National Anthem Comparison
Bolivia vs Peru
3
Shared themes
✓
Same mood
24
24 years apart
✓
Same continent
Comparison Analysis
Bolivia and Peru, both South America nations, take distinct approaches to their national anthems. Bolivia's "National Anthem of Bolivia" was written in 1845, while Peru's "National Anthem of Peru" dates to 1821.
Both anthems share themes of freedom, independence and battle / war. Bolivia additionally explores peace, while Peru also touches on revolution.
Both anthems carry a defiant tone, creating a similar emotional register despite their geographic distance.
Shared themes
Bolivia
🕊 Freedom 🗽 Independence ⚔ Battle / War ☮ Peace
Peru
🕊 Freedom 🗽 Independence ⚔ Battle / War 🔥 Revolution
Shared themes:
🕊 Freedom 🗽 Independence ⚔ Battle / War
Metadata
| Bolivia | Peru | |
|---|---|---|
| Written | 1845 | 1821 |
| Adopted | 1851 | 1821 |
| Lyricist | Jose Ignacio de Sanjines | José de la Torre Ugarte (first stanza anonymous, added by Law 1801 of 1913) |
| Composer | Leopoldo Benedetto Vincenti | José Bernardo Alzedo; restored and orchestrated by Claudio Rebagliati |
| Language | es | es |
| Region | South America | South America |
Lyrics Side by Side
Bolivia
Himno Nacional de Bolivia
Original
Bolivianos, el hado propicio
Coronó nuestros votos y anhelo;
Es ya libre, ya libre este suelo,
Ya cesó su servil condición.
Al estruendo marcial que ayer fuera
Y al clamor de la guerra horroroso,
Siguen hoy en contraste armonioso
Dulces himnos de paz y de unión.
[Coro]
De la Patria, el alto nombre,
En glorioso esplendor conservemos;
Y en sus aras de nuevo juremos:
¡Morir antes que esclavos vivir!
Loor eterno a los bravos guerreros
Cuyo heroico valor y firmeza
Conquistaron las glorias que empieza
Hoy Bolivia feliz a gozar.
Que sus nombres el mármol y el bronce
A remotas edades trasmitan;
Y en sonoros cantares repitan:
¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!
[Coro]
Aquí alzó la justicia su trono
Que la vil opresión desconoce,
Y en su timbre glorioso legóse:
¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!
Esta tierra inocente y hermosa,
Que ha debido a Bolívar su nombre,
Es la Patria feliz donde el hombre
Goza el bien de la dicha y la paz.
[Coro]
Translation
Bolivians, a propitious fate
Has crowned our vows and our longing;
This soil is now free, now free,
Its servile condition has ceased.
The martial din of yesterday
And the horrifying clamor of war
Are followed today, in harmonious contrast,
By sweet hymns of peace and of union.
[Chorus]
The lofty name of the Fatherland
Let us keep in glorious splendor;
And on its altars let us swear anew:
To die rather than live as slaves!
Eternal praise to the brave warriors
Whose heroic valor and firmness
Won the glories that happy Bolivia
Begins today to enjoy.
May marble and bronze hand down
Their names to remote ages,
And in resounding songs repeat:
Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
[Chorus]
Here justice raised its throne,
Which vile oppression does not know,
And on its glorious crest was bequeathed:
Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
This innocent and beautiful land,
Which owes its name to Bolívar,
Is the happy Fatherland where man
Enjoys the blessing of happiness and peace.
[Chorus]
Peru
Himno Nacional del Perú
Original
Coro
Somos libres: seámoslo siempre;
Y antes niegue sus luces el Sol,
Que faltemos al voto solemne
Que la Patria al Eterno elevó.
VII
En su cima los Andes sostengan
La bandera o pendón bicolor
Que a los siglos anuncie el esfuerzo
Que ser libres, por siempre nos dio.
A su sombra posemos tranquilos
Y al nacer por sus cumbres el Sol,
Renovamos el gran juramento
Que rendimos al Dios de Jacob.
Coro
Somos libres: seámoslo siempre;
Y antes niegue sus luces el Sol,
Que faltemos al voto solemne
Que la Patria al Eterno elevó.
Translation
Chorus
We are free: may we always be so;
And sooner may the Sun deny its light
Than that we fail the solemn vow
That the Homeland raised to the Eternal.
VII
Upon their summit may the Andes hold
The two-coloured flag or standard,
That it may announce to the ages the effort
Which made us free for ever.
In its shade may we rest untroubled,
And when the Sun is born above its peaks,
May we renew the great oath
That we made to the God of Jacob.
Chorus
We are free: may we always be so;
And sooner may the Sun deny its light
Than that we fail the solemn vow
That the Homeland raised to the Eternal.
Interesting facts
Bolivia
- 1. Bolivia is named after Simón Bolívar, who led the country for only a few months in 1825; historians differ on whether he or Antonio José de Sucre should count as its first president
- 2. The music was composed under contract by Leopoldo Benedetto Vincenti, whom President José Ballivián invited in 1844 to direct the Bolivian army's bands; many Latin American anthems were likewise composed by Italians or other Europeans
- 3. Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries in South America, having lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884), a loss still deeply felt by Bolivians
- 4. The anthem, first called the 'Canción Patriótica' (Patriotic Song), was premiered in La Paz on 18 November 1845, the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Ingavi, and was made official by supreme decree in 1851
Peru
- 1. No score of the song Alzedo submitted to the 1821 competition survives. The music played today goes back to an arrangement the Italian musician Claudio Rebagliati made in 1869, which he presented as a restoration agreed with the elderly Alzedo.
- 2. For most of the 20th century Peruvians sang the anonymous first stanza, about the oppressed Peruvian dragging his chain; official practice moved to the seventh stanza from 2009, and Law 32251 of January 2025 settled it in statute.
- 3. Law 32251 names the documents that hold the anthem: the three official scores (piano, orchestra and band) listed in a Supreme Resolution of 27 May 1901, and a letter Alzedo wrote on 8 June 1863 containing the original lyrics. The Ministry of Culture keeps them at the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru.
Listen
Bolivia
Peru
