National Anthem of the Dominican Republic

Quisqueyanos Valientes
English: Valiant Quisqueyans
National anthem of
 Dominican Republic
Lyrics Emilio Prud'Homme
Music José Rufino Reyes Siancas
Adopted 1934
Music sample
Quisqueyanos valientes

Quisqueyanos valientes ("Valiant Quisqueyans") is the national anthem of the Dominican Republic. Its music was composed by José Rufino Reyes Siancas (1835-1905), and its lyrics were written by Emilio Prud'Homme (1856-1932). The first public performance of Himno Nacional (English: "National Anthem") took place on August 17, 1883 at the Masonic Lodge "Esperanza No.9" ("Esperanza" means "Hope" in Spanish).

The music was an instant success, but the original lyrics were questioned by several Dominican scholars, due to factual errors in the words. In 1897 Prud'homme submitted a corrected version, which stands today.

With the new lyrics approved by mostly everybody, the Dominican Congress adopted Himno Nacional as the official national anthem, after heated debates, on June 7, 1897. President Ulises Heureaux (1846-1899) vetoed the act, however, because Prud'homme was an opponent of his government. Heureaux was murdered in 1899 and the political disorders of the following years prevented the officialization of the anthem.

Himno Nacional was finally adopted as the national anthem of the Dominican Republic on May 30, 1934.

The term 'Dominican' never appears in the anthem. Prud'homme consistently uses the poetic term Quisqueyano or Quisqueya referring to the term that the Indians used to call the island before the arrival of Europeans.

Spanish Version

Quisqueyanos valientes, alcemos
Nuestro canto con viva emoción,
Y del mundo a la faz ostentemos
Nuestro invicto glorioso pendón.
Salve el pueblo que intrépido y fuerte,
A la guerra a morir se lanzó
Cuando en bélico reto de muerte
Sus cadenas de esclavo rompió.
Ningún pueblo ser libre merece
Si es esclavo indolente y servil;
Si en su pecho la llama no crece
Que templó el heroísmo viril.
Mas Quisqueya la indómita y brava
Siempre altiva la frente alzará:
Que si fuere mil veces esclava
Otras tantas ser libre sabrá.
Que si dolo y ardid la expusieron
De un intruso señor al desdén,
¡Las Carreras! ¡Beler!... campos fueron
Que cubiertos de gloria se ven.
Que en la cima de heroíco baluarte,
De los libres el verbo encarnó,
Donde el genio de Sánchez y Duarte
A ser libre o morir enseñó.
Y si pudo inconsulto caudillo
De esas glorias el brillo empañar,
De la guerra se vio en Capotillo
La bandera de fuego ondear.
Y el incendio que atónito deja
De Castilla al soberbio león,
De las playas gloriosas le aleja
Donde flota el cruzado pendón.
Compatriotas, mostremos erguida
Nuestra frente, orgullosos de hoy más;
Que Quisqueya será destruida
Pero sierva de nuevo, jamás.
Que es santuario de amor en cada pecho
De la patria se siente vivir;
Y es su escudo invencible, el derecho;
Y es su lema: ser libre o morir.
Libertad que aún se yergue serena
La victoria en su carro triunfal.
Y el clarín de la guerra aún resuena
Pregonando su gloria inmortal.
¡Libertad! Que los ecos se agiten
Mientras llenos de noble ansiedad
Nuestros campos de gloria repiten
¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!

English Translation

Brave Quisqueyans,
Let’s raise our song with vivid emotion,
From the world to the face of the earth
Show our unconquered glorious banner.
Hail, the nation who strong and intrepid,
Into war launched itself set to die
When war threatened with death
Its chains of slavery still it cut off.
No nation deserves to have freedom
If it’s a slave, apathetic, or servile;
If in its chest the flame stirred
By man’s heroism doesn’t grow.
But Quisqueya the brave and indomitable
Always proudly her forehead will raise:
For if she were a thousand times a slave
This many times to be free she will know.
And if fraud and cunning exposed her
To disdain of an intrusive man,
Las Carreras! Beler!...were fields
Which covered in glory were seen.
At the top of our heroic bastion,
Word of the free was materialized,
Where the genius of Sanchez and Duarte
Taught us to be free or to die.
And if could inconsiderate leader
Reduce the luster of these glories,
Of the war seen in Capotillo
The banner of fire waves on.
And the fire that leaves shocked
The arrogant lion from Castile,
Removes it from glorious beaches to
Where floats the banner that’s crossed.
Compatriots, let’s show erect our
Forehead, proud of today for;
Quisqueya will be destroyed
But slave again, never.
That she is a sanctuary of love
Lives in every chest of the country;
It is her invincible shield, the law;
It is her motto: Be free or die.
Liberty that still serenely lifts up
Victory in her triumphal carriage.
The trumpet of war still resounds
Proclaiming her immortal glory
Liberty! Let the echoes agitate
While full of noble anxiety
Our battlefields of glory repeat
Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!

--DailyG56 (talk) 22:29, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

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