God Save the Tsar!
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"God Save the Tsar!" (Russian: Боже, Царя храни!) was the national anthem of the late Russian Empire. The song was chosen from a competition held in 1833. The composer was violinist Prince Alexei Fyodorovich Lvov, and the lyrics were by the Romantic court poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It served until 1917, when the Russian Revolution overthrew the Tsarist monarchy and adopted first The Marseillaise and then The Internationale as the new national anthem.
The melody can be heard in the 1812 Overture, Marche Slave, "Hail, Pennsylvania!" (which was the alma mater of the University of Pennsylvania), "God, the Omnipotent!"; "Firm Bound in Brotherhood", the official song of the Order of the Arrow, uses the same melody with different lyrics. Likewise, the alma mater of Macalester College "Dear Old Macalester" is sung to the same tune. During the Soviet era, authorities altered Tchaikovsky's music (such as the 1812 Overture and Marche Slave), substituting other patriotic melodies for "God Save the Tsar."
Maurice Jarre's score for the film Doctor Zhivago quotes this song in several tracks, most notably the Overture.
Last 1998, a writer and musician named Alexander Gradsky proposed using the song, again as its anthem, but its lyrics is substantially different from the original lyrics written by Vasily Zhukovsky.
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[edit] Lyrics
[edit] Russian
- Боже, Царя храни!
- Сильный, державный,
- Царствуй на славу, На славу нам!
- ( 2x :)
- Царствуй на страх врагам,
- Царь православный.
- Боже, Царя, Царя храни!
- ( 2x :)
[edit] Transliteration
- Bozhe, Tsarya khrani!
- Sil'nyj, derzhavnyj,
- Tsarstvuj na slavu, Na slavu nam!
- ( 2x :)
- Tsarstvuy na strakh vragam,
- Tsar' pravoslavnyj.
- Bozhe, Tsarya, Tsarya khrani!
- ( 2x :)
[edit] English translation (literal)
- O God, save the Tsar!
- Strong and majestic,
- Reign for glory, For our glory!
- ( 2x :)
- Reign to foes' dismay,
- O Orthodox Tsar.
- God, save the Tsar, Save the Tsar!
- ( 2x :)
[edit] English translation (singable)
- God save the noble Tsar!
- Long may he live in pow'r,
- In happiness,
- In Peace to reign!
- ( 2x :)
- Dread to his enemies,
- Faith's sure defender,
- God save the tsar!
- ( 2x :)
[edit] External links
- Russian Anthems museum has several downloadable audio recordings of "God Save the Tsar", as well as an autograph score and lyrics handwritten by Lvov and Zhukovsky.
