Ukraine
"Ще не вмерла України" "Sche ne vmerla Ukrainy" (Ukraine's Glory Hasn't Perished)

Words by: Paul Chubynskyi
Music by: Mikhail Verbytskyi
Adopted: 1991 (music), 2003 (lyrics)

In 1862, Ukrainian poet and ethnographer Paul Chubynskyi wrote a poem "Ще не вмерла Україна" "Shche ne vmerla Ukrayina" (Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet) in 1862 and gained a wide popularity among the Ukrainian intelligentsia of the time. It also caught the attention of Mikhail Verbytskyi, a priest, and was moved to compose music for the poem; it was first performed as a choral work in 1864 in the Ukraine Theatre in Lvov.

Upon the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1917, a number of patriotic works were used in the capacity of a national anthem, including Chubynskyi's work, but none of them were officially declared as the national anthem. In 1920, Ukraine was made part of the Soviet Union, and "Shche ne vmerla Ukrayina" and other patriotic works were officially discouraged. Upon the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine regained its independence and its anthem; when independence was declared no lyrics were officially mandated, the lyrics that were in common use at the time differed somewhat from Chubynskyi's original poem.

The lyrics were changed slightly in 2003; the most important change was made to the first line (and title), which were interestingly borrowed from the Polish anthem. In the new version, the case ending of the word "Ukraine" was changed, so that rather than saying "Ukraine hasn't yet died, nor has her glory or freedom," it now says that it's Ukraine's glory and freedom which haven't perished. Also, the current version of the anthem is limited to the first verse of Chubynskyi's poem (with the modification to the first line mentioned above) plus the chorus, which was the first half of Chubynskyi's original chorus; previously, three verses and a chorus were commonly used.

Special thanks to: Igor Ryzhikov for correcting some of this info.

See also: Ukraine (1949-1991), Crimea.