Madre Castilla, guíanos tú / Himno a Castilla | Unofficial Anthem of Castile

If there is a musician from Burgos who has been known for his musical relevance at national level, it is Antonio José Martínez Palacios, born in Burgos on December 12, 1902 and shot in the middle of the Spanish Civil War on the Estépar mountain on October 11, 1936.
He began his musical training in 1909 at the San Lorenzo School and in 1915 he signed the work Cazadores de Chiclana de la Frontera with resounding success among specialized critics. In 1921 he composed Sonata Castellana, a work for piano that was the predecessor of Sinfonía Castellana in 1923.
He studied in Madrid thanks to the possibility given to him by the Provincial Council of Burgos, there he established friendships with the most powerful intellectuals of the time such as Dalí or Federico García Lorca. With a position as a teacher in Malaga where he continued to compose, he took advantage of a scholarship from the Burgos City Council to continue his studies in Paris between the years 1925 and 1926.
In 1929, back in Burgos, he took charge of the Orfeón Burgalés and the Municipal Music School. With Justo del Río he would begin a series of trips, by themselves described as "scientific", in search of folkloric and popular themes. From this stage is the well-known Hymn to Castile that is still performed.
In 1934 he wrote -El Mozo de Mulas– which is still pending the completion of its scores and subsequent public performance. Some voices already wanted to inaugurate the Teatro Principal de Burgos in the 90s with this magnum opus.
Writer of multiple articles and brilliant lecturer, he always presented his most progressive ideas, which earned him the political qualification of a left-wing man among the conservative society of Burgos. This meant, with the outbreak of the civil war, that he was imprisoned in the Burgos prison and later vilely executed in Estepar.

In 1934, during the Second Spanish Republic, Antonio José changed the lyrics (keeping the same melody) and titled it "Mother Castile, guide us!" (the lyrics in this version are the original but with the chorus of the republican version in the second verse).


Sources:
https://www.asc-castilla.org/castilla/curi...
https://archive.org/details/himno-a-castilla
   • HIMNO NACIONAL DE CASTILLA/CASTILIAN NATIO...  


Lyrics:
Gloria y Honor eterno
a Ti sin par Matrona
la gratitud pregona
gloria y honor a Tí, gloria a Tí.

Madre Castilla, guíanos Tú,
será éste siempre nuestro grito.
Y Tú has de ser la luz
que al mundo inunde de amor y paz.

Castilla incomparable,
Tú diste a España reyes,
de tu virtud las leyes
copiar al mundo vimos.

Fuiste heraldo de la Fe,
fuiste Madre y Reina
sin igual del valor
de tu sacro solio al pie
con el alma damos nuestro amor.

Gloria y Honor eterno
a Ti sin par Matrona
la gratitud pregona
gloria y honor a Tí, gloria a Tí.


Translation in English:

Eternal Glory and Honour
to you peerless matron
gratitude proclaims
glory and honour to You, glory to You.

Mother Castilla, guide us,
this will always be our cry.
And You shall be the light
that floods the world with love and peace.

Incomparable Castile,
You gave Spain kings,
the laws from your virtue
we saw copied by the world.

You were a herald of the Faith,
you were a peerless Mother and Queen
of courage
at the foot of your sacred throne
we give our love with our soul.

Eternal Glory and Honour
to you peerless matron
gratitude proclaims
glory and honor to You, glory to You.