The national anthem of Slovenia as defined in the 1994 law adopting it. As typically performed, it consists of a part of the "Zdravljica" poem, specifically the 7th stanza, which is frequently regarded as the national anthem.
Historically, the national anthem from 1860[2][3] until the beginning of the 1990s,[4] was "Naprej, zastava slave" ("Forward, Flag of Glory"),[i] the first ever piece of Slovene literature to be translated into English.[7]
Lyrics and music
The words of the current Slovene national anthem are all or part[ii] of "Zdravljica", written by the 19th-century Slovene poet France Prešeren for which music was written by the Slovene composer Stanko Premrl in 1905. Emphasising internationalism,[10] it was defined in 1994[11] as the anthem with the Act on the national symbols of Slovenia. However, even before the breakup of Yugoslavia, the lyrics and music were together adopted as the regional anthem of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia on 27 September 1989. Therefore, it was the regional anthem of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia (known as simply the "Republic of Slovenia" from 1990 to 1991) as a constituent republic of Yugoslavia from 8 March 1990 to 25 June 1991, as well.
Legal status
As a work of arts, published in the official journal Official Gazette, the text and melody of the seventh stanza of "Zdravljica" qualify as an official work and are per Article 9 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act not protected by the copyrights.[12] Their usage is regulated by the Act Regulating the Coat-of-Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Slovenia and the Flag of the Slovene Nation, published in the Official Gazette in 1994.[13] The official melody is played in B-flat major.
^Where the last word can be capitalized to mean "Slavic" instead of "Glory", but despite a popular interpretation that it could refer to the Slavic people in general, the word slava was written uncapitalised by Jenko. It was capitalised by public in 1863.[5] Nowadays, it is written with small letters.[6]
^The question whether the entire "Zdravljica" or only its seventh stanza constitutes the Slovene national anthem, remains unresolved. Whereas the Constitution of Slovenia determines the title of the poem, the Act about the anthem specifically determines its seventh stanza. It has been argued that the act contradicts the constitution and that the question should be resolved by the Slovenian Constitutional Court.[8][9] In practice, mostly only the seventh stanza is sung and reproduced as the national anthem.
^Rupnik, Janko; Cijan, Rafael; Grafenauer, Božo (1993). Ustavno pravo [Constitutional Law] (in Slovenian). Faculty of Law, University of Maribor. p. 51. ISBN978-961-6009-39-3.
^"Državni simboli in znamka Slovenije" [National Symbols and the Trademark of Slovenia] (in Slovenian). Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia. 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
^Božič, Dragan (3 November 2010). "Katero kitico č'mo kot himno zapet'" [Which Stanza Should We As the Anthem Sing?] (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 29 January 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
^M. B. Jančič, M. B. Breznik, M. Damjan, M. Kovačič, M. Milohnić. Upravljanje avtorskih in sorodnih pravic na Internetu - Vidik javnih inštitucij (in Slovene) [The Management of Copyright and Related Rights on Internet - The Aspect of Public Institutions]. August 2010. Peace Institute; Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana. Pg. 28.
