The essayist Juan Leon Mera In 1865 he was asked to write the text of the hymn, after failed attempts by other authors such as the poet José Joaquin de Olmedo. Mera was secretary of the Senate at the time. The full version was published in a weekly magazine of that time and There was some criticism of the lyrics..

The letter was sent to Frans Antonio Neumane, who lived in Guayaquil, so that he eventually surrendered to the Congress that approved the music. After continuing disagreements in the letter, on September 29, 1948, The National Congress declared the national anthem official and Mera’s composition elusive.

In March 1977, the Military Junta, chaired by Alfredo Poveda, ordered the deletion of several stanzas to make them less extensive and easier to interpret for citizens. Therefore, only the chorus and the first verse are sung.

In 2001, the Congressional resolution declaring the official nature and elusiveness of the music and lyrics of the anthem was published in the Official Register, with the key of E major in the introduction, chorus, verse, and chorus. In 2008, the Cultural Heritage Institute included the national anthem on the country’s list of intangible heritage through an administrative resolution.

Ana Villamil Ycaza, enthusiastic composer who left her mark on the hymn until October 9, 1820

Guayaquil Bicentennial: Who composed the hymn for October 9, 1820

Anti-Hispanic tone

One of the aspects that influenced the writing of the lyrics of the national anthem is that Ecuador, like other countries in the region, was officially at war with Spain. A fleet had been sent from the Iberian country to attack Chile and Peru, in the context of the Spanish-South American War, and it was feared that the punitive expedition of Madrid had the desire to reconquer the countries of the Pacific coast , the Center writes. of Historical Studies of the Ecuadorian Army (CEHE).

The chorus of the anthem describes the Ecuadorian homeland and its attributes. It starts with a greeting in Roman style: “Hail O country, a thousand times, O country, glory to you‘, and then describes it as a land of peace and happiness: ‘your chest is already overflowing with joy and peace’, while he refers to the equinogal sun and the ancient pre-Hispanic beliefs of sun worship, when he says: ‘and your radiant forehead, more like we see the sun shining.”

The decidedly anti-Spanish tone begins in the first stanza, which, referring to colonial times, reads: “the unjust and terrible accident that weighed fatally on you”. Several stanzas are written with this anti-Hispanic accent, but there is no direct allusion to pre-Hispanic cultures in the hymn: but exclusively to the wars of independence. Likewise, the anthem reiterates Ecuador’s pacifist nature, as the war it invokes is solely in defense of its freedom and sovereignty, and never aggression or conquest.

CHORUS

Hail, O Fatherland, a thousand times! O fatherland!

glory to you! Your chest is already overflowing

joy and peace, and your radiant brow

More than the sun we think of as shining.

STANZAS

Jo

Your children are indignant at the yoke

that the Iberian daring has imposed on you,

of the unjust and terrible accident

that weighs heavily on you,

holy voice raised to heaven,

voice of a noble and matchless oath,

to take revenge on the bloody monster,

to break that yoke of servitude.

II

The first children of the soil

that, fantastic; Pichincha decorates

they greeted you forever ma’am

and they shed their blood for you.

God looked and accepted the Holocaust,

and that blood was a fertile germ

of other heroes who went into the world in amazement

He saw thousands appear around you.

III

From these heroes to the iron arm

nothing had made the earth invincible,

and from the valley to the highest mountain range

the roar of battle could be heard;

after the battle victory flew,

freedom after the triumph came,

and the destroyed lion could be heard

of powerlessness and resentment.

IV

At last the Spanish ferocity gave way,

and today, O fatherland, your free existence

It is the noble and beautiful inheritance

which he gave us, happy heroism;

from fatherly hands we had it,

no one is trying to take it from us now,

neither our wrath stirs up an avenger

will, foolishly or audaciously, against itself.

V

No one, oh Homeland, try. The shadows

of your glorious heroes, look at us,

and the courage and pride they inspire

They are omens of triumphs for you.

Come the iron and the fulminating lead,

that on the idea of ​​war and revenge

the heroic power awakens

that made the fierce Spaniard succumb.

SAW

And when new chains are preparing

the injustice of barbaric happiness,

great Pichincha! do you foresee death?

of the land and its children at last;

immediately sinks into your deep intestines

How much exists in your country: the tyrant

trace only ashes and in vain

look for traces of presence with you.

How to sing the national anthem