La Marseillaise

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For other uses, see La Marseillaise (disambiguation).
La Marseillaise
English: The Marseillaise
The Marseillais volunteers departing, sculpted on the Arc de Triomphe
National anthem of  France
Also known asChant de Guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin (English: War song for the Army of the Rhine)
LyricsClaude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792
MusicClaude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Adopted1795–1799, 1870
Audio sample
"La Marseillaise"
(Instrumental)

"La Marseillaise" (/ˌmɑːrsəˈleɪz, ˌmɑːrseɪˈ(j)ɛz/ MAR-sə-LAYZ, MAR-say-(Y)EZ, French: [la maʁsɛjɛːz]) is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" ("War Song for the Army of the Rhine").

The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795. The song acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching to the capital. The song is the first example of the "European march" anthemic style. The anthem's evocative melody and lyrics have led to its widespread use as a song of revolution and its incorporation into many pieces of classical and popular music.

History

Rouget de Lisle, composer of the Marseillaise, sings it for the first time at the home of Dietrich, Mayor of Strasbourg (Musée historique de Strasbourg, 1849 painting by Isidore Pils)

As the French Revolution continued, the monarchies of Europe became concerned that revolutionary fervor would spread to their countries. The War of the First Coalition was an effort to stop the revolution, or at least contain it to France. Initially, the French army did not distinguish itself, and Coalition armies invaded France. On 25 April 1792, baron Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich, the mayor of Strasbourg, requested his guest Rouget de Lisle compose a song "that will rally our soldiers from all over to defend their homeland that is under threat".[1] That evening, Rouget de Lisle wrote "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin"[2] (English: "War Song for the Army of the Rhine"), and dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian in French service from Cham.[3] A plaque on the building on Place Broglie where De Dietrich's house once stood commemorates the event.[4] De Dietrich was executed the next year during the Reign of Terror.[5]

François Mireur, anonymous, terra cotta bust

The melody soon became the rallying call to the French Revolution and was adopted as "La Marseillaise" after the melody was first sung on the streets by volunteers (fédérés in French) from Marseille by the end of May. These fédérés were making their entrance into the city of Paris on 30 July 1792 after a young volunteer from Montpellier called François Mireur had sung it at a patriotic gathering in Marseille, and the troops adopted it as the marching song of the National Guard of Marseille.[2] A newly graduated medical doctor, Mireur later became a general under Napoléon Bonaparte and died in Egypt at age 28.[6]

The song's lyric reflects the invasion of France by foreign armies (from Prussia and Austria) that were under way when it was written. Strasbourg itself was attacked just a few days later. The invading forces were repulsed from France following their defeat in the Battle of Valmy. As the vast majority of Alsatians did not speak French, a German version ("Auf, Brüder, auf dem Tag entgegen") was published in October 1792 in Colmar.[7]

Belgian singer Jean Noté singing "La Marseillaise" in 1907

The Convention accepted it as the French national anthem in a decree passed on 14 July 1795, making it France's first anthem.[8] It later lost this status under Napoleon I, and the song was banned outright by Louis XVIII and Charles X, only being re-instated briefly after the July Revolution of 1830.[9] During Napoleon I's reign, "Veillons au salut de l'Empire" was the unofficial anthem of the regime, and in Napoleon III's reign, it was "Partant pour la Syrie". During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, "La Marseillaise" was recognised as the anthem of the international revolutionary movement; as such, it was adopted by the Paris Commune in 1871, albeit with new lyrics under the title "La marseillaise de la Commune". Eight years later, in 1879, it was restored as France's national anthem, and has remained so ever since.[9]

Musical

Commemorative plaque on 3, place Broglie in Strasbourg. Inscription: "Ici s'elevait l'hotel ou retentit pour la premier fois La Marseillaise chantee par Rouget de L'isle chez la maire Dietrich le 26 Avril 1792" English Translation: Here stood the hotel where the Marseillaise sung by Rouget de L'isle was heard for the first time by the mayor Dietrich on April 26, 1792

Several musical antecedents have been cited for the melody:

Other attributions (the credo of the fourth mass of Holtzmann of Mursberg[17]) have been refuted.[18]

Rouget de Lisle himself never signed the score of "La Marseillaise".

Lyrics

Only the first stanza (and sometimes the fourth 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 the official website of the French presidency.[19]

Additional verses

These verses were omitted from the national anthem.

Notable arrangements

Score of the opening lines of "La Marseillaise"

"La Marseillaise" was arranged for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Hector Berlioz in about 1830.[21]

Franz Liszt wrote a piano transcription of the anthem.[22]

During World War I, bandleader James Reese Europe played a jazz version of "La Marseillaise"[23], which can be heard on part 2 of the Ken Burns 2001 TV documentary Jazz.

Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version in 1978, titled "Aux armes et cætera".[24]

Jacky Terrasson also recorded a jazz version of "La Marseillaise", included in his 2001 album A Paris.[25]

Adaptations in other musical works

Notable use in other media

  • Stefan Zweig narrates the creation of the anthem by Rouget De Lisle in one of the Decisive Moments in History, as does Alexandre Dumas in The Countess de Charny, claiming his account comes from Rouget de Lisle's own mouth.
  • Abel Gance's film Napoléon (1927) features Harry Krimer as Rouget de Lisle and dramatizes the adoption of his song as the revolution's anthem at the Club of the Cordeliers in 1792.
  • The 1938 film La Marseillaise shows the Marseille fédérés marching to Paris and singing the anthem.
  • In the RKO film Joan of Paris (1942), "La Marseillaise" is sung by a classroom full of young schoolchildren as the Gestapo hunts their teacher, a French Resistance operative.
  • "La Marseillaise" was famously used in Casablanca (1942) at the behest of Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) to drown out a group of German soldiers singing "Die Wacht am Rhein". It was also played during the closing card of the movie. Earlier, it appeared in Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion in a similar defiant fashion, sung by French and British POWs.
  • The British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! spoofed Casablanca by having the patriotic French characters start singing "La Marseillaise", only to switch to Deutschlandlied when Nazi officers enter their café.
  • On the January 24, 1977, episode of the Steve Allen PBS fantasy/history talk show Meeting of Minds, Empress Marie Antoinette (played by Allen's wife Jayne Meadows) is introduced and walks onstage to "La Marseillaise", and immediately expresses outrage and distress, explaining that the anthem was that of the revolutionary movement that dethroned and executed herself and husband Louis XVI. Allen as host apologizes profusely for the faux pas.
  • Vanessa Redgrave sings "La Marsellaise" (in French) in the closing scene of Playing for Time, a 1980 CBS television film about the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • In the biopic La Vie en rose, chronicling the life of Édith Piaf, ten-year-old Édith is urged by her acrobat father to "do something" in the middle of a lackluster show, and she amazes the audience with an emotional rendition of "La Marseillaise".
  • The carillon of the town hall in the Bavarian town of Cham plays "La Marseillaise" every day at 12.05 pm to commemorate the French Marshal Nicolas Luckner, who was born there.[30]
  • In the Stanley Kubrick film Paths of Glory (1957), "La Marseillaise" is played instrumentally during the opening credits.
  • The Brisbane Lions Australian Rules football team's theme song has been set to "La Marseillaise" since 1962. Numerous other minor Australian rules football teams also use the song.[31][32]

Historical Russian use

In Russia, "La Marseillaise" was used as a republican revolutionary anthem by those who knew French starting in the 18th century, almost simultaneously with its adoption in France. In 1875 Peter Lavrov, a narodist revolutionary and theorist, wrote a Russian-language text (not a translation of the French one) to the same melody. This "Worker's Marseillaise" became one of the most popular revolutionary songs in Russia and was used in the Revolution of 1905. After the February Revolution of 1917, it was used as the semi-official national anthem of the new Russian republic. Even after the October Revolution, it remained in use for a while alongside The Internationale.[33]

Criticism and controversy

The English philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham, who was declared an honorary citizen of France in 1791 in recognition of his sympathies for the ideals of the French Revolution, was not enamoured of "La Marseillaise". Contrasting its qualities with the "beauty" and "simplicity" of "God Save the King", he wrote in 1796:

The War whoop of anarchy, the Marseillais Hymn, is to my ear, I must confess, independently of all moral association, a most dismal, flat, and unpleasing ditty: and to any ear it is at any rate a long winded and complicated one. In the instance of a melody so mischievous in its application, it is a fortunate incident, if, in itself, it should be doomed neither in point of universality, nor permanence, to gain equal hold on the affections of the people.[34]

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a former President of France, has said that it is ridiculous to sing about drenching French fields with impure Prussian blood as a German Chancellor takes the salute in Paris.[35] A 1992 campaign to change the words of the song involving more than 100 prominent French citizens, including Danielle Mitterrand, wife of then-President François Mitterrand, was unsuccessful.[36]

The British historian Simon Schama discussed "La Marseillaise" on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on 17 November 2015 (in the immediate aftermath of the Paris attacks), saying it was "... the great example of courage and solidarity when facing danger; that's why it is so invigorating, that's why it really is the greatest national anthem in the world, ever. Most national anthems are pompous, brassy, ceremonious, but this is genuinely thrilling. Very important in the song ... is the line 'before us is tyranny, the bloody standard of tyranny has risen'. There is no more ferocious tyranny right now than ISIS, so it's extremely easy for the tragically and desperately grieving French to identify with that".[37]

See also

References

  1. ^ "La Marseillaise" (in French). National Assembly of France. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b Weber, Eugen (1 June 1976). Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. Stanford University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-8047-1013-8. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  3. ^ Stevens, Benjamin F. (January 1896). "Story of La Marseillaise". The Musical Record (408). Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson Company: 2. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  4. ^ "Plaque Frédéric De Dietrich". Archi-Wiki. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. ^ (in French) Louis Spach, Frederic de Dietrich, premier maire de Strasbourg., Strasbourgh, Vve. Berger-Levrault & fils, 1857.
  6. ^ "General François Mireur". Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  7. ^ Wochenblatt, dem Unterricht des Landvolks gewidmet, Colmar 1792 [1].
  8. ^ Mould, Michael (2011). The Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French. New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-136-82573-6. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  9. ^ a b Paul Halsall (1997),Modern History Sourcebook: "La Marseillaise", 1792.[better source needed]
  10. ^ "La Marseillaise, un hymne à l'histoire tourmentée" by Romaric Godin, La Tribune, 20 November 2015 (in French)
  11. ^ Micaela Ovale & Guilia Mazzetto. "Progetti Viotti" (PDF). Guido Rimonda (in Italian). Guido Rimonda. Retrieved 24 August 2019. Basti ricordare che "La Marsigliese" nasce da un tema con variazioni di Viotti scritto nel 1781, ben 11 anni prima della comparsa dell'inno nazionale francese ufficiale. English Translation Just remember that "La Marsigliese" was born from a theme with variations by Viotti written in 1781, 11 years before the appearance of the official French national anthem
  12. ^ La Face, Giuseppina. "La Marsigliese e il mistero attorno alla sua paternità". il fatto quotidiano. Retrieved 10 January 2020. A dicembre la Camerata Ducale, diretta dal violinista Guido Rimonda, ha eseguito un Tema con variazioni per violino e orchestra sulla Marsigliese, attribuito al grande compositore vercellese Giovan Battista Viotti. Rimonda, che per la Decca sta registrando gli opera omnia dell'illustre concittadino, possiede un manoscritto del Tema con variazioni firmato "GB Viotti" e datato "1781"....... Nel libriccino che accompagna il CD Decca del 2013, è riprodotta la prima pagina del manoscritto. Secondo un esperto di Viotti, il canadese Warwick Lister (Ad Parnassum, XIII, aprile 2015), la firma di Viotti in alto a destra potrebbe essere autentica, ma le parole "2 mars 1781" sono di un'altra mano. Non si può dunque escludere che Viotti abbia davvero scritto una serie di variazioni su un tema che tutt'Europa conobbe a metà degli anni 1790; ma l'idea che il brano risalga al decennio precedente, e che la paternità musicale dell'inno vada girata a un violinista vercellese, è appesa all'esile filo di una data d'incerta mano su un manoscritto d'incerta provenienza. Translation: In December the Camerata Ducale, conducted by the violinist Guido Rimonda , performed a Theme with variations for violin and orchestra on the Marseillaise , attributed to the great Vercelli composer Giovan Battista Viotti . Rimonda, who for the Decca is recording the opera omnia of the illustrious fellow citizen, owns a manuscript of the Theme with variations signed "GB Viotti" and dated "1781"....... In the booklet accompanying the 2013 Decca CD, the first page of the manuscript is reproduced. According to an expert from Viotti, the Canadian Warwick Lister ( Ad Parnassum, XIII, April 2015), Viotti's signature on the top right may be authentic, but the words "2 mars 1781" are from another hand. It cannot therefore be excluded that Viotti actually wrote a series of variations on a theme that all of Europe knew in the mid-1790s; but the idea that the piece dates back to the previous decade, and that the musical authorship of the hymn should be turned to a Vercelli violinist, hangs on the slender thread of a date of uncertain hand on a manuscript of uncertain origin.
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Lot, Arthur (1886). "La Marseillaise: enquête sur son véritable auteur". Google Books. V. Palmé, 1886; Nouvelles Éditions Latines 1992. p. 11. Retrieved 13 January 2020. Cette partition musicale, que ma famille possède toujours, avait été écrite par Jean-Baptiste Lucien Grisons, chef de maîtrise à la cathédrale de Saint-Omer de 1775 à 1787. Or l'air des Stances sur la Calamnie, par laquelle débute cet oratorio, n'est autre que l'air de la Marseillaise. English Translation: This musical score, which my family still owns, was written by Jean-Baptiste Lucien Grisons, chief of master at the cathedral of Saint-Omer from 1775 to 1787. Now the tune of Stances on Calamnia, with which this oratorio begins , is none other than the air of the Marseillaise.
  15. ^ Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Marseillaise" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  16. ^ "La Marseillaise". en.wikisource.org. Wikipedia. 1905. Retrieved 13 January 2020. Rouget wrote the words during the night, adapting the music probably from the Oratorio Esther, by Jean Baptiste Lucien Grison, and calling it the Chant de guerre de l'armée du Rhin.
  17. ^ Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Marseillaise" . The American Cyclopædia. See also Geschichte eines deutschen Liedes at German Wikisource.
  18. ^ Istel, Edgar (April 1922). "Is the Marseillaise a German composition? (The history of a hoax)". The Musical Quarterly. 8 (2): 213–226. doi:10.1093/mq/viii.2.213. JSTOR 738232.
  19. ^ La Marseillaise, l'Elysée.
  20. ^ The seventh verse was not part of the original text; it was added in 1792 by an unknown author.
  21. ^ William Apthorp (1879) Hector Berlioz; Selections from His Letters, and Aesthetic, Humorous, and Satirical Writings, Henry Holt, New York
  22. ^ L.J. de Bekker (1909) Stokes' Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Frederick Stokes, New York
  23. ^ Williams, Chad L. (2013). Torchbearers of Democracy African American Soldiers in the World War I Era. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-0496-1. OCLC 957516717.
  24. ^ "Scandales du XXe siècle – Gainsbourg métisse 'La Marseillaise'" (1 September 2006) Le Monde, Paris (in French)
  25. ^ "La Marseillaise". Shazam. Apple Inc. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  26. ^ Described and played on BBC Radio 3's CD Review program (14 January 2012)
  27. ^ Edwards, Gavin; Edwards, Gavin (28 August 2014). "How the Beatles' 'All You Need Is Love' Made History". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  28. ^ "La Marsellesa Aprista" Archived 18 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Partido Aprista Peruano, Official Website
  29. ^ Boletín del Comité Central del PSCH N°34–35, April–May 1973.
  30. ^ Cham.de Archived 28 January 1999 at archive.today
  31. ^ "Origins of our Club song". Brisbane Lions. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  32. ^ "Serif's WebPlus.net hosting service has now closed!". www.ozsportshistory.com. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  33. ^ Соболева, Н.А. 2005. Из истории отечественных государственных гимнов. Журнал "Отечественная история", 1. P.10-12 Archived 16 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Bentham, Jeremy (2001). Quinn, Michael (ed.). Writings on the Poor Laws, Vol. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0199242320.
  35. ^ Bremner, Charles (14 May 2014). "Cannes star denounces 'racist' Marseillaise at festival opening". The Times. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  36. ^ Riding, Alan (5 March 1992). "Aux Barricades! 'La Marseillaise' Is Besieged". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  37. ^ "Simon Schama explains La Marseillaise". BBC News. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Marseillaise.

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