a ceremonial song with programmatic verses. There are state, revolutionary, military, and religious hymns, as well as hymns in honor of historical events and heroes.
In ancient Greece a hymn was a religious song in honor of a god, such as Apollo or Dionysus. In the seventh to fifth centuries B.C. hymns were written by Alcaeus, Alemán, and Pindar. Epic narrative poetic works known as hymns have survived. The most famous of them are the so-called Homeric hymns (attributed in antiquity to Homer) and Orphic hymns (from the late Hellenic period). The early Christians created a hymnody that became part of church worship and prayer (the hymns of Romanos Melodos and John of Damascus in the eastern church and “Te Deum laudamus” in the west). The socioreligious movement of the 15th-16th centuries gave birth to many spiritual hymns, including the Protestant (Lutheran) chorale in Germany (the outstanding example is “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”—“Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott”) and Hussite songs in Bohemia. The Great French Revolution evoked revolutionary hymns, including the “Marseillaise.” The revolutionary proletariat created its own hymn, the “International,” which was also the national hymn of the USSR until Jan. 1, 1944. In 1944 a new national hymn was introduced (music by A. V. Aleksandrov), and the “International” became a party hymn.
All modern states have national hymns, in addition to national emblems and flags. The hymn is the state’s official symbol. Each of the union republics of the USSR has a hymn. The hymn genre is represented in choral, operatic, and symphonic art (for example, the final choruses of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Glinka’s opera Ivan Susanin).A song about the Great Patriotic War was written in the spirit of a hymn (“The Holy War,” lyrics by V. I. Lebedev-Kumach, music by A. V. Aleksandrov).