The Marseillaise

See also: the Marseillaise (homonymy)

the Marseillaise is the National anthem of the French Republic.

History

Creation

She was written by Rouget of Lisle to Strasbourg in the night of the 25 to the April 26th 1792 following the declaration of war to the emperor of Austria. She then carried the title of “  Battle song for the army of the Rhine   ”. The mayor of Strasbourg, the Baron DE DIETRICH, had asked Rouget of Lisle in garrison with Strasbourg to write a battle song. Mullet of Lisle turned over then to its residence in evening, street of the Titmouse (between the Place of the Iron Man and the Place Broglie). It composed this song then. The following day it presented it to the mayor Strasbourg in its residence (destroyed house replaced by the building of the bank of France to the Place Broglie). This scene was immortalisée. One finds the table with the museum of Beautiful arts of Strasbourg. It there resounds for the first time and publicly resounds for the first time thereafter on the Place Broglie, in front of the Town hall of Strasbourg.

The text is very inspired by a poster of propaganda diffused at that time. The origin of the music is discussed, since it is not signed (contrary to the other compositions of Mullet of Lisle). The seventh verse, known as verse of the children , date of October 1792; it is allotted to Jean-Baptiste Dubois, Marie-Joseph Chénier and the Dubois abbot.

Revolutionary song with the national anthem

June 22nd, 1792, a delegate of the Club of the friends of the Constitution of Montpellier, the doctor François Mireur, come to coordinate the departures of volunteers of the South towards the face, entonne for the first time at Marseilles this parvenu song from Strasbourg to Montpellier by a dubious means (the historians estimate that the circulation of travellers could contribute so that patriotic mediums of Montpellier were informed of this song, given at the time of funeral to spring 1792). After a marked speech on June 21st in front of the Club of the friends of the Constitution of Marseilles, street Thubaneau, Mireur is the guest of honor of a banquet the following day and, requested to make a new speech, he entonne the song heard in Montpellier a few days or weeks earlier. In the burning patriotic atmosphere of the hour, Mireur causes enthusiasm and the song, taken again the following day by the local newspapers, will be distributed to the Marseilles volunteers who will entonneront it throughout their walk towards Paris in July 1792.

Street Thubaneau with the Fields-Elysées, the song of Mullet of Lisle becomes the anthem of the Marseillais and soon the Marseillaise . In fact, one often wrongly allots to him to be written in Marseilles but she was indeed written in Strasbourg, street of the Titmouse. François Mireur, it, left Marseilles in front of the Marseillais to join the battalion of the volunteers of the Herald, will make a brilliant military career and will die general, in Egypt, at the 28 years age.

the Marseillaise is declared song national the July 14th 1795.

Prohibited under the Empire then the Restoration, it is given to the honor after the revolution of 1830 and becomes again national anthem under the III {{E}} République. The minister of education main road advises to practice of it the song in the schools starting from 1944, practical which is henceforth obligatory at the elementary school (private bill of the February 19th 2005, adopted the April 23rd 2005, modifying the L321-3 article of the Code of education). The Constitution S of 1946 (IV {{E}} Republic) and of 1958 (V {{E}} Republic) preserve the Marseillaise like national anthem (article 2 of the Constitution of 1958).

Considered as passeist in the Years 1970, the Marseillaise was a time forsaken with the profit of the nationalists of which the National front. Since the end of the Years 1990 however, the Marseillaise , just like the national flag, seem of return like strong republican symbols.

In the world

the Marseillaise is not only the French anthem. Like revolutionary song of the first hour, it were taken again and adopt per many revolutionists on all the continents. Thus, the Bolchevik S adopt it for anthem in 1917 before taking again another revolutionary French song, International the . The latter was written during the revolt of the common of Paris of 1871. It tends to replace the Marseillaise in the revolutionists of extreme left, because while becoming the French national anthem, this one is now associated with the official capacity of this nation.

In 1931, with the advent of the Second Spanish Republic, certain Spaniards not knowing their new anthem (Himno de Riego), accommodated the new mode by singing the Marseillaise , in a Spanish or Catalan version.

The Chinese students expressing on the place Tian' anmen also sang the Marseillaise .

During the Second world war, the cabin Most cherished liberty, created in the concentration camps Nazis, car his name of this anthem of the combatants of freedom.

Arsene Wenger having been trainer of the football team of Nagoya (in Japan) and having saved to them the Japanese cut of football, the supporters of this team encourage still today their team on the air of the Marseillaise .

Interpreters, adaptations, re-uses

Pierre Dupont, band master of the Republican guard (1927-1944) composes official arrangement of the national anthem. It is this version which is still currently of use.

But, the Marseillaise had many interpreters, of which:

One finds the outline of the melody of the Marseillaise in the concerto for piano and orchestra n°  25 (Kv 503) of made up Mozart a few years earlier: the first twelve notes of the anthem are played piano by the left hand at the end of the first movement allegro maestoso (16th, 17th minutes).

The topic of the Marseillaise was taken again by Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski in its grandiloquent Ouverture 1812 opus 49 celebrating the Russian victory of 1812 over the Napoleonean armies. One can hear the first notes of the melody there used like recurring melody reason, in opposition to the melody topics of various Russian patriotic songs.

Mel Brooks also made a recovery of it, in introduction, on her piece It' S Good To Be The King .

Charlélie Couture took again in 2006 the musical topic in a song entitled My Marseillaise with me .

Hector Berlioz arranged it for soloists, choruses and orchestra; “for all that has a heart, a voice, and blood in the veins”, it its partition writes at the head.

Law

The January 24th 2003, the whole of the deputies adopted, within the framework of the Loi of orientation and programming for the internal security (Lopsi) suggested by Nicolas Sarkozy, an amendment creating the offense of “insult” to the French flag and the national anthem, the Marseillaise . Offense sanctioned by a 6 months imprisonment and 7  500 euros of fine. A certain number of citizens and defense associations of the human rights rose against what they regard as a manifest attack with freedom of expression and against the blur maintained by the word “insult”.

The Constitutional council limited the possibilities of application:

“is excluded from the field of application of the article criticized works of the spirit, the remarks made in a private circle, as well as the acts achieved at the time of demonstrations not organized by the public authorities or not regulated by them; that the expression " demonstrations regulated by the authorities publiques" , lit by parliamentary works, must mean public demonstrations in sporting, entertaining or cultural matter being held in enclosures subjected by the laws and payments to rules of hygiene and safety because of the number of people whom they accommodate. ”

The law Fillon, aiming at reforming education and adopted in March 2005, made compulsory to the training of the Marseillaise in the nursery classes and primary starting from the re-entry 2005, in accordance with the law of the April 23rd 2005. This obligation was introduced by an amendment of the deputy UMP Jerome Rivière. One finds the obligation to teach the national anthem in other countries, like the the United States, the Serbia or the Austria.

Several associations, whose trade unions of teachers of the Basque Country, condemned in 2005 the obligation of training in elementary school of song incentive “to water our furrows of an impure blood”.

This law was in particular inspired by 2 events: the October 6th 2001, at the time of the match of Football France-Algeria with the Stade de France which was stopped by the irruption on the ground of the spectators, the Marseillaise was whistled by part of the public. This caused a strong reaction through the country; spring 2002, some supporters Corsican of the Sporting Club of Bastia again whistled the national anthem at the time of the final of the Coupe de France, causing the anger of the president Jacques Chirac, who consequently decided to boycott the handing-over of the Coupe de France to the winner.

This type of event reproduced the November 17th 2007 at the time of the friendly match of Football France-Morocco with the Stade de France.

Words and controversies

Words

The text underwent several modifications of verses.

The majority of the verses is not any more in the “official” version, that which one finds on Internet site of the Elysium. Only the first verse is sung at the time of the events. Two verses (“verses of the children”) were added later on, of which one of them has had for removed summer of the “official” version. Lastly, have regard to its character Religious, the 8th verse was removed by Joseph Servan, Minister for the War, in 1792.

On the original partition of Mullet of Lisle, one sees writing clearly “Walk, Marchez” to the refrain, which agrees with “Form your battalions”, 2nd person of plural. The official transcription is however “Goes, goes”, which would try to establish a rhyme with “battalions” and “furrows”. Actually, Rouget of Lisle was captain. And in the capacity as officer, ordered his men. From where the imperative formula.

The version known as “official” is the following one:

THE MARSEILLAISE

1er verse:

Let us go children of the Fatherland,
The day of glory arrived!
Against us of tyranny,
The bloody standard is raised, ((a))
You in the campaigns
hear Mugir these wild soldiers?
They come until in your arms
To cut the throat of your sons, your partners!

Refrain: Aux weapons, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let us go, go!
That an impure blood
Water our furrows!

Couplet 2:

What wants this horde of slaves,
Entreated traitors, kings?
For which these wretched obstacles,
These irons as of prepared a long time? ((a))
French, for us, ah! which insult
What a transport it must excite!
It is us whom one dares to contemplate
To return to the antique slavery!

Refrain

Couplet 3:

What! foreign troops
Would make the law in our homes!
What! these phalanges mercenaries
Our proud warriors would embank! ((a))
Large God! by connected hands
Our faces under the yoke ploieraient
Cheap despots would become
Masters of our destinies!

Refrain

Couplet 4: Tremble, tyrants and you perfidious
Opprobrium of all the parties,
Tremble! your parricidal projects
Finally will receive their prices! ((a))
All is soldier to fight you,
If they fall, our young heroes,
Ground in product the new ones,
Against you any loans to be fought!

Refrain

Couplet 5:

French, as warriors magnanimes,
Carry or retain your blows!
Save these sad victims,
With regret being armed against us. ((a))
But these sanguinary despots,
But these accomplices of Face,
All these tigers which, without pity,
Tear the center of their mother!

Refrain

Couplet 6: Crowned love of the Fatherland,
Lead, supports our arms avengers
Freedom, Most cherished liberty,
Engagements with your defenders! ((a))
Under our flags that the victory
Runs to your males accents,
That your expiring enemies
Your triumph and our glory see!

Refrain

Couplet 7 (known as verse of the children): We will enter the career
When our elder is not there any more,
We will find their dust
there And traces it their virtues ((a))
Much less jealous to survive to them
To divide their coffin,
We will have sublimates it pride
To avenge them or to follow them

Refrain

Polemics concerning the text

The French national anthem is a warlike song inherited the revolutionary wars. Today, in France, the character judged violent one of the words of the Marseillaise is sometimes criticized. At the time of the writing, the country was in a very violent context since France had been in war with some of its neighbors for a few months.

These is the worms That an impure blood waters our furrows which is in particular décrié. For Jaurès, it would be about an explicit reference to the blood of the victims of Terror. For others, it worms is a plagiarism of a very popular anti-English song at the time of the Guerre Seven Year old (1756 - 1763). Franco-English hatred reaches on this occasion of the tops since the Guerre One hundred Year old, and on the two sides of the Manche, the heinous texts multiply. This literature calling with resistance is a mine for certain revolutionary authors, Rouget of Isle included. “With the weapons, citizens! ” figure thus in a Ode with the French signed Ecouchard in 1762, while one finds it towards calling upon an impure blood in a Adresse with the English nation under the feather of Claude-Rigobert Lefebvre de Beauvray in 1757.

Certain men of the left will condemn the call a long time to pour the blood contained in it towards:

But it is not only on the form which the controversy carries; it is on the ideas. However, I say that the Marseillaise , large the Marseillaise of 1792, is very full with the ideas that one most violently denounces in International the . What means, I request from you, the famous refrain of the " blood impur" ? - " How one impure blood waters our furrows! " , the expression is atrocious. It is the echo of a word well étourdiment cruel of Barnave. It is known that in connection with some aristocrats massacred by the people, he exclaimed: " After is all, the blood which runs thus so pure? " Abominable matter, because as soon as the parties start to say that the blood is impure which runs in the veins of their adversaries, they are put to spread it with floods and the revolutions become butcheries. But of which right the Revolution did it fade of this degrading word and barbarian all the people, all the men who fought against it? | Jean Jaurès, “International Marseillaise and”, the Small socialist Republic , August 30th, 1903

Another interpretation considers that these worms would be a reference to the revolutionists who have impure blood contrary to the aristocrats with “noble” blood , clarifying the “racial prejudices” in the French gentlemen at the 18th century.

Because of the violent character of this text, many were temptations of rewriting of the text. Thus can one quote the version of Alphonse of Lamartine, that of Victor Hugo, Mireille Mathieu, Serge Gainsbourg and Yannick Noah with With the Trees, citizens! .

More recently, Christine Boutin, president of the Forum of the social republicans, proposed to change the order of the verses of the Marseillaise in the event of election with the presidential function into 2007, estimating that “young people in the football stadiums, in the suburbs, could feel these words like an aggression”.

Parodies

Like all Song or Chanson celebrates, the Marseillaise was often parodied with more or less of Talent by various Artiste S or Confrérie S, at humorous ends or Politique S.

See too

Random links:Vanessa | Roger Ferrien | National school of engineers de Tarbes | Jean Thissen | Tétishéri | Commutateurs_de_téléphone_de_la_classe_5