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)

External links

• - Himnuszok Corus Official Ceremonial version of the national anthem of Dominican Republic
• [1] The most used version of the national anthem of Dominican Republic.
• [2] The instrumental version.