The Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States. This sheet music was printed in 1814 and is the first edition to combine the words and the sheet music.

This is a list of anthems by country. An anthem is "a song or hymn formally adopted as the anthem for a nation".^[1] A hymn can become a country's national anthem by a provision in the country's constitution, by a law enacted by its legislature, or simply by tradition.^[2] The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style.^[2] A royal anthem is a patriotic song that is much like a national anthem, but it specifically praises or prays for a monarch or royal dynasty. Such anthems are usually performed at public appearances by the monarch or during other events of royal importance.^[3] Some countries also have the royal anthem as the national anthem.

The usage of anthems increased among European countries during the 18th and 19th centuries;^[4] the oldest national anthem is "Het Wilhelmus", the Dutch national anthem, written between 1568 and 1572.^[5] "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom, was first performed in 1745 under the title "God Save the King".^[6] "La Marseillaise", the French anthem, was written in 1792 and adopted in 1795.^[7]

National anthems are usually in the most common language of the country, whether de facto or official. For instance India's anthem, Jana Gana Mana is a highly Sanskritized version of Bengali where although neither languages are most common (Sanskrit is seldom used in Morden-day India beyond religious functions while Bengali is used in mainly eastern/north eastern Indian states), both are official languages.^[8] States with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem: For instance, Switzerland's anthem has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages (French, German, Italian and Romansh).^[9] On the other hand, South Africa's national anthem is unique in that five of the eleven official languages are used in the same anthem (each language comprising a stanza).^[10] Another multilingual country, Spain, has no words in its anthem, La Marcha Real, although in 2007 a national competition to write words was launched.^[11] Widespread public criticism forced the new lyrics to be withdrawn, in January 2008.^[12]

See also

• Anthem
• List of anthems
• List of patriotic songs
• National flag
• Royal anthem

References

General

• Bristow, Michael Jamieson (2006-10-28). National Anthems of the World. Cassell. ISBN 0304368261. 
• Hang, Xing (2003-09-28). Encyclopedia of National Anthems. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810848473. 
• Leonard, Hal (1996-01-01). National Anthems from Around the World. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0793560799. 

Specific