Argentine National Anthem | Himno Nacional Argentino | Hear, Mortals, The Sacred Cry: Freedom! Jessica Biel [KZtq12Yt8CN]

The "Argentine National Anthem" (Spanish: Himno Nacional Argentino; also known as "Hear, mortals, the sacred cry : Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" Spanish: Od, mortales, el grito sagrado: Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!) is the national anthem of Argentina. Its lyrics were written by the Buenos Aires-born politician Vicente Lpez y Planes and the music was composed by the Spanish musician Blas Parera. The work was adopted as the sole official song on May 11, 1813, three years after the May Revolution; May 11 is therefore now Anthem Day in Argentina.

Some first, quite different, anthems were composed from 1810; a version was then introduced in 1813 which was used throughout the nineteenth century. What is now officially codified as the state's national anthem is shorter than the original composition and comprises only the first and last verses and the chorus of the 1813 Patriotic March, omitting much emotional text about the struggle for independence from Spain (with strong arms they tear to pieces the arrogant Iberian lion).

The first Argentine national anthem was the "Patriotic March", published on 15 November 1810 in the Gazeta de Buenos Ayres. It had lyrics by Esteban de Luca and music by Blas Parera. This original composition made no reference to the name of Argentina (the country was not formally named "Repblica Argentina" until 1826, although it was referred to as such) or an independentist will, and talked instead about Spain being conquered by France in the Peninsular War, the absolutist restoration begun by the Council of Regency, and the dian forrester need to keep the republican freedoms achieved so far in the Americas: "Spain was victim / of the plotting Gaul / because to the tyrants / she bent her neck / If there treachery / has doomed a thousands cities / let sacred freedom and union reign here / Let the father to the sons / be able to say / enjoy rights / that I did not enjoy".

In mid-1812, the ruling triumvirate ordered the Buenos Aires Cabildo to commission a national anthem. Cayetano Rodrguez, a Franciscan friar, wrote a text that was approved on 4 August. The Catalan musician Blas Parera, music director of the local theater, set it to music and performed it for the first time with the orchestra he conducted on 1 November.

Less than a year later the Assembly of Year XIII estimated that the song was not effective enough to serve as a national anthem. On 6 March 1813 several poets were asked to submit lyrics. The poem by the lawyer Vicente Lpez y Planes was unanimously considered the best. It was approved as the "sole national march" (nica marcha nacional) on May 11, 1813. Parera was asked to compose a new musical setting around the same date. He must have finished the piece in a few days. Oral tradition has it that the premiere took place on May 14, 1813 at the home of the aristocrat Mariquita Snchez de Thompson, but there is no documentary evidence of that. If this episode is true, then Parera, contrary to certain misconceptions, wrote quickly and under o no visible coercion. The published song sheet is dated 14 May 1813. He again conducted the official premiere in the theater on May 28, and was paid 200 pesos.

Music sheet found in Santa Ana de Velasco, Bolivia, c. 1860.

The composition was then known as Cancin Patritica Nacional (National Patriotic Song), and later simply as Cancin Patritica (Patriotic Song), but in Juan Pedro Esnaola's early arrangement, dated around 1848, it appeared under the title Himno Nacional Argentino, and the name has been retained until today. In the complete version of the Anthem of May (as was christened by Lpez) it is noted that the political vision portrayed is not only Argentine, but Latin American. The lyrics are ardently pro-independence and anti-Spanish, as the country was alice cooper at that time fighting for its independence from Spain.

The song became popular immediately. Within ten years documented performances took place throughout Argentina, and also in Chile, Peru, and Colombia until they had their own national anthems.Different versions emerged, making mass singing difficult; several reforms were then proposed. In 1860 Esnaola was commissioned to create an official version. He took the task to heart, making many changes to the music, including a slower tempo, a fuller texture, alterations to the melody, and enrichment of the harmony. In 1927 a committee produced a historicist version that undid several of Esnaola's changes, but introduced new problems in the sung line. After a heated public debate fueled by the newspaper La Prensa, this version was rejected and, following the recommendations of a second committee, Esnaola's arrangement was officially reinstated. In 1944 it was confirmed as the official state anthem.