A Hymn to the United Nations

I had to do a project on the United Nations at school, and I will admit, I just love the United Nations. Now I don't want to get into a political debate, but I discovered that the United Nations has an "unofficial" anthem of its own, used specifically for United Nations purposes and flagraising. Although not a global anthem, it's as close as one can get it seems to an anthem of the world, excluding the Internationale, of course.

It was written by Pablo Casals, and the words were written by W.H. Auden, in the 1970s, I do believe:

I love it. I'd salute to this tune any day!

http://www.undg.org/access-file.cfm?cat=12...=5218&file=6570

Though many songs have been written about the United Nations or on related themes, there is no official anthem or hymn for the Organization. One such song, or hymn, was written and performed at the United Nations on 24 October 1971 by maestro Pablo Casals (1876-1973) of Spain. The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the United Nations. The words were written by poet Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) of the United Kingdom.

The two, though they had never met, were brought together in this unusual collaboration by U Thant who was then United Nations Secretary-General. For centuries, poets and musicians have sung in praise of war and celebrated victories in battles. U Thant was intrigued by the fact that there existed no hymn to peace. Pablo Casals was a personal friend of his, and when approached by U Thant, he readily agreed to write the music. As the Secretary-General explained, the song was to be based on the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations. Although it would not be formally adopted as the official anthem of the United Nations, U Thant hoped it would be performed on appropriate occasions.

While Casals greatly liked the ideas contained in the preamble, there was no way he could put music to such a document. The task to write an appropriate poem, based on the theme of peace and ideals enshrined in the preamble, fell on W. H. Auden, then regarded as the greatest living English poet. When a representative of the Secretary-General approached the poet, he immediately agreed to write the poem. In three days' time, Auden finished writing, A Hymn to the UN, which was then set to music by Casals.

On 24 October 1971, the Orchestra of the Festival Casals, with the Maestro himself as conductor, presented the hymn in a première performance at UN headquarters.

Here's a Sibelius file I made using a pdf file of the original score, and a midi. Just in case you found the mp3 too muffled

God, I wish I was the one who WROTE this...

Cybershark.pdfPC-Crash-Course.pdf