of you / kings! Skin undaunted / Perform this prank too! "

Solomon's poetry quickly became popular in Philhellenic Europe , and translations of the hymn in English and French appeared the following year; In 1825 the first German translation of excerpts by Goethe's friend Johann Friedrich Heinrich Schlosser appeared anonymously . Three further German translations in extracts appeared by 1842. In 1844, Joseph Mindler translated the entire text into German for the first time, obviously as an aid to assessing the Greek King Otto , who had received the second composition of Solomos' hymn from Mantzaros.

The Hymn to Freedom remained Solomos' best-known work, partly because of the fact that it became popular as the national anthem.

composition

Nikolaos Mantzaros was good friends with Dionysios Solomos, who had settled in Corfu in 1828. He created three complete musical versions of the Hymn to Freedom, all for four-part male choir and piano.

The first composition dates between 1828 and 1830. For the text stanzas 1–8 she uses the model for the melody used in F major, with two text stanzas each corresponding to a musical stanza, but with a slightly larger range (f – a¹ in the first tenor) and some ornate end turns that later for the national anthem has been simplified. A short introduction and a four-bar interlude between the musical stanzas were later omitted from the national anthem. This work divides the text of Solomos into 25 sections, some with several stanzas. It was only published in print after the composer's death in London in 1873, financed by British Philhellenes and Greeks abroad . The musical structure is largely homophonic ; the work was obviously designed to be performed by laypeople.

Mantzaros sent a second setting to the Greek King Otto in 1844 . Here the proportions of polyphonic sections are significantly greater, fugati or small fugues alternate with homophonic sections. The melody of today's national anthem is used here for stanzas 5–8 of Solomos' text. This composition was probably used on official occasions in the royal palace, but the national anthem served as Heil our King, Heil! , which was also the national anthem of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

A third - largely polyphonic - version, which has been preserved as a manuscript in the old Teatro San Giacomo, today's town hall of the city of Corfu, documents Mantzaros' decades of work on the composition. The first two sections of this version appeared in print in Italy in 1897; the melody of the national anthem is not included here.

Use as the national anthem of Greece

The forerunner of the Greek national anthem was Heil our King, Heil! , which was also the hymn of the Kingdom of Bavaria. King Otto had awarded Mantzaros a medal in 1844 for a "more serious" second composition that was played on official occasions.

When George I was greeted in the port of Corfu in 1865 by the Banda of the Philharmonic Society of Corfu with Mantzaros' original setting, he was so impressed that the work with the melody used with 24 stanzas on August 4, 1865 by royal decree of the Ministry of the Navy to "Official national song" (" ἐπίσημον ἐθνικόν ἄσμα" ) and thus de facto declared the national anthem. However, only the setting of the first two stanzas of the text is sung. Later individual editions show the melody slightly simplified with the range f – f¹ (or f¹ – f² for female voices), occasionally transposed a tone lower to E flat major.

Use as the national anthem of the Republic of Cyprus

On November 16, 1966, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus adopted the proposal to introduce Ymnos is tin Eleftherian as the national anthem of the Republic of Cyprus. To this day, critics see it as a commitment to Greece, but have never been able to push through with a change. The "State Anthem of the Republic of Cyprus" (Κρατικός Ύμνος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας) by Solon Michailidis is played on official occasions within the republic.

Text of the Greek and Cypriot national anthems

Original text ( polytonic )	Text ( monotonous )	transcription	Pronunciation ( IPA )
Σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν κόψη τοῦ σπαθιοῦ τὴν τρομερή, σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν ὄψη ποὺ μὲ βιὰ μετράει τὴ γῆ. Ἀπ᾿ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἱερά, καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη, χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, Ἐλευθερά!	Σε γνωρίζω από την κόψη του σπαθιού την τρομερή, σε γνωρίζω από την όψη που με βια μετράει τη γη. Απ 'τα κόκκαλα βγαλμένη των Ελλήνων τα ιερά, και σαν πρώτα ανδρειωμένη, χαίρε, ω χαίρε, Ελευθεριά!	Se gnorizo apo tin kopsi tou spathiou tin tromeri, se gnorizo apo tin opsi pou me via metrai ti gi. Ap 'ta kokkala vgalmeni ton Ellinon ta iera, ke san prota andriomeni, chere, o chere, Eleftheria!	sɛ ɣnɔrizɔ‿apɔ tin kɔpsi tu tin spaθju trɔmɛri sɛ ɣnɔrizɔ‿apɔ tin ɔpsi pu mɛ VJA mɛtrai ti ʝi ap ta kɔkala vɣalmɛni tɔn ɛlinɔn ta jɛra kʲɛ san prɔta‿anðriɔmɛni çɛrɛ‿ɔ çɛrɛ ɛlɛfθɛrja
Literal translation	German post-poetry	Mindlers in Romanian	Translation Günthers
I know you by the blade of the sword, the mighty one. I recognize you by the look that measures the earth with strength. The bones sprouted from the Greeks, the holy ones (sc. Bones), and, as in the past, brave, be greeted, o be greeted freedom!	Yes, I know you by the blade of your sword, as sharp and shiny as your violent gait strides on this earth ring. Those who rose from the bones of Greece in rage, who broke the slave's yoke, dear freedom, greetings!	By the sharp giant sword your enemies are terrible. By the look that measures the earth in flight, I know you. Yes, you are new to us From the fathers' heroic blood Hail to freedom! Again found We in you the ancestral courage.	I recognize you by the edge that is the horror of the sword. The look that proudly aims and boldly measures the earth. Hellas' shrine held you safe , And hero's ashes gave way to light of a new morning of glory, freedom, heal, I greet you.

literature

Hans-Peter Drögemüller : The freedom of the Greeks and their singers. For the 200th birthday of the poet Dionysios Solomos (1798–1857) . Romiosini, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-929889-32-3 ( book advertisement )
Hans-B. Schlumm, Andreas Kertscher, Konstantinos Zervopoulos (ed.): Joseph M. Mindler: Hymne to freedom. The first complete German translation of the hymn after Dionysios Solomos to the music of Nikolaos Mantzaros. IFB Verlag for German Language, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-931263-88-1 . - Complete reprint of the composition from 1844 (bilingual German, Greek)

Web links

Wikisource: Ymnos is tin Eleftherian - Sources and full texts

the complete poetry of Solomos (Greek)

Information ( memento of March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) n on the website of the Greek President (Greek)
Information on the Greek national anthem ( Memento from June 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Greek Embassy in Germany; with translation
Instrumental version of the national anthem (MP3; 1.0 MB) played by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa .
Audio stream of the national anthem of Greece (Real Player; 0 kB)

Individual evidence

^ Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus - The National Anthem. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011 ; Retrieved February 14, 2011 .
↑ ^a ^b Translation of Mindler, s. Lit., pp. 42-47.
↑ 1st and 2nd section digitally at the Greek Music Library Lilian Voudouri
↑ Various editions at the Greek Music Library Lilian Voudouri: mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr
^ Dionysios Solomos: Works. Translated and commented by Hans-Christian Günther. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07249-7 , p. 70.

[Presidency_of_the_Republic_of_Cyprus_-_The_National_Anthem-1] Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus - The National Anthem. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011 ; Retrieved February 14, 2011 .

[Mindler-2] Translation of Mindler, s. Lit., pp. 42-47.

[3] 1st and 2nd section digitally at the Greek Music Library Lilian Voudouri

[4] Various editions at the Greek Music Library Lilian Voudouri: mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr mmb.org.gr

[5] Dionysios Solomos: Works. Translated and commented by Hans-Christian Günther. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07249-7 , p. 70.