Inno delle nazioni (Hymn of the nations), a cantata in a single movement, is one of only two secular choral works composed by Giuseppe Verdi.

It became the centerpiece of a 1944 propaganda film, Hymn of the Nations, where it was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini with the Westminster Choir and Jan Peerce as tenor soloist.

[3] While honored by the request, Verdi tentatively declined, despite the intervention of fellow Italian and conductor Michael Costa, claiming his duties in preparing La forza del destino left no time available.

[4] When illness of the soprano forced a postponement of La forza del destino, Verdi departed St. Petersburg and arrived in Paris on 24 February 1862.

Secondly, two up-and-coming Italian writers, Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio, met with Verdi at the end of February 1862, bearing a letter of introduction from Countess Clara Maffei.

[5] On 19 March the commissioners received a letter from the composer "in which he expressed his wish to substitute for the overture a cantata with Italian words, the solo part of which would be executed by Signor Tamberlik.

"Every member" of Mapleson's company participated in the performance supplemented by 200 choristers of Jules Benedict's Vocal Association – the entire ensemble conducted by Luigi Arditi.

The report in The Daily Telegraph provides an example of the exaggerated reaction: At the conclusion of the Cantata Signor Verdi was loudly called for, and, after some delay, was led on by the energetic and enthusiastic Mdlle.

"[12] Reviewers questioned Verdi's decision to include songs representing the United Kingdom("God Save the Queen"), France ("La Marseillaise") and Italy ("Il Canto degli Italiani", also known as "Inno di Mameli").

[14] This feeling is illustrated in the long letter which Verdi wrote to Arrivabene:[15] Marvin considers that Verdi, well aware of his own importance in the musical world, saw this as a chance to serve as a voice supportive of Italian music in an international context,[11] although the composer expressed to both his publisher and to his friend Count Arrivabene his lack of interest in writing pieces for a given occasion.

[16] After the world premiere, Inno delle nazioni was presented six more times in London in 1862; the final occasion was on 16 June, along with all the music written for the 1862 International Exposition.

[17] The first American performance took place on 28 April 1874 at the Academy of Music in New York, conducted by Emanuele Muzio (a long-time assistant of Verdi's), with Christina Nilsson as the soloist.

It was filmed at the NBC Studios and consists of Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony in a performance of Verdi's Overture to La forza del destino and Inno delle nazioni, which contains the national anthems of the United Kingdom, France, and Italy (the World War I allied nations), to which Toscanini added the Soviet "Internationale" and "The Star-Spangled Banner".

[21] The cantata is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, cimbasso, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, percussion, 2 harps, and strings.

[citation needed] The "characters" in the critical edition are designated as the "Coro di Popolo" (Chorus of People of all nations) and the tenor soloist is "Un Bardo" (a poet) ("A Voice Among Them").