How did our anthem wait 142 years?

Chapter

1848

Words

Andrei Mureșanu, 1816–1863

Tune

Anton Pann, died 1854

First sung

Brașov, June 1848

At Brașov, in late May 1848, the teacher Andrei Mureșanu wrote “Un răsunet”, an answer to Vasile Alecsandri's “Către Români”. The original was in Romanian Cyrillic; today's title came later.

The verses needed a tune. He asked Gheorghe Ucenescu, the singer of the Șchei church, who sang him several lay melodies. Mureșanu chose Anton Pann's “Din sânul maicii mele”, written after a poem by Grigore Alexandrescu and printed in the 1852 “Spitalul amorului”.

In late June 1848 the song was heard for the first time on the streets of Brașov's Șchei quarter. The group of Bălcescu, Magheru, Brătianu and Bolliac sang it at Brașov; then it resounded in the Apuseni Mountains. Bălcescu called it the “Romanian Marseillaise”.

The exact day “Un răsunet” was born is unknown: somewhere between the Blaj Assembly (3–5 May) and the first singing, in late June. What is certain is that within weeks it became the revolution's unwritten anthem.

Wake up, Romanian, from the sleep of death!

Andrei Mureșanu, “Un răsunet”, 1848

Meanwhile: a month earlier, the National Assembly at Blaj (3–5 May 1848) had given the impulse for the whole story.

Chapter

1848–1947

Status

unwritten hymn, never official

1877

Bucharest, 9 May

1919

the Consiliul Dirigent decision

For a century, “Deșteaptă-te, române!” was the anthem the state did not want and the crowd would not forget. The kingdom had “Trăiască Regele”; the song of 1848 was sung on great days, on no order from above.

On 9 May 1877 it was sung at Bucharest, with independence. On 21 November 1917 it resounded at Chișinău, at the opening of Sfatul Țării; in 1917–1918 it served at solemn ceremonies in the Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1919 the Consiliul Dirigent made it Transylvania's national hymn.

Meanwhile a rival had appeared: Alecsandri's “Hora Unirii”, on Flechtenmacher's music, sung at the Union of 1859. The hora was joy; “Deșteaptă-te” was an oath.

In 1910 the “Ion Vidu” choir of Lugoj gave it its first recording, on a Pathé disc. The song entered the twentieth century two ways: on lips and on wax.

Behold, mighty shades: Mihai, Ștefan, Corvinus!

Andrei Mureșanu, the second stanza

Meanwhile: in 1881 Romania became a kingdom, and the crown's anthem stayed “Trăiască Regele”.

Chapter

1948–1989

1948

outlawed

1967

tolerated, no status

1987

Brașov, 15 November

On 30 December 1947 the communists abolished the monarchy and, with it, the songs of the old regime. “Deșteaptă-te, române!” was outlawed; in its place came, one after another, “Zdrobite cătușe”, “Te slăvim”, “E scris pe tricolor Unire” and “Trei culori”.

The ban did not last forever. From 1967 propaganda tolerated the song for nationalist ends, and Ceaușescu's regime let it be sung in public, without granting it state recognition. It was allowed; it was not the anthem: the perfect trap.

At Brașov, on 15 November 1987, the song resounded in the middle of a workers' revolt. The crackdown was brutal: some 300 arrested, sentences between 6 months and 3 years, deportations to other cities.

In December 1989 “Deșteaptă-te” was sung in the streets again, this time with no way back. The revolution gave it back what decrees had taken: the voice of the crowd.

Banned by the totalitarian regimes for almost half a century.

The Foreign Ministry, Anthem Day communiqué

Meanwhile: from October 1977 the anthem was “Trei culori”, still on Porumbescu's music.

Chapter

1990–today

Adopted

24 January 1990

Law

75/1994: stanzas 1, 2, 4, 11

Anthem Day

29 July (Law 99/1998)

On 24 January 1990, “Deșteaptă-te, române!” became the national anthem after 142 years of waiting. The 1991 Constitution enshrined it; Law 75/1994 fixed its text: 11 stanzas, of which stanzas 1, 2, 4 and 11 are sung.

Across the Prut the same song lived a parallel life: at solemn ceremonies in 1917–1918, then as Moldova's anthem between 1991 and 1994, until “Limba noastră”.

Since 1998, 29 July is National Anthem Day. Every year, at Bucharest, the song of 1848 is sung at official ceremonies, before the state that kept it waiting 142 years.

From “Un răsunet” to anthem of state: 142 years, six official anthems, two bans and an 1864 Viennese allegory that already pictured it triumphant. Pann's tune and Mureșanu's verses travelled, unchanged in essence, from Brașov's Șchei into the Constitution.

Now or never forge yourself another fate!

Andrei Mureșanu, the first stanza

Meanwhile: in 1994 Moldova gave it up for “Limba noastră”.