Swiss anthem

Do you know the national anthem from Switzerland?

Read about it here, then answer these questions.

1. What 3 jobs did Leonard Widmer do?
2. What job did Alberik Zwyssig do?
3. What did they do together?
4. Why didn’t the Swiss government declare ‘Swiss Psalm’ a national anthem immediately?
5. Why did the government allow ‘Swiss Psalm’ to be the anthem in 1961?
6. When was it officially declared the Swiss national anthem?
7. What are the 4 languages of Switzerland?
8. Read through the English version of the lyrics.

Answers:
1. music publisher, journalist and lyricist 2. music director 3. create the Swiss national anthem 4. the government wanted the public to have an opinion 5. because their original anthem sounded the same as the British anthem, they wanted something Swiss 6. 1981 7. German, French, Italian, Romansch

For more activities on National Anthems go to Unit 2 of the Teachers Course.