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The Star-Spangled Banner/Nuestro Himno (1814/1919). Francis Scott Key/Francis Haffkine Snow

From Wikipedia (after a mention in Language Log):

"Nuestro Himno" is a Spanish translation of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States. "Nuestro Himno" is Spanish for "Our Anthem"...

The song has sparked some debate because it is not an exact translation...

And yet this is not the first time that the National Anthem has been translated into another language by ethnic and immigrant groups in the United States. In 1861, it was translated into German (and is also on that page in Latin). It has been translated into Yiddish by Jewish immigrants and into French by Acadians of Louisiana. It has also been translated into Samoan...

The Wikipedia entry on The Star-Spangled Banner mentions Richard Wagner, Giacomo Puccini, Leopold Godowsky, Edwin Bagley, the musical Hair, and John Adams but not Igor Stravinsky and his arrangement for orchestra.

David Sinden weighs in with a (mostly) musical analysis of the situation:

Masculine? There are some similar melodic contours, but "Nuestro Himno" is in duple time, but ANACERON is in triple. This highly edited, artificial, celebrity-heavy performance is pompously polyphonic, not hummably homophonic.

Via Clif on the American Street, the US Library of Congress hosts a score from 1919 of a Spanish translation, arranged by conductor Walter Damrosch. And the National Anthem Project ("Restoring America’s Voice ... through Music Education! "), with honorary chairman Laura Bush, hosts a mariachi version (PDF) of same.

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Star-Spangled Banner/Nuestro Himno (1814/1919). Francis Scott Key/Francis Haffkine Snow:

» Nuestro Himno - The New National Anthem? from Catalysts & Connections
Q Mr. President, a cultural question for you. There is a version of the National Anthem in Spanish now. Do you believe it will hold the same value if sung in Spanish as in English? THE PRESIDENT: No I dont, because I think the Nati... [Read More]

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