Marcha Real

Marcha Real
English: Royal March
1761 sheet music

National anthem of Spain
Also known as"La Marcha Granadera" (English: "The Grenadier March")
MusicManuel de Espinosa de los Monteros, 1761 (1761),[1] Bartolomé Pérez Casas (orchestration, 1908), Francisco Grau (harmonization, 1997)
Adopted3 September 1770
Readopted1823, 1874, July 1942
Relinquished7 April 1822, 1873, 9 December 1931
Audio sample
Marcha Real (instrumental)

The Marcha Real (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾtʃa reˈal]; lit.'Royal March') is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of only four national anthems in the world – along with those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Kosovo – that have no official lyrics.[2] Although many different lyrics have been made for it in the past, it has never had official lyrics as a national anthem.[3]

A 1998 Rendition to La Marcha Real the National anthem of Spain.

One of the oldest in the world, the Spanish national anthem was first printed in a document dated 1761 and entitled Libro de la Ordenanza de los Toques de Pífanos y Tambores que se tocan nuevamente en la Ynfantª Española (Book of the Ordinance of Newly Played Military Fife and Drum Calls by The Spanish Infantry), by Manuel de Espinosa. There, it is entitled La Marcha Granadera (English: March of the Grenadiers). According to the document, Manuel de Espinosa de los Monteros is the composer.

There is a misconception that its author was Frederick II of Prussia, a great lover of music. That mistaken belief arose in 1861 when it was published as fact in the periodical La España militar (Military Spain). In 1864, Col. Antonio Vallecillo published the story in the diary El Espíritu Público (The Public Spirit), claiming a supposed Prussian origin for Marcha Real. According to Vallecillo, the anthem was a gift from Frederick II to the Count of Colomera, who was serving in the Prussian Court to learn the military tactics developed by Frederick II's army, under orders of King Charles III. In 1868, this spurious history was published in Los Sucesos, changing the beneficiary of the gift to the Count of Aranda. The myth was picked up in different publications of 1884 and 1903 until it was included in 1908 in the Enciclopedia Espasa.

In 1770, Charles III declared the Marcha de Granaderos the official Honor March, an act that formalized the tradition of playing it in public, especially on solemn occasions. It became the official Spanish anthem during Isabel II's reign.

In 1870, after the 1868 Revolution, General Juan Prim organized a national contest to create a new official state anthem, and a jury consisting of three well-known composers was chosen to designate a winning entry. Although over 400 compositions were submitted, including those written by the young composers Federico Chueca, Ruperto Chapí and Tomás Bretón, a new anthem was never selected. After extensive deliberations, the jury had advised that Marcha de Granaderos was already considered the country's official anthem, and the contest was suspended.[4] By Alfonso XIII's time, the Royal Circular Order of 27 August 1908 established the musical score orchestrated by Bartolomé Pérez Casas, Superior musician of the Royal Corps of Halberdier Guards, as the official version; it is known traditionally as the Grenadier March or the Royal Spanish March. During the Spanish Second Republic the Himno de Riego was adopted as the anthem of the republic.[5]

The actual symphonic version of the Marcha Real that replaced the Pérez Casas one was written by maestro Francisco Grau and is the official one after the Royal Decree of 10 October 1997, when the Kingdom of Spain bought the author rights of the Marcha Real, then belonging to Pérez Casas's heirs. According to the Royal Decree 1560/1997, 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.

  1. ^ https://www.europeanasounds.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/partitura1-700x546.jpg[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Spain – Marcha Real". NationalAnthems.me. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  3. ^ "Las otras letras del himno | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es.
  4. ^ Francisco Javier Molero Caminero (26 June 2019). Hasta aquí hemos llegado: Recopilación histórica de la vieja piel de toro (in European Spanish). Punto Rojo Libros S.L. p. 487. ISBN 978-84-17988-93-7.
  5. ^ María del Rosario Ruiz Mateos (21 October 2010). Manual de Protocolo General. Formación para el Empleo. EDITORIAL CEP. p. 81. ISBN 978-84-681-8473-9.

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