The Spanish National Anthem arranged for full Symphony Orchestra, there is a short version in my store in case you need it! Just need a sporting event now such as an Olympics!

The Marcha Real (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmartʃa reˈal], "Royal March") is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of only three national anthems (along with that of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Kosovo) in the world to have no official lyrics.

One of the oldest in the world, the anthem was first printed in a document dated 1761 and entitled Libro de la Ordenanza de los Toques de P�fanos y Tambores que se tocan nuevamente en la Ynfant� Espa�ola (Book of the Ordenance of Newly Played Military Drum and Fife Calls by The Spanish Infantry ), by Manuel de Espinosa. Here it is entitled La Marcha Granadera ("March of the Grenadiers"). There is written its score on this book. According to this document, Manuel de Espinosa de los Monteros is the composer.

There is a false belief that Marcha Real?s author was Frederick II of Prussia, a great lover of music. This belief started in 1861 when it appears for the first time publied in La Espa�a militar (The Militar Spain). In 1864, the colonel Antonio Vallecillo publishes the history in the diary El Esp�ritu P�blico (The Public Spirit), making the supposed Prussian origin of Marcha Real popular. According to Vallecillo, the anthem was a gift from Frederick II to the soldier Juan Mart�n �lvarez de Sotomayor, who was serving in the Prussian Court to learn the military tactics developed by Frederick II?s army, under orders of King Charles III. In 1868 the history is published in Los Sucesos, changing the destinatary of the gift with Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda. The myth was picked up like this in different publications of 1884 and 1903, until being included in 1908 in the Enciclopedia Espasa.

According to the tradition in 1770, Charles III declared the Marcha de Granaderos as the official Honor March, and with that formalized the habit of playing it in public and solemn acts. It became the official anthem during Isabel II?s reign.

After the 1868 Revolution, General Prim convoked a national contest to create an official anthem, but it was declared deserted, advising the jury that Marcha de Granaderos was considered as such. By Alfonso XIII?s time, it was established by a Royal Circular Order (27 August 1908) that interpreted the harmonization of the march done by Bartolom� P�rez Casas, Major Music of the Royal Corps of Halberdier Guards. During the Second Republic, Himno de Riego was adopted as official anthem, although after the Spanish Civil War, Marcha Real returned to be used as anthem, sometimes sung with the verses written by the poet Jos� Mar�a Pem�n in 1928.

The actual symphonic version of the Marcha Real that replaces the P�rez Casas one, belongs to maestro Francisco Grau and is the official one after the Royal Decree of 10 October 1997, when the Kingdom of Spain bought the author rights of the Marcha Real, then belonging to P�rez Casas? Heirs. According to the Royal Decree 1560/1997, the anthem should have a tone of B major and a tempo of 76 bpm (♩=76), with a form of AABB and a duration of 52 seconds.

Under the Trienio Liberal (1820-1823), the First Spanish Republic (1873?74) (when it enjoyed of a co-officiality) and the Second Spanish Republic (1931?1939), El Himno de Riego replaced La Marcha Real as the national anthem of Spain. At the conclusion of the Civil War, however, Francisco Franco restored La Marcha Real as the country?s national anthem, under its old title of La Marcha Granadera.

Interpretation and etiquette:

Military bands of the Spanish Armed Forces and the National Police Corps of Spain and civilian Marching bands and Concert bands play the B flat-major version of the anthem adapted for wind bands (as arranged by Francisco Grau), and playing the A Major version is optional.

The bugle call "To the Colors" in Spain is the version played by Bugle bands in Spanish churches in religious occasions and processions organized by civil groups and the parishes. Various versions adapted for the drum and the bugle are used, even though brass instruments play the anthem as well. But in some bugle bands, the A flat version of the anthem (the old official one, adapted for the bugle) is played. Only a bugle call is sounded when the B flat version is played.

Being the National Anthem, and in honor of the King and Queen of Spain, it?s a common practice for all to stand once it is played. Even though it is also played in church events, respect for the King and Queen (and the Royal Family as well) is required by everyone in attendance. As it happens civilians stand at attention while those in uniform salute when not in formation.

The current official version, as described in Royal Decree 1560/1997, is a sixteen-bar long phrase, divided in two sections, each one is made up of four repeated bars (AABB form). Tempo is set to ♩= 76 and key to B flat.

The long, complete version is the honors music for the King, while a shorter version without the repetitions is performed for the President of the Government of Spain, the Prince of Asturias, or during sporting events.

There are also three official arrangements: one for orchestra, another for military band, and a third for organ, written by Francisco Grau Vegara and requested by the Government of Spain. All in all, there are six different official adaptations, for each arrangement and length. They all were recorded by the Spanish National Orchestra and the Spanish Royal Guard Band as an official recording and released on compact disc for a limited period of time.

As the harmonization of the Marcha Real was written by Bartolom� P�rez Casas in the early 1900s, the copyright has not yet expired. The government bought it from P�rez Casas? estate in 1997 for 130,000,000 pesetas (~ ? 781,316) to avoid future legal problems. Until it expires, the copyright belongs to the Ministry of Culture and collecting societies charge copyright fees, which has led to criticism.

As a result, many different harmonisations have been devised by performers to avoid paying. Nonetheless, the rights to the 1997 Francisco Grau revision were transferred to the government at no charge, although they were not placed in the public domain.

Need an anthem fast? They are ALL in my store! All my anthem arrangements are also available for Orchestra, Recorders, Saxophones, Wind, Brass and Flexible band. If you need an anthem urgently for an instrumentation not in my store, let me know via e-mail, and I will arrange it for you FOC if possible! keithterrett@gmail.com

Scored for 21EH22/2200/timp/1perc/hp/strings Parts on rental.

Debussy?s friendship with the versatile poet and playwright Gabriel Mourey began in 1899, and in July 1907, Mourey offered Debussy a libretto based on Le roman de Tristan - Joesph B�dier?s adaptation of a twelfth-century Breton romance by the Anglo-Norman poet known as Tomas - which had recently been published in Paris. Debussy enthusiastically outline the four-act plot to Victor Segalen that October, and the main differences from Wagner?s Tristan und Isolde are that none of the action takes place in Cornwal and that ?Isolde of the white hands? is found guilty of cuckolding King Marc with Tristan, who has to rescue her from the leper colony in which she is abandoned in Act 1. She also betrays hi when he goes mad at the end.

The idea of a Tristan that restorced its ?legendary character? and had no connections with Wagner, appealed to Debussy, who was extremely moved by the circumstances of Tristan?s death. Even if he thought that Mourey?s poetry was ?not very lyrical and many passages do not exactly ?invite? music?, he did work on the libretto and the music that summer and sent his pubisher Jacques Durand, ?one of the 363 themes for the ?Roman de Tristan?? in a letter sent from Pourville on 23 August, 1907. The present prelude grows from this theme, together with the poignant Breton folksong ?Le Faucon?. After a short atmospheric introduction, Debussy?s dance-like theme (which is definitely not a leitmotif) gradually gains momentum and after it reaches it ecstatic climas, representing the transient happiness of the lovers, it dissolves into an expressive coda and an elegiac close (all growing from Debussy?s opennning, off-stage trumpet calls), leaving us with the ultimate tragedy of their ill-fated advice.

Unforunately, Mourey?s actual libretto has been lost and the project eventually foundered because B�dier?s cousin, Louis Artus, wanted Debussy to use the scenario he had prepared and copyrights for the stage, and would not allow him to proceed with Mourey?s version. Debussy, it need hardly be said, would never have dreamed of collaborating with the author of the vaudeville hit La culotte (The pants)!