What's in a tune? When it comes to national anthems, a very great deal, it seems. In the first place, people like one they can actually sing, and in the second place, they like one that stirs and rouses the emotions, making them feel briefly part of something larger than themselves.
Since shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian people have had to put up with an unofficial anthem, a melody by the 19th-century composer Mikhail Glinka, that fails on both counts. They can't sing it, because Parliament has been unable to agree to a set of words for it (in fact, they can't even hum it, because the tune is too hard); and even though Glinka titled his melody "Patriotic Song," it doesn't seem to do a very good job of igniting patriotic emotions about the Russian Federation. Russian athletes are said to have complained that at international sporting events it mainly makes them feel embarrassed.
Under the circumstances, nobody was too surprised last week when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent to the Duma, or parliamentary lower house, legislation to abandon the current unsatisfactory anthem. But many, both in Russia and abroad, were surprised and disturbed at what he proposed -- and the Duma on Friday agreed -- to replace it with: the tune of the old Soviet national anthem, "The Hymn of the Soviet Union," approved by Josef Stalin in 1943 as a successor to the "Internationale" and the instantly recognizable musical signature of the former Cold War colossus.