The Mexican anthem came up as a patriotic symbol to re-unite the nation

The Mexican anthem, Mexicans heartbeat

Written by Francisco González Bocanegra and Jaime Nunó, our national anthem is one of our three patriotic symbols.

Years after the Independence and with the pain that Mexicans felt for the loss of Texas (1853), the former president Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana needed patriotic symbols that could help unite the population.

Among these he believed it was necessary to have an anthem that ignited the heart of the country’s inhabitants so, despite the wars, they would feel proud to be part of this beautiful nation. Santa Ana’s call was published in the Diario Oficial and was divided into two parts, the first was for the written part and the second for the musical part.

The winner of the first contest was the poet Francisco González Bocanegra, a native of San Luis Potosí with a Spanish father. At first, Bocanegra refused to participate. However, one version of the story tells that he was forced by his fiancée: Guadalupe González del Pino y Villalpando.

Guadalupe locked him up so that he would write an anthem and compete, because she trusted his talent thanks to the poems he wrote for her. It is also said that, four hours after the confinement, a piece of paper came out from under the door of the room where Bocanegra was. On it was written the National Anthem.

There were 26 poets in the contest, but it was Bocanegra’s the one that captivated Santa Anna, since it expressed the feelings of Mexicans when it came to protecting their country.

Once the lyrics were ready, a call was launched to set Bocanegra’s poem to music. On this occasion, 15 composers participated. The winner of the contest was the Spaniard Jaime Nunó.

The Mexican National Anthem was ready with music by Jaime Nunó and lyrics by Francisco González Bocanegra. It was interpreted for the first time in public on September 15, 1854 at the Teatro Santa Anna (later Teatro Nacional de México).

Everything indicated that the Anthem would be forgotten because, when Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez came to power, the Mexican National Anthem, which had been created under a conservative government, had two strophes that praised Iturbide and Santa Anna, and those were deleted.

Subsequent presidents forgot the anthem and it was not until the mandate of Porfirio Díaz that it would again be taken into account to be sung in official ceremonies. However, over time, the 10 strophes that made up González Bocanegra’s original composition underwent various deletions and modifications until they became what we have today.

TYT Newsroom