The War of 1812 inspired many patriotic acts, including the composition of the national anthem. During the war years of the 1940s, the anthem inspired the patriotism of a Peruvian immigrant composer and translator who took the time, care, and love of the United States of America to do it justice in Spanish for all of the Americas to know and understand.



In 1814 Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812, while watching the Baltimore battle of Fort McHenry. Fearing that the United States had lost the battle to the British, Key recalled that the sight of the American flag waving over the fort at “dawn’s early light” inspired him to compose the words that became the official U.S. national anthem.



It is ironic that the music Key chose belonged to the official song of the Anacreontic Society, a popular London gentlemen’s club of amateur musicians founded in the mid-18th century. The original lyrics celebrate women, wine, and entertainment.



By 1861, “The Star-Spangled Banner” had been translated into several languages. Further translations were used as a way to assimilate immigrants during the second half of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th. There were two Spanish versions by this time, but neither was singable. “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. In 1945, the Division of Cultural Cooperation of the Department of State, in conjunction with the Music Educators National Conference, called for submissions for the translation of the song into Spanish and Portuguese, so it could be distributed throughout Latin America. What better way for the United States to share its values and patriotism with its neighbors to the south—something highly desired at the time—than through its national anthem?



Clotilde Arias took on the task, translating the lyrics so they could be sung, as required in the contract, shown here. She sent in her work; it was accepted as the most accurate and the closest to the English words. Her version still stands as the only official translation of the national anthem allowed to be sung.



The translation is extremely faithful to the original—a difficult accomplishment, for Spanish requires more words than English to convey the same message. Arias’s song is a work of art, and the manifest patriotism of a Pan-Americanist who fervently embraced the lyrics’ sentiments. More than a century removed from Francis Scott Key, and from a different country and continent, Clotilde Arias believed that people’s aspirations throughout the Americas were the same, and could be promoted and achieved through music, the arts, and cultural understanding.