La Marseillaise

This article is about the anthem "La Marseillaise". A sculpture popularly called "La Marseillaise" is part of the sculptural program of the Arc de Triomphe.

Rouget de Lisle, Composer of the Marseillaise, sings it for the first time.

"La Marseillaise" (IPA: [la maʁsɛjɛz]; in English The Song of Marseille) is the national anthem of France.

History

"La Marseillaise" is a song written and composed by the Royalist Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792. Its original name was "Chant de guerre de l'Armée du Rhin" ("Marching Song of the Rhine Army") and it was dedicated to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian-born French officer from Cham. It became the rallying call of the French Revolution and received its name because it was first sung on the streets by troops (fédérés) from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris.

The Convention accepted it as the French national anthem in a decree passed on Bastille Day, 1795, but it was then banned successively by Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, and Napoleon III, only being reinstated briefly after the July Revolution of 1830 and then permanently in 1879.[1]

Recently, left-wing French teachers refused to teach schoolchildren the Marseillaise because they consider it to be "racist."[2]

Re-arrangements

"La Marseillaise" was re-arranged by Hector Berlioz about 1830.

Robert Schumann, while setting some Heinrich Heine poems to music, used part of the Marseillaise for Heine's "The Two Grenadiers" poem at the end of the piece when the old French soldier dies (Opus 49, No.1). Schumann also incorporated the Marseillaise as a major motif in his overture, 'Hermann und Dorothea' inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

In 1882, Pyotr Tchaikovsky used extensive quotes from the Marseillaise to represent the invading French army in his 1812 Overture. This was an anachronism, as the Marseillaise was the French anthem in Tchaikovsky's day, but not Napoleon's.

Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version in the late 1970s.

Henrik Wergeland wrote a Norwegian version of the song in 1831, called The Norwegian Marseillan.

Unofficial versions

• Yannick Noah, "Aux Rêves"
• Django Reinhardt, "Echoes Of France"
• The Beatles, as part of "All You Need Is Love"
• In 1978, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version, "Aux Armes et cetera," with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley in the choir in Jamaica, which resulted in him being threatened by members of an association of former paratroopers, who prevented him from singing it in a public concert.
• Allan Sherman, "You went the Wrong way Old King Louie" begins with a parody of the Marseillaise before heading into a recitative and then settling into a parody of You've come a long way from St. Louis. His version begins, "Louis the Sixteenth was the king of France in 1789/He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth, he was worse than Louis the Fourteenth, he was worse than Louis the Thirteenth/He was the worst, since Louis the First!")
• The Brisbane Lions Australian rules football (AFL) team theme song "The Pride of Brisbane Town".
• The carillon of the town hall in the Bavarian town of Cham plays the Marsaillaise every day at 12.05 p.m. to commemorate the French Marshal Nicolas Luckner, who was born there.
• Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee integrated the anthem as an opening to his World Cup 1998 Theme Song "The strange encounters of a soccer fan"
• English language 'rugby song' version, as known in France amongst rugby-ites
• In Monty Python's broadway musical Spamalot when confronted by French knights in the song "Run Away!"
• The 19th century Labour movement used a "Worker Marseillaise" (written 1864 by Jakob Audorf) that was later replaced by The Internationale. It was famously sung on the way to the gallows by those sentenced to death after the Haymarket Riot.

Fiction

The song's theme was used by Jacques Offenbach in his Opera "Orpheus in the Underworld" to illustrate a revolution amongst the Olympic gods and goddesses with the lines "Aux armes Dieux et Demi-Dieux".

The song was part of a famous scene in the film Casablanca in which French resistance sympathisers used the song to drown out the Nazi soldiers who were singing "Die Wacht am Rhein". Various portion of La Marseillaise appears as recurring theme throughout the film especially in the opening credits where the entire song is played. These two songs were juxtaposed in exactly the same way five years earlier, in Jean Renoir's 1937 film Grand Illusion. Renoir traced the history of the song in the film he made the following year, "La Marseillaise".

The British comedy series 'Allo 'Allo! spoofed Casablanca by having the patriotic French characters start singing "La Marseillaise", only to switch to Deutschland über alles when Nazi officers enter their cafe.

Abel Gance's film Napoléon features a striking scene in which the song is first sung by the French masses.

In the 1981 movie Escape to Victory, the final scene features the entire crowd of the stadium in occupied Paris spontaneously sing La Marseillaise at the end of the game.

Also featured in Isaac Asimov's short SF story, 'Battle-hymn' about how the national anthem is used as a subliminal advertising ploy.

Featured in the Monty Python sketches, "A Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Nose" and "A Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Brother's Nose"

Glass Joe from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, a Nintendo Entertainment System boxing game, uses part of the song as his ring theme.

In The Simpsons Movie, the townspeople of Springfield's uses the tune to make an anthem to Springfield, declaring that the French have "a few things they do well, like making love, wine and cheese".

Music

There are various versions of the music. Sheet music can be found at [3].

Lyrics

Note only the first verse (and sometimes the fifth and sixth) and the first chorus are sung today in France. There are some slight historical variations in the lyrics of the song; the following is the version listed at official website of the French Presidency

• FP National anthem (MP3 audio file).

La Marseillaise
Allons enfants de la Patrie	Arise, children of the fatherland
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !	The day of glory has arrived!
Contre nous de la tyrannie	Against us, the tyranny's
L'étendard sanglant est levé. (bis)	Bloody banner is raised. (repeat)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes	Do you hear in the fields
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?	The howling of these savage soldiers?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras	They are coming into your midst
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !	To cut the throats of your sons, your wives!
Aux armes, citoyens !	To arms, citizens!
Formez vos bataillons !	Form your battalions!
Marchons, marchons !	Let us march, let us march!
Qu'un sang impur	May tainted blood
Abreuve nos sillons !	Water our fields!
Que veut cette horde d'esclaves,	What does this horde of slaves,
De traîtres, de rois conjurés ?	Traitors, and plotting kings want?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves	For whom these vile chains
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés ? (bis)	These long-prepared irons? (repeat)
Français, pour nous, ah! Quel outrage,	Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage,
Quels transports il doit exciter !	What fury it must arouse!
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer	It is us they dare plan
De rendre à l'antique esclavage !	To return to the old slavery!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...
Quoi! Des cohortes étrangères	What! These foreign cohorts!
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers !	They would make laws in our homes!
Quoi! Ces phalanges mercenaires	What! These mercenary phalanxes
Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers ! (bis)	Would cut down our proud warriors! (repeat)
Grand Dieu! Par des mains enchaînées	Good Lord! By chained hands
Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient	Our brow would yield under the yoke
De vils despotes deviendraient	The vile despots would become
Les maîtres de nos destinées !	The masters of our destinies!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...
Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides	Tremble, tyrants and traitors
L'opprobre de tous les partis	The shame of all good men
Tremblez! Vos projets parricides	Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix ! (bis)	Will receive their just reward! (repeat)
Tout est soldat pour vous combattre	Against you, we are all soldiers
S'ils tombent, nos jeunes héros,	If our young heroes fall,
La terre en produit de nouveaux,	The earth will bear new ones,
Contre vous tout prêts à se battre !	Ready to join the fight against you!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...
Français, en guerriers magnanimes,	Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Portez ou retenez vos coups !	Bear or hold back your blows!
Épargnez ces tristes victimes	Spare these sad victims
À regret s'armant contre nous (bis)	That they may regret taking up arms against us (repeat)
Mais ces despotes sanguinaires	But not these bloody despots
Mais ces complices de Bouillé	These accomplices of Bouillé
Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitié,	All these tigers who mercilessly
Déchirent le sein de leur mère !	Ripped out their mother's breast!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...
Amour sacré de la Patrie,	Sacred patriotic love,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs	Lead and support our avenging arms
Liberté, Liberté chérie,	Liberty, cherished liberty,
Combats avec tes défenseurs ! (bis)	Fight back with your defenders! (repeat)
Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire	Under our flags, let victory
Accoure à tes mâles accents,	Hurry to your manly tone,
Que tes ennemis expirants	So that your enemies, in their last breath,
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire !	See your triumph and our glory!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...
(Couplet des enfants)	(Children's Verse)
Nous entrerons dans la carrière	We shall enter the career
Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus	When our elders will no longer be there
Nous y trouverons leur poussière	There we shall find their dust
Et la trace de leurs vertus (bis)	And the mark of their virtues (repeat)
Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre	Much less jealous of surviving them
Que de partager leur cercueil,	Than of sharing their coffins,
Nous aurons le sublime orgueil	We shall have the sublime pride
De les venger ou de les suivre !	Of avenging or following them!
Aux armes, citoyens...	To arms, citizens...

See also

• The "Belarusian Marseillaise", a patriotic song in Belarus.
• National anthem

External links

Official French government sites

• French President website
• Foreign affairs website

Other sites

• La Marseillaise - Iain Patterson's comprehensive fansite features sheet music, history, and music files. A full length six verse version of the anthem performed by David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra & Chorus can be found in the Berlioz page.
• Easybyte — free easy piano arrangement of La Marseillaise
• Adminet-France