Francisco José Debali (26 July 1791 – 13 January 1859), born Debály Ferenc József, was a Hungarian-born composer who emigrated to Uruguay in 1838. He authored the

national anthem of Uruguay The "" (), also known by its incipit "Orientales, la Patria o la Tumba" (), is the longest national anthem in terms of duration with 105 bars of music. When performed in its entirety, the anthem lasts about four-and-a-half to six minutes, althou ...

and, possibly, the tune to ''

Paraguayos, República o Muerte The "Paraguayan National Anthem" () was officially adopted on 20 May 1846. The lyrics were written by Francisco Acuña de Figueroa under the presidency of Carlos Antonio López, who at the time delegated Bernardo Jovellanos and Anastasio Gonzále ...

'', which became the Paraguayan anthem. (See National Anthem of Uruguay#Music.)

Name

As ethnic Hungarian, his original Eastern order name was Debály Ferenc József. His Christian names were later in Uruguay translated into the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

version, but his surname is known to be spelled as Debali, de Bali, Debáli, Debály and Debally.

Life

He was an Austrian subject born in

Oltenia Oltenia (), also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions – with the alternative Latin names , , and between 1718 and 1739 – is a historical province and geographical region of Romania in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Da ...

("Lesser Wallachia").This place is given b
''Magyar múlt Dél-Amerikában, 1519-1900''
by László Szabó (Európa, 1982), quoting from Debali's emigration document. This seems to be a Hungarian name of a place that lies now in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and is known by a Romanian name. The Hungarian original gives "Oláhország" as the administrative region in which this place is located. Oláhország is nowadays often used in Hungarian synonymously with "Havasalföld", meaning

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

. Havasalföld means "Snowy Mountains" (

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

), and Oláhország means "Land near the Olt river" (Oltenia), the two regions which make up

. It has been suggested to identify "Kinséen" as either

Chinteni Chinteni (formerly known as ''Chintău'';;; ) is a commune in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of nine villages: Chinteni, Deușu (''Diós''), Feiurdeni (''Fejérd''), Măcicașu (''Magyarmacskás''), Pădureni (''Fejérdi fogadó ...

, which has a similar pronunciation, but lies in

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, the region which lies north of Oltenia; or

Câineni Câineni is a commune located in Vâlcea County, Oltenia, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to ...

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) that lies in south-central Romania. Located in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt (river), Olt River), it i ...

, which actually lies in Oltenia; but no source confirming either of these places has been found yet. Many other sources state "Kinnen" or "Kineen" as birthplace which seems to be an approximate Hungarian phonetic transcription of the Romanian name of Câineni. He played the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

. In 1820, he went abroad to pursue his musical career in the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

. There, in

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

, he married Magdalena Bagnasco, from

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. They had several children, some of which were born in Uruguay. After a short stay at

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, from which he departed due to a yellow fever epidemic, he arrived in Uruguay in 1838. Here he was the director of the orchestra at the ''Sala de Comedias'' in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

from 1841-48.

National Anthem of Uruguay

In 1845 he composed what would be adopted three years later as the Uruguayan national anthem, to a text by

Francisco Acuña de Figueroa Francisco Esteban Acuña de Figueroa (September 3, 1791 – October 6, 1862) was a Uruguayan poet and writer. He was born in Montevideo, on September 3, 1791 and died on October 6, 1862. He was the son of the Treasurer of the Royal Treasury, Jac ...

. It was played for the first time in public on July 19, 1845. Fernando Quijano, his assistant, who had submitted the composition to the government's selecting contest, was credited with the authorship because of Debali's failure to grasp the content, in the Spanish language, of the governmental decree that adopted his composition as the country's anthem.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debali, Francisco José Hungarian male composers Hungarian male conductors (music) Uruguayan composers Male composers Music of Uruguay Composers from the Austrian Empire Emigrants from the Austrian Empire Immigrants to Uruguay National anthem writers 1791 births 1859 deaths Uruguayan people of Hungarian descent 19th-century male musicians