Hino da Maria da Fonte

According to Angelo Frondoni's obituary, written by Acácio Antunes and published on the O Occidente magazine in 1891, the idea for this patriotic anthem came from Paulo Midosi, who was Frondoni's librettist in several operettas. Midosi came to Frondoni so he would compose a song to go with a couple of verses of his own making for "an enthusiastic anthem". The music, that Fondoni wrote in its entirety on the same day, would become the song of the popular revolt in the spring of 1846, against the government of the Count of Tomar.[1]

According to João Augusto Marques Gomes, the Maria da Fonte anthem was sung for the first time on 24 June 1846, a month after the main incidents of the revolt, in the house of the Marquess of Nisa, by an opera singer.[2] The triumph of the liberal faction, assures the return of César de Vasconcelos, José Estêvão, e Mendes Leite, who had been in exile following the Torres Novas pronunciamento. On 6 July, the three attend Almeida Garrett's play O Alfageme de Santarém in D. Maria II National Theatre — during intermission, a band played the Maria da Fonte anthem, and the audience enthusiastically sung, clapped and cheered on.[2]

The Maria da Fonte anthem is still used today in formal military and civic ceremonies in Portugal. It serves as honors music to the legislative speaker, the Prime Minister and the cabinet, as well as to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Chief and Vice-Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, and the military heads of the Navy, of the Army, and of the Air Force.[3]

While there are multiple historical variations in the lyrics of the song, that tended to be changed according to the political climate of the time, the original lyrics written by Paulo Midosi in 1846 are the following: