Himnusz

Himnusz
Title in German	anthem
country	Hungary
Usage period	1903 until today
text	Ferenc Kölcsey
melody	Ferenc Erkel
Sheet of music
Audio files

Himnusz (Eng. "Hymn") is the official name of the Hungarian national anthem .

history

Original manuscript with Erkel's signature

Ferenc Kölcsey wrote the text of the Hungarian national anthem in the village of Szatmárcseke in 1823 as a poem with the subtitle A magyar nép zivataros századaiból “From the stormy centuries of the Hungarian people”. It is accordingly shaped by the zeitgeist and the circumstances of the time . Less warlike than other hymns, the first stanza of the text contains a prayer to God to stand by Hungary and give him a happier future, because "this people has already paid (enough) for the past and future".

In order to set Kölcsey's Himnusz , which soon became popular , the director of the Hungarian National Theater organized a competition in 1844. The award was won by Ferenc Erkel , the most famous Hungarian opera composer.

According to the judgment of experts, Erkel has succeeded in making one of the most musically valuable national anthems with his melody - but with the large range of over an octave it is also quite difficult to sing.

The song spread rapidly during the uprising of 1848/1849 , but it was not until 1903 that it received the official status of a national anthem. Article I of the Hungarian Constitution of 2011 explicitly mentions Himnusz.

Although several languages ​​were spoken on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, there was always only one Hungarian version of the text; also German , Slovaks , Ruthenians , Romanians and so the anthem had so sing in Hungarian. In contrast, there were official versions of the imperial anthem for the numerous minorities in the Austrian half of the empire .

In keeping with the religious content of the text, the national anthem is still intoned at the end of a Catholic service.

Since the text was hated by the communist regime of the post-war period because of its religious content, an attempt was made in 1949 to introduce a new hymn after the old coat of arms had been replaced . The writer Gyula Illyés was to write the text and the famous composer Zoltán Kodály the melody. However, the idea of ​​a new anthem came from Kodály with the words “What for? The old one is good! ”Rejected once and for all. The attempt to replace Himnusz with the more harmless and equally popular Szózat by Mihály Vörösmarty also failed .

Only the first of the eight stanzas of the hymn is sung. It is traditionally played at the turn of the year, after the countdown to the beginning of the year, on Hungarian television and on the radio - Hungarians sing along or stand with champagne glasses in hand until the hymn is played until the end before they toast the new year .

reception

Elements of the melody can be found as a theme of the music for the operetta Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss Sohn . You can easily hear z. B. the last two bars of Himnusz in several places of the overture .

text

Hungarian

Isten, áldd meg a magyart
Jó kedvvel, bőséggel,
Nyújts feléje védő kart,
Ha küzd ellenséggel;
Bal sors akit régen tép,
Hozz rá víg esztendőt,
Megbűnhődte már e nép
A múltat ​​s jövendőt!

Őseinket felhozád
Kárpát szent bércére,
Általad nyert szép hazát
Bendegúznak vére.
S merre zúgnak habjai
Tiszának, Dunának,
Árpád hős magzatjai
Felvirágozának.

Értünk Kunság mezein
Ért kalászt lengettél,
Tokaj szőlővesszein
Nektárt csepegtettél.
Zászlónk gyakran plántálád
Vad török ​​sáncára,
S nyögte Mátyás bús hadát
Bécsnek büszke vára.

Hajh, de bűneink miatt
Gyúlt harag kebledben,
S elsújtád villámidat
Dörgő fellegedben,
Most rabló mongol nyilát
Zúgattad felettünk,
Majd töröktől rabigát
Vállainkra vettünk.

Hányszor zengett ajkain
Ozman vad népének
Vert hadunk csonthalmain
Győzedelmi ének!
Hányszor támadt tenfiad
Szép hazám, kebledre,
S lettél magzatod miatt
Magzatod hamvvedre!

Bújt az üldözött, s felé
Kard nyúlt barlangjában,
Szerte nézett s nem lelé
Honját e hazában,
Bércre hág és völgybe száll,
Bú s kétség mellette,
Vérözön lábainál,
S lángtenger fölette.

Vár állott, most kőhalom,
Kedv s öröm röpkedtek,
Halálhörgés, siralom
Zajlik már helyettek.
S ah, szabadság nem virul
A holtnak véréből,
Kínzó rabság Könnye hull
Árvák hő szeméből!

Szánd meg Isten a magyart
Kit vészek hányának,
Nyújts feléje védő kart
Tengerén kínjának.
Bal sors akit régen tép,
Hozz rá víg esztendőt,
Megbűnhődte már e nép
A múltat ​​s jövendőt!

Literal translation of the 1st stanza

God bless the Hungarians!
with joyful courage and abundance.
Stretch your protective arm towards him
when he fights with the enemy!
For him who has long been torn apart by misfortune,
bring him happy years!
This people has already
atone enough for the past and the future.

Translation into German

Lord, bless the Hungarians
with joy and abundance.
Protect him with your hand
when he fights with the enemy.
Those who have not been spared by fate for a long time,
Bring them a better time.
Because this people has already atone enough for the
past and the future.

You brought our ancestors
to the sacred Carpathian peak .
Through you we won the beautiful home
for Bendegúz 'sons and daughters.
And there where the water rushes
The Tisza and the Danube
There sprouts and blossoms
The seeds of the hero Árpád.

For us in the Kunság fields
the ripe grain
sways , From the Tokaij slopes
you let nectar drip.
You have planted our flag many times
on the wild Turkish entrenchments,
And the proud Viennese castle groaned
under Mátyá's angry troops.

But because of our sins
, anger gathered in your chest
And your lightning struck us
From your thundering clouds,
First the predatory arrows of
the Mongols passed over us,
Then we carried the slave yoke of
The Turks on our shoulders.

How often sounded from the lips of
the wild peoples of the Ottomans
Above us who were beaten, our heaped bones
The song of victory!
How often have your sons attacked
My beautiful home in your breast,
And because of your sons you became
your sons' cinder grave. The sword was

also used against the hunted man in hiding
in his home country, but he
looked around in vain,
but he could not find his home.
He climbed over mountains, into valleys,
Surrounded by sorrow and doubt,
pools of blood under his feet
and seas of flames above him.

Where the castle stood, a pile of stones,
joy and happiness fly,
But death sounds and lamentations,
take their place.
And woe, freedom does not bloom
From the blood of the dead,
The tears flow painfully under slavery
From the eyes of the homeless.

Have pity, Lord, for the Hungarians,
whom dangers shake,
protect him with your hand,
In the sea of ​​torments.
Those who have not been spared by fate for a long time,
Bring them a better time.
Because this people has already atone
for the past and the future.

See also

• List of national anthems .

Web links

Commons : Himnusz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Audio file of the national anthem of Hungary (MP3)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ German text of the constitution ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB), accessed on March 11, 2013