Costa Rican National Anthem for String Orchestra

Musician and Director of the Costa Rican Military Band, Manuel María Gutiérrez, then 22 years old, was asked to compose an anthem. Professing a lack of experience and little time, Gutiérrez asked for help from French adventurer Gabriel-Pierre Lafond de Lurcy, who instructed and encouraged him. After consulting Lafond, Gutiérrez composed the anthem in three or four days in his home in central San José. An apocryphal story circulates that Gutiérrez had to compose the music for the anthem while locked in a prison cell for refusing the order the president gave him to compose the anthem, and that he composed the anthem in 24 hours