#French national anthem plus#

La Marseillaise was sung throughout the subsequent, When did La Marseillaise become the French national With the rhythm of the song, fit in with the rhyme scheme and meter, or simplyīecause they were more commonly used back in 1792. There are also vocabularyĬhoices that you may not be familiar with. Don’t forget that they’re song lyrics, soĬertain poetic devices like inversion are at play. Have still had trouble understanding some of the lines of the Marseillaise. You can find the additional five verses of La Marseillaise and their English translations here.Įven if you have a fairly advanced level of French, you may

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs’ website opts for the nos version. * Note that some versions of La Marseillaise use vos (your) instead of nos (our). To cut the throats of your sons, your women! Here are the lyrics of La Marseillaise that most of us (including French people) know, with a line-by-line English translation: In fact – otherwise, think of how long it would take to kick off state This is the case with most national anthems, However, most of the time when we hear La Marseillaise Too violent…even on the eve of the Terror. Verses were omitted once officials got involved, since they were considered

#French national anthem plus#

Verses of La Marseillaise, but today only six, plus a seventh, laterĪddition, are officially recognized. What are the lyrics of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise? As they marched through the streets of theĬapitol, they sang the catchy song, which the Parisians came to associate with – and then, back north: One day, troops from Marseilles came to Paris, to help It made it all the way to the south of France More impressive when you consider that there were no internet, MP3’s, DVD’s, Well, it traveled, as catchy tunes do, although that’s a bit The Rhine is nowhere near the southern French city of Marseilles, so how did the song end up getting its famous name? The original title of Rouget de Lisle’s song was “ Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (“War Song for the Army of the Rhine”). The same can be said for theīy various popular opera and classical compositions. Lines like this into his own original words. Like a hip-hop artist finding the perfect sample, he incorporated Posters that had been put up around the city, bearing phrases like “ AuxĪrmes citoyens, l’étendard de la guerre est déployé,” (To arms, citizens, Interestingly, Rouget De Lisle was probably inspired by The enemy was trying to put down the French Revolution and restore the monarchy. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a captain the French army, answered his friend the mayor of Strasbourg’s call for a rallying song for the local troops as they battled the Prussian and Austrian armies. Water our furrows.” 10.This is what happened in Strasbourg in 1792. To cut the throats of your sons and consorts Here is a small section of the anthem in English to give you an idea:

Which is really understandable if you think about the time period it was written in and the fact that it was used to motivate tired French troops. If you speak French, when you listen to La Marseillaise carefully you may notice that the words are a little…intense. La Marseillaise’s lyrics are pretty violent It wasn’t until 1879 that La Marseillaise was reinstated as the French national anthem, and it has remained so since. His predecessor, King Charles X, who was king for 6 years, also refused to adopt the song as the national anthem. King Louis wasn’t a huge fan of La Marseillaise either as it was an anthem for revolutionaries. After he was removed from power, France briefly returned to a monarchy with King Louis XVIII, who reigned for 10 years.

“La Marseillaise” by Jean Béraud – WikiCommonsĪs some of you may know, Napoleon was eventually exiled to Saint Helena in 1815 where he would live out the rest of his days alone. Fair question! The national anthem is called La Marseillaise because it was a hit with volunteer soldiers marching from Marseille to Paris to fight for their country. Now that you know that La Marseillaise was written in Strasbourg, you may be wondering why it’s named after Marseille instead of Strasbourg. La Marseillaise is named after the soldiers from Marseilles who first sang the anthem On July 14, 1795, the Convention made La Marseillaise the first official national anthem of the new monarchy-free France. The monarchy was officially out, and the Republic was in. It was created after the Insurrection of August 10, 1792, and was the first government that the Revolutionaries created themselves. The National Convention was the first official government of the French Revolution. Three years after Rouget de Lisle wrote La Marseillaise and presented it to the mayor of Strasbourg, it was adopted as the national anthem of France.