God Save the Tsar!

The story

"God Save the Tsar!" was the national anthem of the Russian Empire. It was chosen in a competition held in 1833 and first performed on 18 December 1833. The music was composed by the violinist Alexei Lvov and the words were written by the court poet Vasily Zhukovsky.

It remained the anthem until the February Revolution of 1917. The new government then adopted the "Worker's Marseillaise", which served until the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution later that year. In the Principality of Bulgaria the composition was used as the royal anthem, imposed by the temporary Russian government and the commanders of the Russian army; Bulgaria gave it up after its declaration of independence in 1908.

Many composers used the theme. Tchaikovsky quoted it in the 1812 Overture, the Marche Slave, his overture on the Danish national anthem and the Festival Coronation March. In the Soviet era the authorities altered Tchaikovsky's scores, putting other patriotic melodies, such as the "Glory" chorus from Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar, in its place. Charles Gounod wrote a Fantasy on the Russian National Hymn on it.

The tune also travelled far from Russia. In 1842 the English writer Henry Chorley set his hymn "God, the Omnipotent!" to Lvov's melody, and as the "Russian Hymn" it was printed in 19th- and 20th-century hymnals and still appears in English-language hymnals of several American churches. American colleges, schools and fraternities set their own songs to it. Film and television used it as a sign of imperial Russia: Maurice Jarre's score for Doctor Zhivago (1965), William Walton's for Three Sisters (1970) and the BBC's War and Peace (1972). The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards still play it at formal events in tribute to Nicholas II, who had been colonel-in-chief of their predecessor regiment, the Scots Greys. In 1998 the rock singer Alexander Gradsky proposed that the theme become Russia's national anthem again, with words quite different from Zhukovsky's.

What it says

A short prayer that God protect the tsar, written for the court as the empire's anthem. The mood is solemn and hymn-like, which is why the tune passed so easily into church hymnals.

The words