First published at 12:12 UTC on January 26th, 2021.
The anthem first appeared in a book of military bugle calls dating from 1761, known as the “Marcha Granadera”. In 1770 King Charles III declared it as the official “honor march”, and was played at events attended by the royal family. It was then soo…
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The anthem first appeared in a book of military bugle calls dating from 1761, known as the “Marcha Granadera”. In 1770 King Charles III declared it as the official “honor march”, and was played at events attended by the royal family. It was then soon known as the “Marcha Real”. According to that book, Manuel de Espinosa de los Monteros is the composer.
In 1870, there was a contest held to have a new national anthem, but no winner was declared and the “Marcha Real” (as it is commonly known) remained as Spain’s anthem. After the anthem was replaced by the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War with “Himno Riego“, the victorious monarchist forces restored the “Marcha Real” by a decree from General Franco in July 1942. In 1997, the royal family issued a decree regulating the official use of the anthem. According to the decree, it should be in the key of B-flat major and a tempo of 76 bpm (♩=76), with a form of AABB and a duration of 52 seconds.
There have been many attempts to compose lyrics for the anthem. One set of lyrics by Eduardo Marquina was often heard during the reign of Alphonse XIII (1886-1931), and another by José María Pemán were common during Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975). Neither of these were official in their respective time periods, and have not been made official since then, due to their association with the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and Franco respectively. In 2007, a contest was held to seek lyrics for the anthem, but the winning entry was criticized, resulting in it being pulled only five days later, and the idea was scrapped indefinitely.
(description c/o nationalanthems.info; edited by yours truly)
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