Hatikvah
From Freepedia
Hatikvah or Hatikva (Hebrew: התקווה "The Hope"') is the national anthem of Israel.
Contents |
History
The Hatikvah text was written by the Galician poet Naphtali Herz Imber in Zloczow (Ukraine) in 1878 as a nine-stanza poem named Tikvatenu ("Our Hope").
In 1897, at the First Zionist Congress, it was adopted as the anthem of Zionism; later it was arranged by the composer Paul Ben-Haim, who based the composition partly on ukrainian Jewish folk tunes.
Later the text was edited by the settlers of Rishon LeZion and it underwent a number of other changes until 1948, when the state of Israel was created, and it was proclaimed as the national anthem of Israel.
In its modern version, the anthem text only has the first stanza and chorus of the original poem. The most important addition in those parts is that the hope is no longer to return to Zion, but to be a free nation in it.
It is an interesting, but not widely known fact, that the Tikva was never offically declared as or chosen to be the national anthem of Israel, until November 2004 when it was sanctioned by the Knesset in an amendment to the "Flag and Coat-of-Arms Law" (which is now called: "The Flag, Coat-of-Arm and National Anthem Law").
Music
The music for Hatikva is based on a folk song of unknown origin. The earliest known appearance in print was early 17th century Italy as "The Dance of Mantua". It has also been recognized in Spanish religious music as the Catholic song "Virgen de la Cueva" ("Virgin of the Cave") and the Jewish song "Prayer for the Dew". It's also recognizable as the Polish folk song Pod Krakowem.
The folk song was also used by a English-Jewish cantor named Meier Leon, who used the stage name Michael Leoni to perform secular and Christian music such as Handel's Messiah. Leon adapted the song into the Jewish hymn Yaigdal for his synagogue. This hymn was later adapted by Welselyan minister Thomas Oliver into the hymn To The God of Abraham Praise.
Bedrich Smetana likely adapted the melody from a Swedish version of the melody, "Ack, Värmeland" and used it for his symphonic poem "The Moldau", part of Má Vlast. This later became a Czech folk song, "Kočka leze dírou".
The modern adaptation of the music for Hatikvah was probably composed by Samuel Cohen in 1888. It's possible that he took the melody from Smetana's work, or that he got the melody from a Romanian version of the folk song, "Carul cu boi" ("Carriage and Oxen").
Hatikvah is written in a minor key, one that may seem depressing or mournful to some people. However, as the title ("The Hope") would indicate, the mood of the song is uplifting.
Lyrics
Here is the text in Hebrew with accompanying transliteration and translation in English:
|
כל עוד בלבב פנימה עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, |
Kol 'od balevav
P'nimah - 'Od lo avdah tikvatenu |
As long as in the heart, within,
Our hope has not yet been lost, |
The first line of the chorus, "Our hope is not yet lost" (עוד לא אבדה תקותנו) has been compared to the opening of the Polish national anthem "Poland is not yet lost" (Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła) or to the ukrainian national anthem "Ukraine has not perished, neither her glory, nor freedom" (Ще не вмерла Україна) similarities between Zionism and other nationalist movements have been pointed out.
The full lyrics, in Hebrew, can be found here: http://www.cramim.rishon.k12.il/rishon/hatikvold.html
