not sure if this goes here, but whilst searching for the lyrics (as most swiss probably need to) that the swiss anthem's melody up until 1980's was the same melody for "God Save the Queen"
Does anyone (swiss members) remember this? pretty interesting i would think. And apparently Liechstenstein still uses this GSTQueen melody, and at a recent football match, GSTQueen was played twice (once for England, i assume, and once for Liechstenstein)
i find this pretty interesting (and the new anthem, i like, actually, though it does sound hymnlike which is what is originally was)
According to Wikipedia: Swiss_Psalm the new anthem was made official in 1961. My parents grew up in the 1960/70s, they knew the old Heil Dir Helvetia but haven't learned it in school. Nowadays the old national anthem is sung mostly by nationalists, a fate shared by quite a few other former national anthems.
yes I do remember , but I though the brit. had the same anthem as we hade haha My wife knows the swiss anthem better then I do,and she is brit.this is because she gets up erlier then I do "Tritts im Morgen rot daher "
My (Swiss) wife remembers this well. During the 60’s she went to the UK as an au pair. Feeling rather home sick on the 1st August she went to a local beach where a brass band played God Save The Queen. She was so impressed that she went to the leader and thanked him for playing the Swiss national anthem. He gave her a rather puzzled look !
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My (Swiss) wife remembers this well. During the 60’s she went to the UK as an au pair. Feeling rather home sick on the 1st August she went to a local beach where a brass band played God Save The Queen. She was so impressed that she went to the leader and thanked him for playing the Swiss national anthem. He gave her a rather puzzled look !
not sure if this goes here,
my swiss husband (whom i forcedly made sing the swiss national anthem yesterday)
discovered, whilst searching for the lyrics (as most swiss probably need to) that the swiss anthem's melody up until 1980's was the same melody for "God Save the Queen"
Does anyone (swiss members) remember this? pretty interesting i would think. And apparently Liechstenstein still uses this GSTQueen melody, and at a recent football match, GSTQueen was played twice (once for England, i assume, and once for Liechstenstein)
i find this pretty interesting (and the new anthem, i like, actually, though it does sound hymnlike which is what is originally was)
yes I do remember , but I though the brit. had the same anthem as we hade haha My wife knows the swiss anthem better then I do,and she is brit.this is because she gets up erlier then I do "Tritts im Morgen rot daher "
Yes and no... I remember very clearly of a visit of the Swiss President to our school in 1961 (yes, I am an old lady...well...): we had first learned The "God Save the Queen" Swiss version, which was not the official anthem, but a patriotic song often played at official events (there was no official anthem in those days):
"O monts indépendants,
Répétez nos accents,
Nos libres chants.
A toi patrie,
Suisse chérie,
Le sang, la vie
De tes enfants."
In 1961, the present anthem (Cantique suisse, 1841) was chosen as a provisory Swiss Anthem. In 1979, there was a competition for an official anthem, but none of the songs presented seemed to be convincing enough and the provisory anthem (yes, that boring song which puts you to sleep even after a stron ristretto) became the official one in 1981 (we, Swiss, are know for our quick reactions, aren't we?).
In 1961, my class had to learn the - then - provisory anthem within 2 days - all of it...yeuk...- for that special visit (a proof that we can do things fast when we want/have to)!
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Yet another really interesting thread... my dad (a Brit with a Swiss Dad) always told us kids (also British but Swiss citizens, thanks paternal grandad) that the anthems were the same. I and probably he had no idea it had been changed in the 60s.
The First 1st August we spent here was in 1989 and heard the anthem and I remember thinking to myself that it wasn't GSTQ. Must tell my dad this!
And apparently Liechstenstein still uses this GSTQueen melody, and at a recent football match, GSTQueen was played twice (once for England, i assume, and once for Liechstenstein)
Finland and Estonia also both have the same melody for their national anthem, just different words....but I'm sure everyone here knew that allready
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The official explanation:
:
The Estonian national anthem "My Native Land..." is a choral-like melody arranged by a Finnish composer of German origin Fredrik Pacius in 1843. In Estonia, Johann Voldemar Jannsen's lyrics were set to this melody and sung at the first Estonian Song Festival in 1869. It gained in popularity during the growing national movement. In Finland, it first became popular only as a students' song , but soon also became more widely accepted. When both Estonia and Finland became independent after the First World War this identical melody with different words was recognized as the national anthem by both nations. Officially, Estonia adopted it in 1920, after the War of Independence. During the decades of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, the melody was strictly forbidden and people were sent to Siberia for singing it. However, even during the worst years the familiar tune could be heard over Finnish radio, every day at the beginning and end of the program. Thus, the melody could never be forgotten. With the restoration of Estonian independence, the national anthem has, of course, been restored too.
yes I do remember , but I though the brit. had the same anthem as we hade haha My wife knows the swiss anthem better then I do,and she is brit.this is because she gets up erlier then I do "Tritts im Morgen rot daher "
Usually sung as "Trittst im im Morganrock" (Dressing gown - Swiss humour) - and you can hear it here:
"Heil Dir Helvetia
Hast noch der Söhne ja
Wie sie Sankt Jakob sah
Freudvoll zum Streit!"
which is the melody from this part of "god save the queen":
"Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!"
And I was always wondering what she sung... And one day, as I finally asked her, she explained that this was the real Swiss National anthem and that one day, the "Engländer" had vorbidden us to use it (which naturally isn't true, but maybe she was told so ) because it had the same melody than their anthem. The text is very patriotic and martial. The current one ("trittst im Morgenrock daher") is much more "church orientated", like a hymn...
The text is very patriotic and martial. The current one ("trittst im Morgenrock daher") is much more "church orientated", like a hymn...
Granny’s are often right. A good national anthem should be stirring. Good national anthems emphasise:
Fatherland/motherland/brotherhood
God
Might
Blood/sacrifice/readiness to lay down one's life
Victory/glory
Weak national anthems focus on wishy washy concepts like
Surviving
Being free
Nature’s bounty/resouces
Spangly stuff
Hymns make excellent tunes. Good lyrics can be wasted by a weak tune. I personally can’t take the French anthem seriously because of it’s "tum te tum tum tum tum tum tee tum" beat. It might reduce your average Frenchman to tears but let's face it that's not much of a challenge.
I say this as an Englishman who thinks God Save the Queen is pretty poor compared to "Land of Hope and Glory", "Jerusalem" and "I Vow To Thee My Country" which would make much better anthems for a country with a past. The German and Russian anthems also do the stuff for me.