The Search for a National Anthem
The first page of Julio Nakpil's "Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan". Right away one would desire to know if this was the original manuscript of the said hymn? But then this first page also yielded some information about the history of the music itself -- On the top of the music line and below the title, its written: "Himmo Nacional" BALARA Nov. 1896. -- Balara was one of the high grounds controlled by the group of Bonifacio. The date indicate that months after the supposed debacle in Pinaglabanan Bonifacio's base was Balara, yet the movements and reconnaissance of the group were never really restricted. One proof was Nakpil's said meeting of the Katipunan men who fetched him in Manila weeks after the outbreak of the revolution of August of 1896. Somehow around that time upon reaching Balara, he was commissioned by the Supremo to write a national anthem--The date he finished the said music, November 1896. As written by Nakpil on top-- It is a &quo