The anthem, whether played by an orchestra or canned sound, is the most symbolic moment of an international football match. He commands respect, on the field and in the stands, and awakens patriotic fervor just before the ninety minutes begin. There are those who put their hands on their hearts, who sing almost with tears in their eyes, who grimace or who remain oblivious to everything that is happening. In any case, it is an image particularly associated with the World Cups of football, basketball (in the NBA it is sung in absolutely every game) or rugby, sports in which precisely this tradition would have started.
According to various sources, and although the story has a certain legendary component it seems to be taken for granted, the first time a national anthem was sung in a stadium was in 1905 in Cardiff, in a match between the Welsh team and that of New Zealand. As it still happens today, the All-Blacks did the classic haka that so intimidates the rivals, and the Welsh response, a priori spontaneous, was to sing their national anthem. As it turned out, the home coach, Tom Williams, thought that psychologically it would be an anti-haka tool, so it was all premeditated. In fact, he even chose the team’s best vocalist, Teddy Morgan, to be the one to start the chant.
Epic and major key
The anthem is a sound symbol that in the practical field is used in terms of representation and protocol but that when played must also stir a certain patriotic vein. As Arnau Tordera, musician and composer, explains, “especially since the musical nationalisms of the 19th century, national anthems – and also sports ones – have tended to be grandiloquent and majestic, so that the pretended greatness of the state, or of the sports club, or even of the musical band, is projected through this music”. For practical purposes, this all means epic to give and to sell.
Tordera, which premiered a few weeks ago The lost cat at the Liceu, he already made an anthem for Obeses, his rock project. An exercise worth listening to, as he explains: “I took all the characteristic clichés of these classic hymns to make a kind of parody and homage to them. This is: the marching rhythm—a lot of hymns actually come from , of old military marches—, an exuberant orchestration, a pompous chorus and various harmonic resources from which the transition from minor to major stands out, a recurring effect in this type of composition that activates patriotic sentimentality almost automatically.”
When we think of exciting and charismatic anthems, we all think of the one from the former USSR, now adapted to Russia, sung by the Red Army choir, or the Italian, The Song of the Italians, composed by Michele Novaro and celebrating the unification of the Transalpine state, or the French. This Sunday at the Lusail stadium they will resound the historic The marsellesafrom 1795 and anthem of the French Revolution, i The Argentine national anthem, from 1812 and which is also related to a revolution, that of May 1810 in Argentina. Despite having such a variety of origins, almost all the hymns we have heard these weeks had the same pattern: “In general, they tend to be written in a major key, which in the Western musical tradition we have always connected to triumphalism and brightness,” he explains Tordera There are exceptions, for example ours, The laborerswhich is written in a minor key, “a harmonic color that we associate more with recollection, tragedy and, unfortunately, defeat,” says the composer.
Whether it’s joyful or rather sad and solemn, what matters is that the anthem fulfills its function: “It’s good if it achieves the unifying will for which it was written,” says Arnau Tordera. Arriving at the final, the two states that remain in the competition will sing angel songs.
