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La Marseillaise
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836)
"Allons enfants de la Patrie..."
| (English translation by Pierre Gay, 1998) |
|
|
Allons
enfants de la Patrie, |
Arise
children of the fatherland |
Refrain |
Refrain |
|
Que
veut cette horde d'esclaves, |
What
do they want this horde of slaves |
| Quoi
! ces cohortes étrangères |
What! These
foreign cohorts! |
| Tremblez,
tyrans et vous perfides, |
Tremble,
tyrants and traitors |
| Français,
en guerriers magnanimes, |
Frenchmen,
as magnanimous warriors |
|
Amour
sacré de la Patrie, |
Sacred
love of the fatherland, |
|
Nous
entrerons dans la carrière |
We
shall enter into the pit |
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle
They handed him the job and he did it in one night. When Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle was asked to do a simple job of writing a basic marching song, who would have suspected that he would come up with a tune that would contribute to the fervor sweeping France during the Revolution. Eventually La Marseillaise became the national anthem of France.
Born in 1760 in Lons-le-Saunier, France, Rouget de Lisle is a man about whom not much is known. He was neither a political figure nor a famous musician, yet, while serving as a Captain of the Engineers, he composed a song that inspired the Rhine Army to reclaim Paris. Ironically, the truth about de Lisle is that he was a royalist and refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new constitution. He was then imprisoned and only escaped the guillotine because of the fact that he composed the famous song. Before his death in 1836, de Lisle wrote several novels and operas, none of which would ever achieve the success of La Marseillaise.
About La Marseillaise
La Marseillaise was originally divided into seven verses and a chorus. Most people are familiar only with the first verse and the chorus, and the tempo of the song has also been modified over time. Nevertheless, from time to time, French political leaders have requested that the song be played in its entirety using its original tempo. If one carefully listens to the song in its original tempo, slower than the modern version, one can almost feel the breeze of history blowing through the words.
On the night of April 25th 1792, Rouget de Lisle, as a member of the Rhine Army, was stationed in Strasbourg. France had just declared war on Austria and Prussia and the army was preparing to march on Paris. The mayor of Strasbourg approached de Lisle about composing a simple song that would serve as a marching tune for this march. It was first introduced when it was played at a patriotic banquet where it caputred everyone's attention with its catchy hook and melody. Then, printed copies were given to the revolutionary forces. They entered Paris singing this song, and marched to the Tuileries on August 10th of that same year. It was accepted as the official national anthem of France shortly thereafter on July 14, 1795 by the Convention. The song was banned by Napoleon III during the Empire and by Louis XVIII during the Second Restoration of 1815. Napoleon's decision was based on the song's revolutionary character and its dangerous revolutionary association. In 1830 Napoleon III had to ban it again since it was brought back by the authorities after the revolution in the July of 1830. It was finally oficially restored in 1879.
The song was originally entitled Chant de guerre de l'armeé du Rhin (in English: War Song of the Army of the Rhine). However, it became so popular with volunteer army units from Marseilles, it was simply renamed after the location of those units. And so it came to be called La Marseillaise, an anthem which is extremely special to the people of France and the Francophone world.
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