La Marseillaise
- This article is about the anthem La Marseillaise, for the sculpture see La Marseillaise (sculpture).
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2 Unofficial versions 3 Fiction 4 Music 5 Lyrics 6 External links |
"La Marseillaise" is a song written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle on April 24, 1792. Its original name is Chant de guerre de l'Armée du Rhin (Marching song of the Rhine Army). It became the rallying call of the French Revolution and was so-called because it was first sung on the streets by troops (fédérés) from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris.
"La Marseillaise" was rearranged by Hector Berlioz around 1830.
In 1917, after the collapse of the tsarist regime "La Marseillaise" became the national anthem of Russia, the Russian lyrics being very different from the French lyrics. It was soon replaced with The Internationale by the Bolsheviks.
The song was banned in Vichy France and German occupied areas during World War II and singing it was an act of resistance (see also: Chant des Partisans).
In France itself, the anthem (and particularly the lyrics) has become a controversial issue since the 1970s. Some consider it militaristic and xenophobic, and many propositions have been made to change the anthem or the lyrics. However, "La Marseillaise" has been associated throughout history with the French Republic and its values, making a change unlikely.
Recently, and despite the lyrics, it was largely sung by anti-racist protesters after the accession of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the second turn of presidential election in 2002.
In 1978, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version of "La Marseillaise", "Aux Armes et cetera", with Bob Marley's band in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from right wing veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.
The song was part of a famous scene in Casablanca in which French resistance sympathizers used the song to drown out the Nazi soldiers who were singing "Die Wacht am Rhein". These two songs were juxtaposed in exactly the same way five years earlier, in Jean Renoir's 1937 film "La Grande Illusion."
There are various versions of the music. Sheet music can be found at [1]. An official version from the website of the French President can be accessed as a RealAudio File (116 KB), Wave File (660 KB), or
Note: only the first verse (and sometimes the 6th and 7th) and the first chorus are sung nowadays in France.
History
Unofficial versions
Django Reinhardt "Echoes Of France"Fiction
Music
Lyrics
French lyrics
("Couplet des enfants")
English Translation
External links