National Anthem Comparison
Chile vs Peru
2
Shared themes
✗
Different moods
2
2 years apart
✓
Same continent
Comparison Analysis
Chile and Peru, both South America nations, take distinct approaches to their national anthems. Chile's "National Anthem of Chile" was written in 1819, while Peru's "National Anthem of Peru" dates to 1821.
Both anthems share themes of freedom and battle / war. Chile additionally explores nature and god / faith, while Peru also touches on independence and revolution.
The emotional tones differ: Chile's anthem is majestic, while Peru's is defiant.
Chile changed its national anthem in 1847, reflecting a shift in the nation's identity or political landscape.
Shared themes
Chile
🕊 Freedom 🌿 Nature ⚔ Battle / War ✝ God / Faith
Peru
🕊 Freedom 🗽 Independence ⚔ Battle / War 🔥 Revolution
Shared themes:
🕊 Freedom ⚔ Battle / War
Metadata
| Chile | Peru | |
|---|---|---|
| Written | 1819 | 1821 |
| Adopted | 1847 | 1821 |
| Lyricist | Eusebio Lillo (verses) / Bernardo Vera y Pintado (chorus) | José de la Torre Ugarte (first stanza anonymous, added by Law 1801 of 1913) |
| Composer | Ramón Carnicer | José Bernardo Alzedo; restored and orchestrated by Claudio Rebagliati |
| Language | es | es |
| Region | South America | South America |
Lyrics Side by Side
Chile
Himno Nacional de Chile
Original
Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado;
Puras brisas te cruzan también.
Y tu campo de flores bordado
Es la copia feliz del Edén.
Majestuosa es la blanca montaña
Que te dio por baluarte el Señor,
Y ese mar que tranquilo te baña
Te promete futuro esplendor.
[Coro]
Dulce Patria, recibe los votos
Con que Chile en tus aras juró:
Que o la tumba serás de los libres
O el asilo contra la opresión.
Translation
Pure, Chile, is your blue sky;
Pure breezes cross you too.
And your field embroidered with flowers
Is a happy copy of Eden.
Majestic is the white mountain
That God gave you as a bulwark,
And that sea which peacefully bathes you
Promises you future splendor.
[Chorus]
Sweet homeland, receive the vows
With which Chile swore at your altars:
That you will be either the tomb of the free
Or the refuge against oppression.
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
Chile
- 1. The original lyrics, which Spaniards living in Chile found warlike and offensive, were replaced in 1847, after Spain had recognized Chile's independence; the negotiations that followed the treaty included an official request to change them
- 2. Ironically, the music was composed by a Spaniard, Ramón Carnicer, who was living in exile in London at the time; Chile's envoy there, Mariano Egaña, had commissioned it
- 3. The fifth verse, the only one sung officially, describes Chile's sky, flowers, mountains and sea; the 1941 decree restored the word 'tranquilo' ('calm') to its line about the sea
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
Chile
Peru
