La Marseillaise (The Marseille [Song]; French pronunciation: [la maʁsɛˈjɛz]) is the national anthem of France. The name of the song originally was Chant de guerre pour lArmée du Rhin (War Song for the Army of the Rhine). It was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792 and adopted in 1795 as the nations first anthem. It is also the first example of the European march anthemic style. Since being adopted as Frances national anthem, the evocative lyrics and instantly recognisable tune of La Marseillaise have led to its use as a revolutionary anthem as well as to the inspiration of many pieces of classical music and popular culture. Rouget de Lisle wrote the song Chant de guerre pour lArmée du Rhin in Strasbourg on 25 April 1792, and dedicated it to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian–born French officer from Cham. The melody is an adaptation of a theme written in 1781 by Giovan Battista Viotti[citation needed]. 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. These fédérés were making their entryway into 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. A newly graduated medical doctor, Mireur later became a general under Napoléon Bonaparte and died in Egypt at 28. The songs lyrics reflect the invasion of France by foreign armies (from Prussia and Austria) underway 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. SOURCE https://princeton.edu On Tuesday 14 July, France commemorates the taking of the Bastille, a royal prison in Paris that symbolized the arbitrary power of the Monarchy. The event marked the beginning of the French Revolution — a storm that was to engulf the country for more than six years. For 220 years Bastille Day has been celebrated as the French Fête Nationale. On this occasion, the martial lyrics of the French national anthem will resound in every city, town and village across the land. La Marseillaise and its call to drench the furrows of the land with the tainted blood of the enemy hordes will be sung by schoolchildren, mayors, army personnel, pop stars, divas and veterans from last centurys wars. Despite repeated calls to replace its aggressive lyrics by more brotherly ones, la Marseillaise has remained untouched since it was composed in 1792 as The war song for the Army of the Rhine. The year was one of great peril for the young Revolution: foreign armies were massing at the borders and threatening to restore King Louis XVI — not beheaded yet... — to his throne. Alarmed by the situation and by popular unrest in Paris, the Legislative Assembly issued a call for volunteers. In Marseille, 516 young men answered by forming a battalion and decided to march on to the capital. The Fédérés, as they were called, left Marseille on 3 July and walked for 26 days until they reached their destination. All the while they sung and their favourite chant was that new War song for the Army of the Rhine they had heard at a meeting held in Marseille the previous month. The Fédérés were young and being from Marseille, they were loud, enthusiastic and outgoing. They made a strong impression on the people they met on their way to Paris and, quite naturally, the war song they sang became known as the song of the Marseillais — in short, La Marseillaise. The song was adopted as the Republics national anthem in 1795, and then banned under Napoleons rule and the subsequent return of the Monarchy. Only in 1879, under the Third Republic, was it reinstated as Frances national anthem — complete with bloody tyrants, mercenary phalanxes, sublime pride and avenging arms. SOURCE iter.org/
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:11:42 +0000
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