"Our Fatherland" is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. It was arranged by Parsegh Ganatchian; the lyrics were written by Mikayel Nalbandian. First adopted in 1918 as the anthem of the short-lived

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent History of Armenia, Armenian state that existed from May (28th ''de jure'', 30th ''de facto'') 1918 to 2 December 1920 in ...

, it was subsequently banned after the country was invaded by then incorporated into the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

and the restoration of sovereignty in 1991, the song was re-adopted as the national anthem, albeit with slightly modified lyrics.

History

Composition

The lyrics of "Our Fatherland" were derived from " The Song of an Italian Girl" ( ), a poem written by Mikael Nalbandian in 1859 and published in 1861. In the early 20th century, the music was composed by Parsegh Ganatchian. Subsequently, both the lyrics (with changes) and music were adopted as the national anthem of the

, which briefly existed from 1918 to 1920.

Soviet era

In November 1920, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

invaded Armenia, in spite of the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

– which granted the country international recognition as a

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

– having been signed only three months earlier. In 1922, it was absorbed into the

Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , image_flag = Flag of the Transcaucasian SFSR (variant).svg , flag_type = Flag(1925–1936) , image_coat = Emblem of the Transcaucasian SFSR (1930-1936).svg , symbol_type = Emblem(1930–1936) ...

(TSFSR), together with

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and the TSFSR subsequently became part of the

at the end of that same year. As a symbol of

Armenian nationalism Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823) and generally defined as the creation of a free, independent and united Armenia formulated as the Armenian Cause ( ). Armenia ...

, the song "Our Fatherland" was outlawed by the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

authorities. In its place, the Anthem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was utilized from 1944 onwards. Because of this, "Our Fatherland" took on a new status as a

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

against Soviet rule during this time.

Restoration of sovereignty and beyond

Following the

, the song "Our Fatherland" was reinstated as Armenia's national anthem on 1 July 1991 by the constituent republic's Supreme Soviet. The lyrics are not identical to the 1918 version, however, because several words have been modified. As an intrinsic element of civic education in Armenia, the anthem is one of several national symbols which are featured in classrooms of the country's schools. By dignifying the song in this manner, teachers reckon that this "encourage students to sing the national anthem every day". A debate of the national anthem was a question in the Armenian Parliament in 2006 and in 2019. The new government had called for the restoration of the Soviet era anthem with newer lyrics in its place. The Italian violist Marco Misciagna composed the "Introduction and Variations on Mer Hayrenik” for viola solo, and in 2018, he played it during a concert at the Komitas Chamber Music House.

Lyrics

The lyrics of the national anthem promotes the worthiness of "dying for the freedom" of Armenia. Its discussion of death, however, has led several commentators to complain that the anthem is overly "wimpy" and "gloomy". Specifically, some members of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

are of the opinion that the song – written at the time of the first fight for independence – does not accurately reflect the present era of triumph and success. However, none of the proposals to replace "Our Fatherland" have come to fruition, as the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenians, Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, Literal translation, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalist a ...

(Dashnaktsutyun) – which were part of the coalition government – have so far resisted efforts to change the national anthem, especially

proposals Proposal(s) or The Proposal may refer to: * Proposal (business) * Research proposal * Marriage proposal * Proposition, a proposal in logic and philosophy Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Proposal'' (album), an album by Ransom & Statik Se ...

to replace it with one based on the music of the anthem of the Armenian SSR.

Current version

Original version

The national anthem is based on the first, third, fourth and sixth stanzas of Nalbandian's poem "The Song of an Italian Girl". The original text uses Classical spelling, which preceded the

Armenian orthography reform The Armenian orthography reform occurred between 1922 and 1924 in Soviet Armenia and was partially revised in 1940. Its main features "were the neutralization of classical, etymological writing and the adjustment of phonetic realization and writing ...

In popular culture

The title of the national anthem is used as the name of a television channel for

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

expatriates residing in Russia. Mer Hayrenik TV is based in the city of

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

, the administrative centre of both

Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative center, administrative and economic center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of N ...

and the

Siberian Federal District Siberian Federal District ( rus, Сибирский федеральный округ, p=sʲɪˈbʲirskʲɪj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 17,178,298 according to the 20 ...

Notes

References

External links

State symbols of ArmeniaVocal version of "Mer Hayrenik" in MP3 format
includes midi, lyrics, a music sheet {{Authority control Music of Armenia National symbols of Armenia Asian anthems European anthems National anthems Compositions in F major