The first president of the Republic of Brazil holds a contest to create a new national anthem, decides a first place winner, decides he likes the old anthem the best after all, doesn’t change the national anthem. TA DA.

>The story of the national anthem is significant: despite a hurried competition for a new composition to be chosen by 20 January 1890, [Francisco Manuel da Silva](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Francisco_Manuel_da_Silva_by_Lu%C3%ADs_Aleixo_Boulanger.jpg)’s old hymn, which had not even been a candidate, ended up winning. “I prefer the old one!!!” [Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Deodoro_da_Fonseca_%281889%29.jpg), the first president of the Republic, is supposed to have said, discarding the candidate that had won first place ([Leopoldo Miguez](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Leopoldo_Miguez._Director_do_Instituto_Nacional_de_Musica._Fallecido_a_6_de_Julho_de_1902.jpg)’s anthem, with words by [Medeiros e Albuquerque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Medeiros_e_Albuquerque.gif)) and making it the Anthem of the Proclamation of the Republic. >So the national anthem stayed the same, in spite of the suspicion that Dom Pedro I himself had composed it. __________________________________ **Source:** Gledson, John, and Lilia Moritz. Schwarcz. “Preface.” *The Emperor's Beard: Dom Pedro II and the Tropical Monarchy of Brazil*. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004. xx. Print. __________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Hino Nacional Brasileiro (Brazilian National Anthem)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_National_Anthem) [Francisco Manuel da Silva](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Manuel_da_Silva) [Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deodoro_da_Fonseca) [Leopoldo Miguez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Miguez) [José Joaquim de Campos da Costa de Medeiros e Albuquerque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medeiros_e_Albuquerque)