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O Canada

Sheet music for Canada's national anthem
TitleO Canada
Alt Title 
Alt Title 2 
CaptionSheet music for Canada's national anthem
PrefixNational
CountryCanada
ComposerCalixa Lavallée
Music Date1880
AuthorAdolphe-Basile Routhier (French, 1880)
Robert Stanley Weir (English, 1908)
Adopted1980
SoundO Canada.ogg
Sound TitleO Canada

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"O Canada" is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée wrote the music as a setting of a French Canadian patriotic poem composed by poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were originally in French and translated into English in 1906.

Robert Stanley Weir wrote in 1908 another English version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir's lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered. "O Canada" had served as a de facto national anthem since 1939, officially becoming Canada's national anthem in 1980, when the Act of Parliament making it so received Royal Assent and became effective on July 1 as part of that year's Dominion Day celebrations.


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