La Marseillaise Explained

La Marseillaise
English Title:The Marseillaise
Alt Title:French: Chant de Guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin|italic=no
En Alt Title:War song for the Army of the Rhine
Prefix:National
Country:France
Author:Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Lyrics Date:1792
Composer:Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Adopted:14 July 1795
Until:1799
Readopted:1870
Sound:La Marseillaise.ogg
Sound Title:"La Marseillaise" (instrumental)

"La Marseillaise" 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 "" ("War Song for the Army of the Rhine").

The French National Convention adopted it as the First 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.

The italian violinist Guido Rimonda has pointed out in 2013[1] that the incipit of "Tema e variazioni in Do maggiore" of Giovanni Battista Viotti[2] has a very strong resemblance to the hymn.[3] [4] This incipit was first thought to have been published before La Marseillaise, but it appeared to be a misconception as Viotti published several variations of La Marseillaise in 1795[5] and wrote as a note "I have never composed the quartets below" (Je n'ai jamais composé les quatuors ci dessous).[6] [7] [8]

History

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 and Worshipful Master of the local Masonic lodge, asked his Freemason guest Rouget de Lisle to compose a song "that will rally our soldiers from all over to defend their homeland that is under threat".[9] [10] That evening, Rouget de Lisle wrote ""[11] (English: "War Song for the Army of the Rhine"), and dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian freemason in French service from Cham.[12] A plaque on the building on Place Broglie where De Dietrich's house once stood commemorates the event.[13] De Dietrich was executed the next year during the Reign of Terror.[14]

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.[11] A newly graduated medical doctor, Mireur later became a general under Napoléon Bonaparte and died in Egypt at age 28.[15]

The song's lyrics reflect the invasion of France by foreign armies (from Prussia and Austria) that was 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.[16]

The Convention accepted it as the French national anthem in a decree passed on 14 July 1795, making it France's first anthem.[17] It later lost this status under Napoleon I, and the song was banned outright by Louis XVIII and Charles X, being re-instated only briefly after the July Revolution of 1830.[18] 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, but the government brought back the iconic anthem in an attempt to motivate the French people during the Franco-Prussian War. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, La Marseillaise was recognized 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.

Music

Several musical antecedents have been cited for the melody:

Other attributions (the credo of the fourth Mass of Holtzmann of Mursberg)[26] have been refuted.[27]

Text

Generally only the first verse is sung.

Cultural impact and musical adaptations

"La Marseillaise" was arranged for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Hector Berlioz in about 1830.[28]

Franz Liszt wrote a piano transcription of the anthem.[29]

During World War I, bandleader James Reese Europe played a jazz version of "La Marseillaise".[30]

The anthem was used as a protest song in the Korean March First Movement protests against Japanese rule in 1919.[31]

Adaptations in other musical works

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 narodnik 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".[40]

Critique

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.[41]

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of France for most of the 1970s, said that it is ridiculous to sing about drenching French fields with impure Prussian blood as a Chancellor of the modern democratic Germany takes the salute in Paris.[42] 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.[43]

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".[44]

In 1979 a reggae version, "Aux armes et cætera" by Serge Gainsbourg, was received poorly by some in France, particularly in Le Figaro, where Michel Droit accused Gainsbourg of making money from the national anthem and suggesting that he was feeding antisemitism. Gainsbourg was also criticised for removing some of the military-focused aspects of the song.[45] [46]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Archived copy . 12 May 2024 . 12 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240512132205/https://video.espresso.repubblica.it/tutti-i-video/la-marsigliese-e-di-un-italiano/937 . live .
  2. Web site: Archived copy . . 12 May 2024 . 11 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240511161113/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxc_wpcPFlQ . live .
  3. http://www.latribune.fr/economie/france/la-marseillaise-un-hymne-a-l-histoire-tourmentee-524332.html La Marseillaise, un hymne à l'histoire tourmentée
  4. Web site: Micaela Ovale & Guilia Mazzetto . Progetti Viotti . Guido Rimonda . 24 August 2019 . it . 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 (ri-orchestrato da Berlioz con l'aggiunta delle parole da R. De Lisle). Il brano sarà presente nel secondo CD dell'integrale in uscita nel marzo 2013. . 10 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210310112437/http://www.guidorimonda.com/download/File/C.stampa_ProgettoViotti.pdf . live . .
  5. Web site: Viotti . Giovanni Battista . Six quatuor d'airs connus dialogués et variés pour deux violons, alto et violoncelle, divisés en deux Parties. 1° parte - Giovanni Battista Viotti . 2024-05-23 . MLOL . it.
  6. Book: Dellaborra, Mariateresa . Giovanni Battista Viotti: «professione musicista»: Sguardo sull'opera, lo stile, le fonti . 2017-12-31 . Società Editrice di Musicologia . 978-88-85780-04-0 . it . 23 May 2024 . 23 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240523114049/https://books.google.com/books?id=HuhFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR12&lpg=PR12&dq=Viotti+%22Je+n%E2%80%99ai+jamais+compos%C3%A9+les+quatuors+ci+dessous%22&source=bl&ots=BzFK6PZKPu&sig=ACfU3U2zvwHz0o4lHp0E_HokuhkfYzbw5A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0ifqr1KOGAxV8xQIHHWnlCeAQ6AF6BAglEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Je%20n%E2%80%99ai%20jamais%20compos%C3%A9%20les%20quatuors%20ci%20dessous%22&f=false . live .
  7. Web site: Miscellanea: "Viotti e la Marsigliese. Falso e vero o i bufalari smascherati" di Giuseppina La Face e Carlo Vitali . Accademia della Bufala . 2024-05-23 . it-IT . 28 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240228232719/https://www.accademiadellabufala.it/2017/12/19/la-marsigliese-di-viotti-ovvero-e-le-bufale-di-guido-rimonda-e-anna-trombetta/ . live .
  8. Web site: Fauré . Georges . 2020-10-15 . Curiosità: l'hymne français a-t-il été composé par un Italien ? . 2024-05-23 . Alliance Franco-Italienne de Midi-Pyrénées . fr-FR . 23 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240523114048/https://www.alliancefranco-italienne.com/curiosita-la-marseillaise-composee-par-un-italien/ . live .
  9. Dictionnaire Universelle de la Franc-Maçonnerie, p. 601 – Jode and Cara (Larousse 2011)
  10. Web site: La Marseillaise. National Assembly of France. 24 April 2012. fr. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120515104621/http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/english/la_marseillaise.asp. 15 May 2012. dmy-all.
  11. Book: Weber, Eugen. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. registration. 24 April 2012. 1 June 1976. Stanford University Press. 978-0-8047-1013-8. 439.
  12. Stevens. Benjamin F.. January 1896. Story of La Marseillaise. The Musical Record. Oliver Ditson Company. Boston, Massachusetts. 408. 2. 24 April 2012.
  13. Web site: Plaque Frédéric De Dietrich. Archi-Wiki. 19 September 2017.
  14. Louis Spach, Frederic de Dietrich, premier maire de Strasbourg., Strasbourgh, Vve. Berger-Levrault & fils, 1857.
  15. Web site: General François Mireur. 26 January 2015. 29 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140929012422/http://www.arcdetriomphe.info/officers/mireur/. live.
  16. Wochenblatt, dem Unterricht des Landvolks gewidmet, Colmar 1792 http://mfa.allegronet.de/page.php?urG=SER&urS=wochenblatt,%20dem%20unterricht%20des%20landvolks%20gewidmet .
  17. Book: Mould, Michael . The Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French . 2011 . Taylor & Francis . New York . 978-1-136-82573-6 . 147 . 23 November 2011.
  18. Web site: Modern History Sourcebook: La Marseillaise . 2023-01-22 . sourcebooks.fordham.edu . 19 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220419135909/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/MARSEILL.asp . live .
  19. http://www.latribune.fr/economie/france/la-marseillaise-un-hymne-a-l-histoire-tourmentee-524332.html "La Marseillaise, un hymne à l'histoire tourmentée"
  20. Web site: Progetti Viotti. Micaela. Ovale. Giulia. Mazzetto. Guido Rimonda. it. 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.. Just remember that 'La Marseillaise' was born from a theme with variations by Viotti written in 1781, 11 years before the appearance of the official French national anthem.. 10 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210310112437/http://www.guidorimonda.com/download/File/C.stampa_ProgettoViotti.pdf. live.
  21. Web site: La Marsigliese e il mistero attorno alla sua paternità. La Face. Giuseppina. il fatto quotidiano. 10 January 2016. 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.. 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..
  22. Web site: Viotti . Giovanni Battista . Six quatuor d'airs connus dialogués et variés pour deux violons, alto et violoncelle, divisés en deux Parties. 1° parte - Giovanni Battista Viotti . 2024-05-23 . MLOL . it . 23 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240523114046/https://edl.cultura.gov.it/item/0k539kn5om . live .
  23. Web site: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503. https://web.archive.org/web/20120205191114/http://kennedycenter.com/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2373. 5 February 2012. dead. 2013-02-03. dmy-all.
  24. Book: Lot . Arthur . La Marseillaise: enquête sur son véritable auteur . V. Palmé, 1886; Nouvelles Éditions Latines 1992 . 13 January 2020 . 11 . 1886 . 9782723304580 . 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 . 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. . 28 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240628115414/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0yO32je-jMC . live .
  25. Marseillaise. 1905.
  26. Marseillaise. See also Geschichte eines deutschen Liedes at German Wikisource.
  27. Istel. Edgar. April 1922. Is the Marseillaise a German composition? (The history of a hoax). The Musical Quarterly. 8. 213–226. 738232. 2. 10.1093/mq/viii.2.213.
  28. William Apthorp (1879) Hector Berlioz; Selections from His Letters, and Aesthetic, Humorous, and Satirical Writings, Henry Holt, New York
  29. L. J. de Bekker (1909) Stokes' Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Frederick Stokes, New York
  30. Book: Williams, Chad L.. Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era. 2010 . Chapel Hill . University of North Carolina Press . 165–166 . 9780807833940. 681746132 .
  31. Web site: 김 . 용래 . 2019-02-21 . [외신속 3·1 운동] ⑩ 일제 치하서 울려퍼진 佛혁명가 '라 마르세예즈' ]. 2024-05-02 . . ko . 2 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240502011220/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190218002100081 . live .
  32. Web site: Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 (Carnival of Vienna) | Mimi Solomon | Piano Music | Free classical music online . 18 November 2023 . 18 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231118091235/https://www.classicalconnect.com/piano_music/schumann/faschingsschwank_aus_wien/1044 . live .
  33. Web site: Why does everyone love the Marseillaise, France's national anthem? . 2023-03-26 . . 28 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240628115420/https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/travel/marseillaise/ . live .
  34. Web site: The National Anthem's predecessor and influences . June 10, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141213020237/http://malacanang.gov.ph/7815-the-national-anthems-predecessor-and-influences/. December 13, 2014. dead . Malacañang Palace.
  35. Described and played on BBC Radio 3's CD Review program "Building a Library: Elgar: Violin Concerto" (14 January 2012)
  36. https://www.lions.com.au/news/388921/origins-of-our-club-song "Origins of our Club song"
  37. How the Beatles' 'All You Need Is Love' Made History. Edwards. Gavin. 2014-08-28. Rolling Stone. en-US. 2020-04-24. 7 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200307192136/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-beatles-make-history-with-all-you-need-is-love-a-minute-by-minute-breakdown-54370/. live.
  38. Web site: The Spiritual French Revolution: A Miracle in Our Times, 5752 (1992). June 21, 2020. Chabad.org. 23 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200623201109/https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/2465274/jewish/The-Spiritual-French-Revolution-A-Miracle-in-Our-Times-5752-1992.htm#footnote18a2465274. live.
  39. Web site: Access the Animus – Interview with Sarah Schachner . 2022-12-21 . www.accesstheanimus.com . 28 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240628115417/https://www.accesstheanimus.com/Interview_with_Sarah_Schachner.html . live .
  40. Из истории отечественных государственных гимнов. dead. Соболева. Н. А.. 2005. Отечественная история. National History. ru. From the history of national national anthems. 1. 10–12. https://web.archive.org/web/20081216213339/http://www.hymn.ru/paper-soboleva-200501.pdf. 16 December 2008.
  41. Book: Bentham, Jeremy . Jeremy Bentham. Writings on the Poor Laws, Vol. I . Michael . Quinn . Clarendon Press . Oxford . 2001 . 978-0199242320 . 136 .
  42. News: Bremner . Charles . 14 May 2014 . Cannes star denounces 'racist' Marseillaise at festival opening . . 14 May 2014 . 7 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160807232231/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4089648.ece . live .
  43. News: Riding . Alan . Alan Riding . 5 March 1992 . Aux Barricades! 'La Marseillaise' Is Besieged . . 14 May 2014 . 28 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240628115434/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/05/world/aux-barricades-la-marseillaise-is-besieged.html . live .
  44. News: Simon Schama explains La Marseillaise . . 17 November 2015 . 23 November 2015 . 28 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240628115423/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-34844105 . live .
  45. Web site: Revisiting Serge Gainsbourg's version of 'La Marseillaise'. 2 April 2022. faroutmagazine.co.uk. 28 January 2024. 28 January 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240128100105/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/serge-gainsbourgs-version-french-national-anthem/. live.
  46. Web site: Aux armes et caetera. www.youtube.com. 28 January 2024. 28 January 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240128100105/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPJWZILeLzU. live.

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