The National Anthem of Burkina Faso

Une Seule Nuit (also known as L'Hymne de la victoire or Ditanyè) is the national anthem of Burkina Faso. It was written by the former president Thomas Sankara and adopted in 1984, when the country adopted its present name, and replaced the Hymne Nationale Voltaïque, or national anthem of Upper Volta.

Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (December 21, 1949 – October 15, 1987) was the leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. While noted for his personal charisma and praised for promoting health and women's rights, he also antagonized many vested interests in the country. He was overthrown and assassinated in a coup d'état led by Blaise Compaoré on October 15, 1987, sometimes believed to have been at the instruction of France.

A coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré made Sankara President on August 4, 1983, at the age of 33. The coup d'état was supported by Libya which was, at the time, on the verge of war with France in Chad.

Sankara saw himself as a revolutionary and was inspired by the examples of Cuba and Ghana's military leader, Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings. As President, he promoted the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (Révolution démocratique et populaire, or RDP).

The ideology of the Revolution was defined by Sankara as anti-imperialist in a speech of October 2, 1983, the Discours d'orientation politique (DOP), written by his close associate Valère Somé. His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption, promoting reforestation, averting famine, and making education and health real priorities.

In 1984, on the first anniversary of his accession, he renamed the country Burkina Faso, meaning "the land of upright people" in Mossi and Djula, the two major languages of the country. He also gave it a new flag and wrote a new national anthem (Une Seule Nuit).

The stamp above issued in 1984, features Sankara with his people on the background singing the national anthem. Parts of the lyrics are shown.

Mikael Nalbandian- Armenian Anthem Lyricist

Mikael Nalbandian (November 14 1829 – 31 March 31 (12 April) 1866) was an Armenian writer who dominated 19th century Armenian literature, author of the Armenian national anthem text.

Born in New Nakhichevan (now Rostov-on-Don area) in a family of a handicraftsman. Largely self-educated, Nalbandian initially pursued priesthood, but left it soon after, studied medicine briefly at Moscow University (1854–58) and finally succeeded in collaborating with Stepanos Nazaryan in founding of an influential periodical, Aurora Borealis (Hyusisapayl). In the years of revolutionary situation in Russia 1859–1861, Nalbandyan was one of the first of the Armenian writers to take the positions of revolutionary democracy under the influence of propaganda by Kolokol (Bell) and Sovremennik (Contemporary) magazines. He traveled widely throughout Europe: Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, London and Constantinople, as well as to India. In Constantinople, Nalbandyan created a secret revolutionary society named Party of the Young around an Armenian magazine Meghu (Bee). In London, he became close friends with A.I. Gertsen, N.P. Ogarev, and M.A. Bakunin, as well as with N.A. Serno-Solovyevich and others, participated in discussing the project of an appeal article What the People Need (a program of the soon-to-be Land and Freedom organization).

In a pamphlet Two Lines (1861), announced his political credo - to dedicate his life to the idea of people's liberation. In his main journalistic work Agriculture as the Right Way (1862), Nalbandyan criticized harshly the peasantry reform of 1861, even though he did it from the positions of community socialism. He saw a peasant revolution as the only solution for post-reform Russia. Upon return to Russia, his passionate activities led to his arrest and imprisonment in St. Petersburg by the Tsarist government in July 1862. He was imprisoned in the Alexeyevsky ravelin of Petropavlovskaya fortress. Having been accused of inciting anti-Tsarist sentiments with the distribution of "propagandist" literature, he was eventually exiled (in 1865) to Kamyshin, a remote area over 500 miles southeast of Moscow on the west bank of the Volga in the province of Saratov. He died of tuberculosis in prison a year later. It was forbidden in Russia to possess a picture of Nalbandian; but portraits of him, with his poem, "Liberty," printed in the margins, were circulated secretly.

Reform and renewal are the pinnacles of Nalbandian's literary legacy. His writing was influenced by the leading journalists that he encountered throughout his extensive travels. Nalbandian dealt with the issues of philosophy, economics, linguistics, and pedagogy. Was a follower of anthropologic materialism of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach and Nikolai Chernyshevsky and tireless propagator of natural sciences. Nalbandian's philosophy is an important state in the history of Armenian social thought. In his practical revolutionary activities, he tried to tie democratic powers of the Armenian people with the Russian liberation movement. Nalbandian is also the initiator of critical realism in Armenian literature. Nalbandian was greatly admired for his efforts in the movement towards creating a national literature that would realistically reflect the aspirations of the Armenian people.

In A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, Professor of Armenian language and literature at the University of Michigan Kevork B. Bardarkjian writes, "Nalbandian attracted attention as an outspoken publicist... whose lively and bold style, at times crude and arrogant, was almost invariably laced with irony ... In both his literary and journalistic pieces, Nalbandian emerges as an unrelenting champion of freedom and equality; a fearless opponent of despotism, imperialism, and serfdom; an interpreter of human life from materialistic positions; a tireless propagandist of enlightenment, science; and scientific approach; a believer in agriculture as the key to prosperity and independence;..." History has labeled him a Revolutionary Democrat. His poem, "Song of the Italian Girl" brought him lasting fame. It is believed, according to Bardakjian's sources, that it was borrowed and with some changes in wording was adopted as the current national anthem of Armenia (Mer Hayrenik).

Much like Khachatur Abovian, Nalbandian struggled for the introduction of the new Armenian literary language Ashkharabar instead of the dead bookish language Grabar, for which he was ostracized by clerics and reactionaries. Translated poems of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Heinrich Heine, and other poets.

Nalbandian is buried in the Holy Cross Armenian Monastery (Sourp Khatch) in Nor Nakhichevan where he was born.

Above is a stamp of Mikhael Nalbandian issued in 2005. The tab says, "Mikhael Nalbandian (1829-1866)- writer, publicist , philosopher.

The Pakistan National Anthem Composer

Abu-Al-Asar Hafeez Jalandhuri writer, poet and above all composer of the National Anthem of Pakistan. He was born in Jalandhar, Punjab, India on January 14, 1900. After independence of Pakistan in 1947, Hafeez Jullundhri moved to Lahore. Hafeez made up for the lack of formal education with self-study but he has the privilege to have some advise from the great Persian poet Maulana Ghulam Qadir Bilgrami. His dedication, hard work and advise from such a learned person carved his place in poetic pantheon.

Hafeez Jullandhuri actively participated in Pakistan Movement and used his writings to propagate for the cause of Pakistan. In early 1948, he joined the forces for the freedom of Kashmir and got wounded. Hafeez Jalandhari wrote the Kashmiri Anthem, "Watan Hamara Azad Kashmir". He wrote many patriotic songs during Pakistan, India war in 1965.

Hafeez Jullandhuri served as Director General of morals in Pakistan Armed Forces, and very prominent position as adviser to the President, Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan and also Director of Writer's Guild.

Hafeez Jullundhri's monumental work of poetry, Shahnam-e-Islam, gave him incredible fame which, in the manner of Firdowsi's Shahnameh, is a record of the glorious history of Islam in verse. Hafeez Jullandhuri wrote the national anthem of Pakistan composed by S.G.Chhagla. He is unique in Urdu poetry for the enchanting melody of his voice and lilting rhythms of his songs and lyrics. His poetry generally deals with romantic, religious, patriotic and natural themes. He chooses his themes, images and tunes from the subcontinent and his language is a fine blend of Hindi and Urdu diction, reflecting the composite culture of South Asia.

Hafeez was born in Jalandhar, India in a Rajput family. His father was Shams-ud-din who was Hafiz-e-Qur'an. He firstly studied in mosque and then got admission in some local school. He got education up to seventh class. He got no more formal education.

Recently, an Indian poet Jagannath Azad, son of Lahore-based poet Tilok Chand Mahroom, claimed that long before Hafeez Jullundhri’s lyrics were adopted as the national anthem in 1950s, Pakistan had an anthem written by him. He was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to write the anthem three days before the creation of Pakistan in 1947. After long debates on this issue in Pakistan, researchers have declined Azad's claim to be the poet of first national anthem of Pakistan. Dr Safdar Mehmood, a famous researcher in Pakistan, has written an article in 'Daily Jang' (6 June 2010), researching this topic a bit further. Based on his research, Dr Mehmood suggests that while there might be a possibility that Azad might have written a national (milli) song which was broadcast by Radio Pakistan after 1947, however, there is no evidence of Azad’s meeting with Jinnah nor of the claim that he wrote a national anthem for Pakistan which was approved by Jinnah and which was broadcast by Radio Pakistan as the new country’s national anthem. In fact, there is no record of the broadcast of Azad's anthem in the official archives of Radio Pakistan. Azad has also claimed that he was awarded 'Iqbal Medal' in 1979 by the Government of Pakistan. Again, this claim is not true as his name is not included in the governmental record of national award holders maintained by the Cabinet Division of Pakistan.

He first married in 1917, when he was seventeen years old. His first wife was his cousin "Zeenat Begum". They altogether had seven children, all of them girls and no boys. In 1939 he married for the second time with a young English woman and had one girl with her. This marriage ended in a divorce. His first wife died in 1954. In 1955 he married with Khurshid Begum. The third relation also gifted him one girl.

In 1922 – 1929 he remained the editor of a few monthly magazines namely, "Nonehal", "Hazar Dastaan", "Teehzeeb-e-Niswan", "Makhzin". His first collection of poems Nagma-e-Zar was published in 1935. After the World War II, he worked as the director of the Song Publicity Department. During this same time he wrote songs that were much liked by the public.

He died on December 21, 1982 at the age of eighty two years. He was buried in Model Town, Lahore but later on his dead body was re-buried in the tomb near Minar-e-Pakistan.

Above is a first day cover with the composer and writer issued on January 14, 2001

The National Anthem of Serbia

The Serbian anthem was adopted in 1904, after Serbia became an independent nation in the 1880s. Upon forming the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later to be called Yugoslavia) in 1918, "Boze Pravde" was retained as the anthem of the Serbs within the federation. In fact, the first anthem of the federation, in use until 1943, uses part of "Boze Pravde" in the melody to represent the Serbs of the land. After World War II, "Boze Pravde" continued to be popular with Serbs, and identified as their anthem. During the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s, Serbian areas that broke away from Croatia (Krajina) and Bosnia (Srpska) also used "Boze Pravde" upon their creation to identify themselves as a Serbian state. In August, 2004, 18 months after Yugoslavia became the new federation of Serbia and Montenegro, "Boze Pravde" was officially declared as Serbia's anthem by the Serb national assembly and was retained upon the dissolution of the union and Serbian independence in 2006.

The original lyrics, present in the former Yugoslav anthem, refer to the Serbian monarchy, which was replaced with a republican-style government in 1945. The current lyrics of the Serbian anthem replace the references to the king with references to the Serbian race. The lyrics were written by Jorvan Djordjevic, (1826-1900), founder of the Novi Sad Serbian National Theatre and the National Theatre in Belgrade. The music of the anthem is by a Slovene, Davorin Jenko.

The above stamp features the lyricist, Jorvan Djordjevic, issued in 2005 in a sheetlet composed of 8 Theater Personalities.

The National Anthem of Libya

When Libya became independent in December 1951, it was a kingdom until the overthrow of the monarchy by Moammar Qadaffi in 1969. During the time of the monarchy, the anthem "Libya, Libya, Libya" was used. The composer of the music, Mohamad Abdel Wahab, also wrote the music for the anthems of Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Allahu Akbar" (God Is Greatest) is not only the title of the present anthem of this Islamic north African state, but also the Muslim call to prayer and a statement of faith. Originally, the text and the melody were written as a battle song of the Egyptian Army during the Suez War in 1956. When Muammar Qadafi transformed Libya into a republic in 1969, he adopted this Egyptian marching song as the Libyan national anthem, as part of his ultimate goal of unity of all Arab nations.

When Qadafi broke off the relations with Egypt after Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979, the anthem was retained, but the Egyptian origin of the song is no longer mentioned by the Libyan authorities. The music was composed by Abdalla Shams El-Din and lyrics written by Mahmoud El-Sherif.

The stamp above features the anthem lyricist issued by Egypt in 2001.

Goffredo Mameli on Stamps

Goffredo Mameli (September 5, 1827 - July 6, 1849) was an Italian patriot, poet and writer, and a notable figure in the Italian Risorgimento. He is also the author of the lyrics of the current national anthem of Italy.

The son of an aristocratic Sardinian admiral, Mameli was born in Genoa where his father was in command of the fleet of the kingdom of Sardinia. At the age of seven he was sent to Sardinia, to his grandfather's, to escape the risk of cholera, but soon came back to Genoa to complete his studies.

The achievements of Mameli's very short life are concentrated in only two years, during which time he played major parts in insurrectional movements and the Risorgimento.

In 1847 Mameli joined the Società Entelema, a cultural movement that soon would have turned to a political movement, and here he became interested in the theories of Giuseppe Mazzini. Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem, Il Canto degli Italiani (music by Michele Novaro). These lyrics were used for the first time in November 1847, celebrating King Charles Albert in his visit to Genoa after his first reforms. Mameli's lyrics to a "hymn of the people"— "Suona la tromba"— were set by Giuseppe Verdi the following year.

Mameli was deeply involved in nationalist movements and some more "spectacular" actions are remembered, such as his exposition of the Tricolore (current Italian flag, then prohibited) to celebrate the expulsion of Germans in 1846. Yet, he was with Nino Bixio (Garibaldi's later major supporter and friend) in a committee for public health, already on a clear Mazzinian position. In March 1848, hearing of the insurrection in Milan, Mameli organised an expedition with 300 other patriots, joined Bixio's troops that were already on site, and entered the town. He was then admitted to Garibaldi's irregular army (really the volunteer brigade of general Torres), as a captain, and met Mazzini.

Back in Genoa, he worked more on a literary side, wrote several hymns and other compositions, he became the director of the newspaper Diario del Popolo ("People's Daily"), and promoted a press campaign for a war against Austria. In December 1848 Mameli reached Rome, where Pellegrino Rossi had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration (February 9, 1849) of the Roman Republic. Mameli then went to Florence where he proposed the creation of a common state between Tuscany and Latium.

In April 1849 he was again in Genoa, with Bixio, where a popular insurrection was strongly opposed by General Alberto La Marmora. Mameli soon left again for Rome, where the French had come to support the Papacy (Pope Pius IX had actually escaped from the town) and took active part in the combat.

In June, Mameli was accidentally injured in his left leg by the bayonet of one of his comrades. The wound was not serious, but an infection took hold, and after a time the leg had to be amputated. Mameli died of the infection on July 6, about two months before his 22nd birthday.

Above is a stamp of Mameli on his deathbed in July 1848, issued on the Centenary of the Revolution 1948.

Johannes R.Becher- East Germany Anthem Lyricist

After World War II and the division of Germany, the eastern part of the nation became a Communist republic and adopted its own anthem to distinguish them from their western neighbour. This text is not as communist-oriented as several other communist anthems are, and also references a united Germany, perhaps because the anthem first started to be in use in the "Russian sector" of Germany before it was divided into East and West. Starting in 1971, the lyrics, written by Johannes R. Becher, while still official, were rarely sung at official occassions, perhaps because the Communist leaders noticed that this anthem does not really fit to their idea of an East German state. The music was composed by Hanns Eisler.

After the popular revolution in 1989 (the high point of which was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall), the lyrics came into favour again, and the "Deutchland einig Vaterland" notion was once again the slogan of East Germany. The words were once again used poularly until the union of the two Germanys, and the last East German parliament even attempted to make "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" (Risen from Ruins) the anthem of the united Germany, but this was refused by West Germany. Therefore, the anthem was official until East and West Germany united again in 1990 into a unified Germany. (In an interesting note, it was discovered after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when a new anthem for a unified Germany was being sought, that the words to "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" fit the melody of the "Deutchlandlied".

The author and politician Johannes R. Becher was born on 22nd May 1891 And attended school in Munich, Göttingen and Ingolstadt. In 1910 he tried unsuccessfully to commi

t suicide. From 1911-1918, he studied Philology, Philosophy and Medicine in Munich, Jena and Berlin. After this period he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In 1932 he was a candidate for parliament for the Communists. After the seizure of power of the Hitler-gang he left Germany first to Prague then Paris, later Moscow. In 1934 he lost his German nationality. After the war he came back to Germany. In 1949 he wrote the text for the East German national anthem. In 1950 he was one of the founders of the Academy of Arts and Member of the East German parliament. In 1953-56 he was president of the Academy of Arts (he followed Arnold Zweig), a nd from 1954-58 he was Minister for Culture. In 1957 he lost all his political power and died in 1958.

Pacius and Runeberg on Stamps

Fredrik Pacius (March 19, 1809 Hamburg – January 8, 1891 Helsinki) was a German composer and conductor who lived most of his life in Finland. He has been called the "Father of Finnish music".

Pacius was appointed music teacher at the University of Helsinki in 1834. In Helsinki he founded a musical society, a student choir and an orchestra. In 1848 Pacius wrote the music to the poem Vårt land by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, which was to become Finland's national anthem. Pacius’s music was also used for the Estonian national anthem Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm and the Livonian national anthem Min izāmō, min sindimō.

In 1852 he composed Kung Karls jakt (The Hunt of King Charles) which was the first Finnish opera, with a libretto in the style of Romantic nationalism, like the national anthem designed to convince Finland's Grand Duke (i.e. Russia's Emperor) of the total loyalty of his subjects in Finland. The libretto was written by the author and historian Zacharias Topelius in close collaboration with the composer. His compositions also include a violin concerto, a symphony, a string quartet and several other operas.

Johan Ludvig Runeberg (5 February 1804, Jakobstad – 6 May 1877, Porvoo) was a Finnish poet, and is the national poet of Finland. He wrote in the Swedish language.

Runeberg studied first in the cities of Vaasa and Oulu, later on at the Imperial Academy of Turku, where he befriended Johan Vilhelm Snellman and Zacharias Topelius. His studies concentrated mainly on the classical languages of Latin and Greek. From 1837 onwards he lived in Porvoo, where he served as professor of Roman literature in the Gymnasium of Porvoo. He was married to his second cousin Fredrika Runeberg, née Tengström, with whom he had eight children and who wrote poems and novels, too.

Many of his poems deal with life in rural Finland. The best known of these is Bonden Paavo, (Farmer Paavo, Saarijärven Paavo in Finnish), about a smallholding peasant farmer in the poor parish of Saarijärvi and his determination, "sisu" (guts) and unwavering faith in providence in the face of a harsh climate and years of bad harvests. Three times, a frosty night destroys his crops. Every time, he mixes double the amount of bark into his bread to stave off starvation and works ever harder to dry off marsh into dryer land that would not be as exposed to the night frost. After the fourth year, Paavo finally gets a rich crop. As his wife exults, thanks God and tells Paavo to enjoy full bread made entirely out of grain, Paavo instructs his wife to mix bark into grain once more, because their neighbour's crop has been lost in a frost and he gives half of his crop to the needy neighbour.

Runeberg's most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner (The Tales of Ensign Stål, Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish) written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Swedish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden ignominiously lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire. The poem, which is composed episodically, emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns. The first poem "Vårt land" (Our Land, Maamme in Finnish) became the Finnish National Anthem. Runeberg is celebrated on 5 February each year.

Above, a souvenir sheet of Runeberg issued in 2004. Middle and below, Pacius and Runeberg, composer and anthem lyricist, semi-postal together issued in 1948.

The National Anthem of Denmark

"Derer et yndigt land" (There Is A Lovely Land) was first performed for a large gathering of Danes in 1844, and became popular quickly with the Danish people. It was adopted later that year by the Danish government as a national anthem, but not the sole national anthem. This anthem is on equal status with "Kong Christian", which is both the national and royal anthem. The music was composed by Hans Ernst Krøyer and lyrics written by Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger.

When the Danish anthem is usually performed or sung, the first verse is played in its entirety, then it is followed by the last four lines of the last verse. (This is true whether the lyrics are sung or not.)

Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (14 November 1779 – 20 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature.

He was born in Vesterbro, then a suburb of Copenhagen, on 14 November 1779. His father, a Schleswiger by birth, was at that time organist, and later became keeper, of the royal palace of Frederiksberg; he was a very brisk and cheerful man. The poet's mother, on the other hand, who was partly German by extraction, suffered from depression, which afterwards deepened into melancholy madness.

Oehlenschläger and his sister Sofia were allowed their own way throughout their childhood, and were taught nothing, except to read and write, until their twelfth year. At the age of nine, Oehlenschläger began to make fluent verses. Three years later, while walking in Frederiksberg Gardens, he attracted the notice of the poet Edvard Storm, and the result of the conversation was that he received a nomination to the college called Posterity's High School, an important institution of which Storm was the principal. Storm himself taught the class of Scandinavian mythology, and thus Oehlenschläger received his earliest bias towards the poetical religion of his ancestors.

Oehlenschläger was confirmed in 1795, and was to have been apprenticed to a tradesman in Copenhagen. To his great delight there was a hitch in the preliminaries, and he returned to his father's house. He now, in his eighteenth year, suddenly took up study with great zeal, but soon again abandoned his books for the stage, where he was offered a small position. In 1797 he made his appearance on the boards in several successive parts, but soon discovered that he possessed no real histrionic talent. The brothers Ørsted, with whom he had formed an intimacy that proved quite profitable to him, persuaded him to quit the stage, and in 1800 he entered the University of Copenhagen as a student. He was doomed, however, to disturbance in his studies, first from the death of his mother, next from his inveterate tendency towards poetry, and finally from the First Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801, which, however, inspired a dramatic sketch (April the Second 1801) which is the first thing of the kind by Oehlenschläger that we possess.

In the summer of 1802, when Oehlenschläger had an old Scandinavian romance, as well as a volume of lyrics, in the press, the young Norse philosopher, Henrik Steffens, came back to Copenhagen after a long visit to Schelling in Germany, full of new romantic ideas. His lectures at the university, in which Goethe and Schiller were revealed to the Danish public for the first time , created a great sensation. Steffens and Oehlenschläger met one day at Dreier's Club, and after a conversation of sixteen hours the latter went home, suppressed his two coming volumes, and wrote at a sitting his splendid poem Guldhornene, in a manner totally new to Danish literature. The result of his new enthusiasm speedily showed itself in a somewhat hasty volume of poems, published in 1803, now chiefly remembered as containing the lovely piece called Sanct Hansaften-Spil.

The next two years saw the production of several exquisite works, in particular the epic of Thors Reise til Jotunheim, the charming poem in hexameters called Langelandsreisen, and the bewitching piece of fantasy Aladdin (1805). At the age of twenty-six, Oehlenschläger was universally recognized, even by the opponents of the romantic revival, as the leading poet of Denmark. He now collected his Poetical Writings in two volumes. He found no difficulty in obtaining a grant for foreign travel from the government, and he left his native country for the first time, joining Steffens at Halle in August 1805. Here he wrote the first of his great historical tragedies, Hakon Jarl, which he sent off to Copenhagen, and then proceeded for the winter months to Berlin, where he associated with Humboldt, Fichte, and the leading men of the day, and met Goethe for the first time.

In the spring of 1806 he went on to Weimar, where he spent several months in daily intercourse with Goethe. The autumn of the same year he spent with Tieck in Dresden, and proceeded in December to Paris. Here he resided eighteen months and wrote his three famous masterpieces, Baldur hin Gode (1808), Palnatoke (1809), and Axel og Valborg (1810). Oehlenschläger had also made his own translation of Aladdin into German, adding some extra new material which does not appear in the 1805 edition; this revised version was published in Amsterdam in 1808. Ferruccio Busoni later used the text of this translation for the last (choral) movement of his Piano Concerto Op. 39. Later editions of Oehlenschläger's play do not contain this text.

In July 1808 he left Paris and spent the autumn and winter in Switzerland as the guest of Madame de Staël at Coppet, in the midst of her circle of wits. In the spring of 1809 Oehlenschläger went to Rome to visit Bertel Thorvaldsen, and in his house wrote his tragedy of Correggio. He hurriedly returned to Denmark in the spring of 1810, partly to take the chair of aesthetics at the University of Copenhagen, partly to marry the sister-in-law of Rahbek, to whom he had been long betrothed. His first course of lectures dealt with his Danish predecessor Johannes Ewald, the second with Schiller. From this time forward his literary activity became very great; in 1811 he published the Oriental tale of Ali og Gulhyndi, and in 1812 the last of his great tragedies, Stærkodder.

From 1814 to 1819 he, or rather his admirers, were engaged in a long and angry controversy with Baggesen, who represented the old didactic school. This contest seems to have disturbed the peace of Oehlenschläger's mind and to have undermined his genius. His talent may be said to have culminated in the glorious cycle of verse-romances called Helge, published in 1814. The tragedy of Hagbarth og Signe, (1815), showed a distinct falling-off in style. In 1817 he went back to Paris, and published Hroars Saga and the tragedy of Fostbrødrene. In 1818 he was again in Copenhagen, and wrote the idyll of Den lille Hyrdedreng and the Eddaic cycle called Nordens Guder. His next productions were the tragedies of Erik og Abel (1820) and Væringerne i Miklagaard (1826), and the epic of Hrolf Krake (1829).

His last volumes were Tordenskjold (1833), Dronning Margrethe (1833), Sokrates (1835), Olaf den Hellige (1836), Knud den Store (1838), Dina (1842), Erik Glipping (1843), and Kiartan og Gudrun (1847). On his seventieth birthday, 14 November 1849, a public festival was arranged in his honor, and he was decorated by the king of Denmark under circumstances of great pomp. He died on 20 January 1850 and was buried in the cemetery of Frederiksberg. Immediately after his death his Recollections were published in two volumes.

The stamp above features Adam Oehlenschlager, anthem lyricist, issued in 1979.

Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky on Stamps

Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky February 9 [O.S. January 29] 1783 – April 24 [O.S. April 12] 1852) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s.

He is credited with introducing the Romantic Movement to Russian literature. The main body of his literary output consists of free translations covering an impressively wide range of poets from Ferdowsi to Schiller. Quite a few of his translations proved to be more competently-written and enduring works than their originals.

Zhukovsky was born in Mishenskoe, near Tula Oblast, Russia, the illegitimate son of a Russian landowner named Afanasi Bunin (related to Ivan Bunin) and his Turkish housekeeper Salha. Salha was brought to Tula as a prisoner of the Russo-Turkish war, she was later christened as Elizaveta Demyanovna Turchaninova and had a de facto family with Bunin. He was given the surname and patronymic of a poor bourgeois Andrey Zhukovsky who formally adopted him, but was due to Bunin's influence ennobled in his own right while an infant. In his youth, he lived and studied at Moscow University's Noblemen's Pension, where he was heavily influenced by Freemasonry, English Sentimentalism, and the German Sturm und Drang. He also frequented the house of Nikolay Karamzin, the preeminent Russian man of letters and the founding editor of The European Messenger (also known in English as The Herald of Europe).

In 1802, Zhukovsky published a free translation of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" in The Messenger. The translation introduced Russian readers to his trademark sentimental-melancholy style and instantly made him a household name. Today it is cited as the starting point of Russian Romanticism. In 1808, Karamzin asked Zhukovsky to take over the editorship of the Messenger. The young poet used this position to explore Romantic themes, motifs, and genres. He was also among the first Russian writers to cultivate the mystique of the Romantic poet. He dedicated much of his best poetic work to his half-niece Masha Protasova.

In later life, Zhukovsky made a second great contribution to Russian culture as an educator and a patron of the arts. In 1826, he was appointed tutor to the tsarevich, the future Tsar Alexander II. His progressive program of education had such a powerful influence on Alexander that the liberal reforms of the 1860s are sometimes attributed to it. The poet also used his high station at court to take up the cudgels for such free-thinking writers as Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Herzen, Taras Shevchenko (Zhukovsky was instrumental in buying him out of serfdom), and the Decembrists. On Pushkin's death in 1837, Zhukovsky stepped in as his literary executor, not only rescuing his work (including several unpublished masterpieces) from a hostile censorship, but also diligently collecting and preparing it for publication. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, he nurtured the genius and promoted the career of Nikolay Gogol, another close personal friend. In this sense, he acted behind-the-scenes as a kind of impresario for the Romantic Movement that he founded. During his later years he lived mostly in Germany where he married a local girl and fathered two children, Pavel and Alexandra. Zhukovsky died in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1852, aged 69, and is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra cemetery in St. Petersburg.

According to Nabokov, Zhukovsky belonged to the class of poets who incidentally verge on greatness but never quite attain to that glory. His main contribution was as a stylistic and formal innovator who borrowed liberally from European literature in order to provide models in Russian that could inspire "original" works. Zhukovsky was particularly admired for his first-rate melodious translations of German and English ballads.

Among these, Ludmila (1808) and its companion piece, Svetlana (1813), are considered landmarks in the Russian poetic tradition. Both were free translations of Gottfried August Burger's well-known German ballad Lenore -- although each interpreted the original in a different way. Zhukovsky characteristically translated Lenore yet a third time as part of his efforts to develop a natural-sounding Russian dactylic hexameter. His many translations of Schiller -- including lyrics, ballads, and the drama Jungfrau von Orleans (about Joan of Arc) -- became classic works in Russian that many consider to be of equal if not higher quality than their originals. They were remarkable for their psychological depth and greatly impressed and influenced Dostoevsky, among many others. Zhukovsky's life's work as an interpreter of European literature probably constitutes the most important body of literary hermeneutics in the Russian language.

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Zhukovsky joined the Russian general staff under Field Marshal Kutuzov. There he wrote much patriotic verse, including the original poem, A Bard in the Camp of the Russian Warriors, which helped to establish his reputation at the imperial court. He also composed the lyrics for the national anthem of Imperial Russia, "God Save the Tsar!" After the war, he became a courtier in St. Petersburg, where he founded the jocular Arzamas literary society in order to promote Karamzin's European-oriented, anti-classicist aesthetics. Members of the Arzamas included the teenage Alexander Pushkin, who was rapidly emerging as Zhukovsky's heir apparent. The two became lifelong friends, and although Pushkin eventually outgrew the older poet's literary influence, he increasingly relied on his protection and patronage.

Following the example of his mentor Karamzin, Zhukovsky travelled extensively in Europe throughout his life, meeting and corresponding with world-class cultural figures like Goethe or the landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich. One of his early acquaintances was the popular German writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, whose prose novella Undine was a European best-seller. In the late 1830s, Zhukovsky published a highly-original verse translation of Undine that reestablished his place in the poetic avant-garde. Written in a waltzing hexameter, the work became the basis for a classic Russian ballet.

In 1841, Zhukovsky retired from court and settled in Germany, where he married Baltic German Elisabeth von Reutern, the 18-year-old daughter of an artist friend Gerhardt Wilhelm von Reutern. The couple had two children, including Alexandra, who had an affair with Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. The aged poet devoted much of his remaining life to a hexameter translation of Homer's Odyssey, which he finally published in 1849. Although the translation was far from accurate, it became a classic in its own right and occupies a notable place in the history of Russian poetry. Some scholars argue that both his Odyssey and Undina -- as long narrative works -- made an important, though oblique contribution to the development of the Russian novel.

Above, an envelope with a stamp of the anthem lyricist, Zhukovsky, issued on his Death Centenary 1952. Below a postcard with a picture of Zhukovsky.

The National Anthem of Algeria

The words to "Qassaman" (We Pledge) were written in 1956 in Serkaji-Barberousse Prison in Algiers, where the author Moufdi Zakaria was incarcerated by the French colonial forces. The poem was put into music, first by Mohamed Triki in 1956, then by the Egyptian composer Mohamed Fawzi. Originally containing five verses, the third verse containing anti-French lyrics was dropped when it became the official national anthem upon independence on July 5th 1962.

Mohamed Fawzi, (born Mohammed Fawzi Habas Elhaw in 1918 in Tanta Egypt, died 1966) was an Egyptian composer and singer. Fawzi had a beautiful voice which was inherited from his father (a Quran reciter); he began singing at weddings and other events when he was twelve years old. Soon he learned to play the flute, and he went to Cairo looking for an opportunity to sing.

Having studied Arabic music in Cairo, he started to work with Badiah Massabni, and then with Fatma Rushdi, where he performed and sung the role of Antonio. He started professionally composing music for the theatre and began a professional career working for the Egyptian Radio. Youssef Wahbi cast him in a movie called Sword of the Executioner in 1946. It was the beginning of his long career in the Egyptian movie industry; he performed in and produced more than 36 films.

Fawzi composed the national anthem of Algeria. He was a pioneer in composing songs of children, many of which are the most popular children songs in the Arab world today. Fawzi was the first to introduce the colour film laboratory to Egypt, and also music records printing factories.

Moufdi Zakaria wrote the Algerian National anthem (Kassaman) whilst in prison in 1955. He was born on June 12, 1908 c.e. He was given the nickname of Moufdi by a school friend. He was born and attended school in the Mzab region of Algeria. His university education was in Tunis where he met a number of poets including Abou el Kacem Chebbi. His first poetry was published in a Tunisian newspaper in 1925.

He became associated with Algerian nationalists and served time in prison for his beliefs in 1937 and 1938. In 1956 he was imprisoned in Serkaji-Barberousse Prison by the French for his politics. There he wrote a poem called Qassaman or The Pledge. It was said that he wrote the poem on the walls of his cell using his own blood. The poem was later set to music by Mohamed Triki in 1956 and then by Mohamed Fawzi. The final song was heard in 1957. This poem became the Algerian national anthem shortly after 5 July 1962 when independence was achieved. Zakaria died in 1977 in Tunisia but his body was buried in Algeria.

Above, an envelope with stamp featuring the score of the Algerian anthem and a picture of Zakaria, the anthem lyricist. The stamp in the middle features Mohamed Fawzi, the anthem composer, issued by Egypt in 2000. Below is a stamp of Moufdi Zakaria issued by Algeria in 2008.

The National Anthem of Monaco

Monaco's first anthem dates from 1841. The first set of lyrics were used as a marching song for the Guarde Nationale, in which the author, Theophile Bellandro, was a captain. The music by Charles Albrecht along witht he lyrics were officially adopted in 1867. In 1931 new lyrics were written in Monegasque, the native language of Monaco. The official lyrics are just one verse, and are not often sung, except at official occasions.

"A Marcia de Muneghu" (The March of Monaco) is Monaco's national anthem. Théophile Bellando de Castro wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the 1st edition of Hymne Monégasque in 1841, later Castil-Blaze modified the melody and made several other minor changes. In 1848 the National Guard, created by Prince Charles III, adopted Bellando's song and it became the March of the National Loyalists. In 1896 Charles Albrecht composed a new arrangement for piano, published by Tihebaux in Paris and called Air National de Monaco; in 1897 Decourcelle of Nice, printed an edition called 429 Hymne National de Monaco for piano.

Years later, François Bellini orchestrated the song by Albrecht; this new arrangement for a trio was judged to be too long for people in 1900 and ceased being played. The modern version was created by Léon Jehin in 1914 and was played for the first time during the 25th anniversary of the beginning Prince Albert's reign. Finally in 1931 Louis Notari wrote the lyrics in the Monegasque language. Only the Monegasque lyrics are official, reportedly dating back to a request from the Prince. The official lyrics contain only one verse. (The anthem is not usually even sung at all, except for official occasions.)

Louis Notari (Monaco, 1879-1961) Monégasque writer in French and Monégasque languages. He wrote the text of the Monaco national anthem and he is considered as the first writer in Monégasque; before him, there was just oral literature. He wrote 3 books. A legenda de Santa Devota/Santa Devota (1927) -about the legend of Saint Devota, Bülüghe munegasche (1941), Quelques notes sur les traditions de Monaco (1960).

Notari's writing in Monégasque has led to a veritable flowering of literature published in the language. A grammar and a dictionary by Louis Frolla and numerous other works, including by Georges Franzi, Louis Barral and Suzanne Simone (dictionary) Louis Canis, Jules Soccal, Lazare Sauvaigo and Robert Buisson, combine to allow this small country's own language to take its visible and permanent place among the other Romance languages.

The stamp above features Louis Notari, the anthem lyricist issued in 2000.

The National Anthem of Greenland

Greenland, the world's largest island, is a sparsely populated dependency of Denmark. It also has a local anthem used by this self-governing island which was adopted back in 1916. Since 1979, when home rule was granted, the government has also recognized the anthem used by the local kalaallit people, "Nuna asiilasooq" (The Land of Great Length). The music was composed by Jonathan Petersen (1891-1960), a Danish songwriter and lyrics written by Henrik Lund. The national anthem is "Nunarpututoqqarsuanngoravit" (Our Country, Who's Become So Old).

Henning Jakob Henrik Lund was a Greenlandic lyricist, painter and priest. He wrote the lyrics to "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit," in the indigenous Greenlandic language, an Eskimo-Aleut language.

Henrik Lund was born on 29 September 1875 in Nanortalik, a village on the southwest coast of Greenland. He grew up near a community of relocated East Greenlandic Inuit and, like m any in his family, devoted himself to work in East Greenland. Lund was of mixed Inuit and European descent, described as having Greenlandic features and bluish-grey eyes. His wife was Malene Lund, who was born in 1877 and died in 1979. He learned to love music and poetry through his family and a local German Moravian mission. His father, Isak Lund, was a head catechist and a poet, whose patriotic sentiments are evident in his works, such as the poem "Nuna Tassa Tupingnartoq" or "This Is a Wonderful Country."

After attending the Danish Lutheran seminary in Godthaab, Lund became the catechist at Angmagssalik in East Greenland in 1900. In 1909, he returned home to West Greenland. He was ordained as a pastor on October 9, 1936 at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ultimately, he became the local pastor at Narssaq.

From 1923 to 1932, Lund was elected to the South Greenland provincial council. He also painted in oils and watercolors.

Royal Anthem of Denmark click here.

Above is a stamp of Peterson, the composer issued in 1991. Below, Lund the lyricist issued in 1984.

General Juan José Cañas on Stamps

Juan José Cañas was born in 1826. He first studied in Nicaragua and later in Guatemala, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He then went on to the university to study medicine for three years. In 1848 he returned to El Salvador but left for San Francisco looking for gold. He later traveled to Nicaragua and joined the army that was fighting against the filibuster William Walker.

In Cañas we see the harmonious coexistence of three personalities: poet, military man, and diplomat. His literary output began at age 17, and includes verse, literary prose, critical works, narrations, and several articles. In poetry he is a forerunner of romanticism in El Salvador. His fame as a poet goes beyond South American borders.

He served in administrative posts as Political Governor and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. During his diplomatic career he represented El Salvador in Santiago, Chile as Plenipotentiary Minister and successfully negotiated a treaty that strengthened relations between both countries.

He was awarded many literary honors during his life. In 1882 the Colombian Academy in Bogotá designated him as foreign honorary member. He was President of the Salvadoran Academy of the Language as part of the Spanish Royal Academy. Numerous artistic organizations welcomed him as a member.

He died on January 19, 1918. His numerous poems are featured in the "Central American Poetic Gallery", in the "Guirnalda Salvadoreña" ("Salvadoran Garland") and were also published in the newspapers of his time.

The famous poet Ruben Dario called him "The Patriarch of the Central American Poetry" and Jose Marti, "Veteran of the Lyre and the Sword".

Above is a stamp of General Juan José Cañas issued in 1945

The National Anthem of El Salvador

One of the longest national anthems in existence, the Salvadoran anthem is a typical example of a "Latin American epic anthem". It was adopted as the National Song on September 15, 1879 but did not have official recognition until December 11, 1953.

The Official National Anthem was composed by an Italian composer Juan Aberle who arrived in the country at the end of the 18th Century as the Director of an Opera Company. The lyrics were written by General Juan José Cañas, an inspired poet and distinguished military that took arms with the National Army against filibusters, around the year 1856. It was composed by recommendation of President Dr. Rafael Zaldívar and was sung for the first time on September 15, 1879 at the prior National Palace by children and young students from government and private schools of the capital city, and the anthem was very well recieved after that initial performance.

Juan Aberle was Italian by birth but made of El Salvador his second country when he married a native of the city of Ahuachapan. He was born in Naples, Italy, on December 11, 1846.

Impelled by his devotion to music, he applied to the Naples Conservatory at age 11 against his parents' will. There he gained a sound knowledge of music. He later traveled to New York City where he was Opera Director for five years.

After that he decided to go on an artistic tour to the Latin American countries. During his stay in the city of Guatemala, capital city of the Republic of Guatemala, he founded the Music Conservatory in 1879. He then came to El Salvador and established the School of Music.

Because of his merits, the government named him Director of the Highest Power Band substituting the German, Carlos Malhamann, who left for World War I. He gave up this position in 1922 due to old age. He died on February 28, 1930.

His favorite instrument was the piano. He composed a great deal of chamber music and transposed opera fragments for the piano. His march "Morazan" was declared a national march on May 1, 1882. He wrote two operas, one of which was "Ivanhoe." He also wrote "Treaty of Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue".

Additionally, it is important to know that the authors received no stipend or reward from the government for their work. It wasn’t until 23 years later in 1902, when General Tomas Regalado was President of the Republic, that the Legislative Congress agreed to grant each one of them a gold medal, which was bestowed to them by the Head of the Nation in a feeling of national gratitude.

The first day cover above issued on September 14, 1979, the Centenary of the National Anthem features both the lyricist and composer.

The Star Spangled Banner- United States National Anthem

Until 1931, there was no officially proclaimed anthem of the United States, however, the song "Hail Columbia!" was used quite often in the capacity of a national anthem. (Other songs which were prominently used during the 19th century for a national anthem was "The Star Spangled Banner", and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Yankee Doodle" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (which has the same tune as the British national anthem.)) Written for the inauguration of the United States' first president, George Washington, "Hail Columbia!" is used today in the United States as an entrance song for the Vice President (much like "Hail to the Chief" is for the President.)

During the war of 1812 (on September 14, 1814), poet Francis Scott Key wrote a poem entitled "Defense of Fort McHenry", being inspired by seeing the American flag still flying amidst the battle. Key never meant for it to become a song, or a national anthem, yet after showing the poem to his brother in law Judge Joseph H Nicholson, Nicholson noticed the poem could fit the tune "To Anacraeon in Heaven", a song originally written for a gentlemen's social club in London, but gained popularity outside Great Britian, including in the United States, where by this time the tune was familiar to American ears. (The tune was also once the national anthem of Luxembourg). Key may have had this tune in mind when he wrote the poem, as an earlier poem of his was also in the same rhythym and could be set to the same tune.

The poem spread quickly across the United States, the first printing of the poem in a Baltimore paper suggested the "Anacraeon in Heaven" tune, and it stuck. A Baltimore music store owner first printed the song under the title "The Star Spangled Banner." It gained in popularity, and was made the official tune to accompany flag raisings by the secretary of the Navy in 1889. In 1916 it was ordered to be played at military and other occassions, and, due to a large public relations effort, it was officially adopted by Congress as the first official national anthem of the United States in 1931.

There are four verses to the anthem, but it is the first verse that is almost always sung. There are also state songs for each of the fifty states as well.

The first day cover with the score of the national anthem on cachet, features Francis Scott Key, the anthem lyricist. It was issued on August 1948.

The National Anthem of Gabon

Adopted upon independence in 1960, "La Concorde" was written and composed by Georges Aleka Damas. Damas had held many diplomatic posts in Gabon since the mid 1940s, and was actively involved in politics and in the formation of labour unions.

There are over forty distinct cultures in Gabon. While it is probably true that Gabon has changed more rapidly than any other African country, there is a strong sense of an ancestral "Africanness" that ties all ethnic groups together. The first stanza of the Gabonese national anthem embodies this idea:

United in concord and brotherhood,
Wake up, Gabon, dawn is upon us.
Stir up the spirit that thrills and inspires us!
At last we rise up to attain happiness.

Georges Aleka Damas (18 November 1902 – 4 May 1982) was a public figure of Gabon who composed its national anthem La Concorde. A Mpongwe born in Libreville and educated at the Ecole Montfort, he worked as a bank clerk from 1924 to 1939, then as head bookkeeper for the Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Réunis until 1959.

He first came to public attention in 1934, with a series of letters to the Etoile de l'AEF opposing special rights for the métis. In 1943, the Free French appointed him to represent Gabon in the governor-general's administrative council, a role which lasted until 1946, then from 1948 to 1954 was an advisor to the governor of Gabon. He was also active in the formation of labor unions, the CGT-Force Ouvrière, and in the politics of the territory.

He was elected to the municipal commission of Libreville in 1956, a post he held until 1963, and in 1959 represented Gabon in the Economic and Social Council of the French Community. From 1961 to 1964 he served as ambassador to the Common Market, to the Benelux countries, and to West Germany.

In April 1964 he was elected to the National Assembly, and its members selected him as president of the assembly, a role in which he served until 1975. On 29 May 1968 he was named president of the Bureau of the newly-formed Gabonese Democratic Party, the country's sole legal party, and was later its treasurer-general. Damas final role before his retirement was as advisor to President Omar Bongo, from April 1975 to 1977.

He was honored on a 90-franc postage stamp of Gabon in 1985, with his portrait in front of the score to La Concorde.

The National Anthem of Poland

The National Anthem of the Republic of Poland, also called "Jeszcze Polska nie zginela" ("Poland has not yet perished", from the first line of the lyrics) or "Piesn Legionów Polskich we Wloszech" ( "Song of the Polish Legions in Italy"), was written in July 1797 in Reggio near Bolonia by Jozef Wybicki, one of the organisers of general Jan Henryk Dabrowski's Polish Army in Italy.

The author of the melody is less clear; it is usually ascribed to Michal Kleofas Oginski, but this has not been determined with certainty. It is most likely based on an anonymous fok song, due to the unusual mazurka tempo (which is often played at a faster rate than most anthems.)

The opening line "Jeszcze Polska nie zginela" refers to the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795. The chorus "March, Dabrowski, from Italy to Poland" refers to the Polish legions, who were all wiped out in the Caribbean while members of Napoleon's troops.

Its familiar mazurka melody and its message - a call to join the fight for independence - inspired numerous 19th century patriotic songs and national hymns of the Slavonic nations under foreign rule (some of which would later become Yugoslavia, which could explain the similar melody of the former Yugoslav anthem.) The opening line of the lyrics were also borrowed by Ukraine (which, of course, speaks of the Ukraine not perishing rather than Poland.) In the early years after Poland's revival in 1918, during the debate about the choice of the national anthem, several candidates were considered. On February 28th 1927 the choice of "Dabrowski's Mazurek" as the national anthem was officially announced.

Above is a souvenir sheet of the anthem lyricist Wybicki issued in 1997

The Colombian Anthem Lyricist

Rafael Wenceslao Núñez Moledo was a Colombian author, lawyer, journalist and politician, who was elected President of Colombia in 1880 and in 1884. Rafael Núñez was born in Cartagena de Indias, on September 28, 1825. He died in Cartagena on September 18, 1894.

Little is known about the early years of Rafael Núñez. It is known that he served as a Circuit Judge in Chiriquí, Panama in 1848. Rafael Núñez married Soledad Román, the love of his life, a lady of Cartagena.

In 1848, Rafael Núñez founded in Cartagena, Colombia, the newspaper “La Democracia”, with the intention of promoting the presidential election of General José María Obando, as successor to José Hilario López. That same year he was appointed as Chief of Staff in Cartagena's government, and thus beginning his political life. In 1853 he was elected as MP to the Colombian Congress. In 854 he was elected Governor of the department of Bolívar. Between 1855-1857, during the government of Manuel María Mallarino, he served as Minister of the Treasury and Minister of War (nowadays called Minister of Defense).

In 1855 he published his first volume of political essays, under the name of "La Federación". Later, under the government of Mosquera, he served as Minister of the Treasury. After representing Colombia in the Ríonegro Treaty, he travelled abroad. He first lived in New York City for two years. Than he represented Colombia as a Diplomat in Le Havre and later he was appointed as the Colombian Consul in Liverpool.

He returned to Colombia in 1876 at the center of a political fight. He had been nominated as a candidate for the presidency in 1875, but did not win the election. Five years later he was elected President of Colombia for the 1880-1882 presidential term. Again, in 1884, he was re-elected President of Colombia, with the support of the Conservative Party.

He was the force behind La Regeneración (Regeneration) movement of 1884 and the new Constitution for Colombia of 1886. The Constitutional reform of 1886, carried out with the collaboration of Miguel Antonio Caro, is possibly the most outstanding political performance of Núñez. This constitution, with some later modifications, was essentially in effect until the proclamation of a new one in 1991.

From 1878 to 1888 he wrote hundreds of influential articles related to the constitutional reform for the newspapers 'La Luz' and 'La Nación' of Bogota, and 'El Porvenir' and 'El Impulso' of Cartagena. He also wrote the lyrics for the Colombian national anthem.

He was again re-elected to be President of Colombia in 1886 and in 1892, although he did not take office for his last term. Rather, his Vice-President, Miguel Antonio Caro was sworn in as President for the presidential tern of 1892-1898.

During his first administration, Rafael Núñez restores peace and order. He allowed the Catholic Bishops, who were in exile, to return to the country. He created the Military Academy and the National Academy of Music. He inaugurated the international telegraph service. He re-established diplomatic relationships with Spain, which had been severed since the War of Independence. And he signed international treaties of commerce and cultural exchange with France and Great Britain.

During his second administration, Rafael Núñez sponsored, championed and enacted a mayor and fundamental overhaul of the nation’s political structure, which ended with the adoption and enactment of the new Constitution of the Republic of Colombia, which came to be known as the Constitution of 1886.

The stamp above features Rafael Núñez, Colombian anthem lyricist issued in 1886.

The National Anthem of Germany

The text of the anthem has been written in 1841 by the liberal poet and professor August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, using the melody of the Austrian imperial anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (God save Franz our Emperor), which has been composed by the famous classical composer Joseph Haydn in 1797 and which appears in his "Emperor Quartet". Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote his text on the small island of Helgoland off the Northwest German coast, which at that time was under British rule.

He had been deported from the Kingdom of Hannover because of his liberal ideas, which included the demand to establish Germany as a unified nation. Consequently, the first verse of the "Lied der Deutschen", beginning with the words "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" (Germany, Germany above all) was originally meant as an appeal that the idea of a unified Germany should be more important than the many particular principalities which existed at that time.

However, when Germany became a united country in 1871, the "Lied der Deutschen" was ignored officially, rather the the former Prussian royal anthem "Heil Dir im Siegerkranz" was used unofficially. Although Germany had been proclaimed a Republic on 9th November 1918 upon its defeat in World War I, it needed nearly four years until "Lied der Deutschen" was declared the new national anthem by the social democratic President Friedrich Ebert on August 11th, 1922, although it was used on state occasions in the intervening years. At that time, all three verses were used.

The anthem was even retained when the Nazis seized power in 1933, however the first verse of Hoffmann von Fallersleben's song was misused as a slogan that Germany should rule "above all" other countries, Haydn's classical melody was changed into a military march, and the anthem was added with the party song of the Nazi party, the Horst Wessel Lied. In 1945, the use of all national symbols of Nazi Germany, including the "Lied der Deutschen" was prohibited by the Allies.

In 1945, Germany was governed by the Allied powers and thus had no official anthem. And when West and East Germany were founded in 1949, initially neither state wished to use the "Lied der Deutschen" because of its association with the Nazi government and its misuse of the sentiment in the lyrics.

After Germany had become reunified on 3rd October 1990, Federal President Richard von Weizsaecker confirmed in a letter to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, dated 19th August 1991, that the third verse of Hoffmann von Fallersleben's "Lied der Deutschen" (Song of the Germans) with Joseph Haydn's melody are the official national anthem of the reunified Germany. Contrary to popular belief, no stanza is currently forbidden to be sung, however, only the third stanza is the official national anthem. The regions of Germany also have their own local anthems, some have been used for centuries, some are new inventions after the war.

The stamp above features Haydn issued in 1959, the anthem composer. Below is a stamp of Fallersleben, the lyricist issued in 1991.