The "Himno Nacional de Uruguay" (English: "National Anthem of Uruguay"), also known by its incipit "Orientales, la Patria o la Tumba" (English: "Easterners,^[a] the Country or the Tomb"), is the longest national anthem in terms of duration with 105 bars of music. When performed in its entirety, the anthem lasts about four-and-a-half to six minutes, although nowadays only the first verse and chorus are sung on most occasions, such as before sporting events.

As with every other South American national anthem, the music was inspired by the local popularity of Italian opera.^[7] The full 105-bar version of the anthem evokes an operatic scena e aria for soloist and chorus (almost in solita forma manner, with a cabaletta-like conclusion). Debali had conducted in many productions of operas by Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti in Montevideo, and during the course of the anthem he makes several musical references to Rossini's La Cenerentola, as well as to Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville, and to a chorus from Semiramide. A further passage is clearly borrowed from the ending of the Prologue of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.