La Marseillaise

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La Marseillaise
English: The Song of Marseille
La Marseillaise personified on the Arc de Triomphe.

National anthem of  France
Lyrics Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792
Music Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792
Adopted 1795
Music sample
La Marseillaise (1907).

"La Marseillaise" (French pronunciation: ​[la maʁsɛjɛz]) 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 "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin". However, at least since 2013, when Guido Rimonda, who was then publishing the opera omnia of the Piedmontese composer Giovanni Battista Viotti, found a manuscript dating back to 1781 which contained the Marseillaise score under the name of "Tema e variazioni in do maggiore", it seems possible that Rouget de Lisle plagiarised Viotti;[1][2][3][4] Rouget de Lisle himself never signed the Marseillaise score.

The Marseillaise was a revolutionary song, an anthem to freedom, a patriotic call to mobilize all the citizens and an exhortation to fight against the tyranny and the foreign invasion. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on 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 (see below: Musical quotations).


Rouget de Lisle, composer of the Marseillaise, sings it for the first time at the home of Dietrich, Mayor of Strasbourg (Musée historique de Strasbourg, published 1849, artist Isidore Pils)

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, the mayor of Strasbourg requested his guest Rouget de Lisle compose a song "that will rally our soldiers from all over to defend their homeland that is under threat".[5] That evening, Rouget de Lisle wrote "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin"[6] (English: "War Song for the Army of the Rhine"), and dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian in French service from Cham.[7] 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.[6] A newly graduated medical doctor, Mireur later became a general under Napoléon Bonaparte and died in Egypt at age 28.[8]


Général Mireur, 1770–1798, anonymous, terra cotta, Faculty of Medicine, Montpellier, France.

The Convention accepted it as the French national anthem in a decree passed on 14 July 1795, making it France's first anthem.[10] It later lost this status under Napoleon I, and the song was banned outright by Louis XVIII and Charles X, only being re-instated briefly after the July Revolution of 1830.[11] 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". During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, "La Marseillaise" was recognised as the anthem of the international revolutionary movement; as such, it was adopted by the Paris Commune in 1871. Eight years later, in 1879, it was restored as France's national anthem, and has remained so ever since.[citation needed]


"La Marseillaise" was arranged for soprano, chorus and orchestra by Hector Berlioz in about 1830.[12]

Franz Liszt wrote a piano transcription of the anthem.[13]

During World War I, bandleader James Reese Europe played a jazz version of "La Marseillaise", which can be heard on Part 2 of the Ken Burns TV documentary Jazz.

Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version in 1978, titled "Aux armes et cætera".[14]

Henrik Wergeland wrote a Norwegian song in 1831 called "For norge, kjaempers Fødeland" ("To Norway, Mother of the Brave"), which he called "The Norwegian Marseillaise".[15] The tune and lyrics are unrelated to the French original, however.[16]

In Peru and Chile, both the Partido Aprista Peruano ("La Marsellesa Aprista"),[17] and the Socialist Party of Chile ("La Marsellesa Socialista"),[18] wrote their own versions of "La Marseillaise" to be their anthems. Both use the original tune.[19]

Musical quotations[edit]

  • Robert Schumann used part of "La Marseillaise" for "Die beiden Grenadiere" (The Two Grenadiers), his 1840 setting (Op. 49, No. 1) of Heinrich Heine's poem "Die Grenadiere". The quotation appears at the end of the song when the old French soldier dies. Schumann also incorporated "La Marseillaise" as a major motif in his overture Hermann und Dorothea, inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and quotes it, in waltz rhythm, in the first movement of Faschingsschwank aus Wien, for solo piano.
  • Richard Wagner also quotes from "La Marseillaise" in his 1839–40 setting of a French translation of Heine's poem.
  • Claude Debussy quoted the anthem in the coda of his piano prelude, Feux d'artifice.
  • Flemish composer Peter Benoit quoted "La Marseillaise" in the overture of his 1876 opera Charlotte Corday.
  • Heitor Villa-Lobos quoted "La Marseillaise" in his 3rd ("War") and 4th ("Victory") Symphonies (both 1919). In the finale of No. 3, fragments of it form a collage with the Brazilian national anthem.
  • Max Steiner weaves quotes from "La Marseillaise" throughout his score for the 1942 film Casablanca. It also forms an important plot element when patrons of Rick's Café Américain, spontaneously led by Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo, sing the actual song to drown out Nazi officers who had started singing "Die Wacht am Rhein", thus causing Rick's to be shut down.
  • The Slovenian music group Laibach released the album Volk in 2006, which featured interpretations of various national anthems and included "Francia", a song inspired by "La Marseillaise".
  • The University of Idaho fight song "Go, Vandals, Go" includes a musical phrase from "La Marseillaise" right before the end of the song in synch with the words "So all bear down for Idaho."

Musical antecedents[edit]

Several musical antecedents have been cited for the melody:

Rouget de Lisle himself never signed the Marseillaise score.



Bold Is Selected Verses Of The Current Anthem

La Marseillaise

French lyrics English translation
Contre nous de la tyrannie, Against us tyranny's
Mugir ces féroces soldats? The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras They're coming right into our arms
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes! To cut the throats of our sons, our women!
Aux armes, citoyens, To arms, citizens,
Formez vos bataillons, Form your battalions,
Marchons, marchons! Let's march, let's march!
Qu'un sang impur Let an impure blood
De traîtres, de rois conjurés? Of traitors and conspiratorial kings want?
Quels transports il doit exciter! What fury it must arouse!
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer It is us they dare plan
Quoi! des cohortes étrangères What! Foreign cohorts
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers! Would make the law in our homes!
Quoi! Ces phalanges mercenaires What! These mercenary phalanxes
Grand Dieu! Par des mains enchaînées Great God! By chained hands
Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient Our brows would yield under the yoke
De vils despotes deviendraient Vile despots would have themselves
Les maîtres de nos destinées! The masters of our destinies!
Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides Tremble, tyrants and you traitors
L'opprobre de tous les partis, The shame of all parties,
Tremblez! vos projets parricides Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix! (bis) Will finally receive their reward! (repeat)
La terre en produit de nouveaux, The earth will produce new ones,
Contre vous tout prêts à se battre! Ready to fight against you!
Français, en guerriers magnanimes, Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Épargnez ces tristes victimes, Spare those sorry victims,
À regret s'armant contre nous. (bis) Who arm against us with regret. (repeat)
Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, But not these bloodthirsty despots,
Mais ces complices de Bouillé, These accomplices of Bouillé,
Déchirent le sein de leur mère! Rip their mother's breast!
Amour sacré de la Patrie, Sacred love of the Fatherland,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs Lead, support our avenging arms
Liberté, Liberté chérie, Liberty, cherished Liberty,
Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire Under our flags, shall victory
Accoure à tes mâles accents, Hurry to thy manly accents,
Que tes ennemis expirants That thy expiring enemies,
Aux armes, citoyens... 'To arms, citizens...
(Couplet des enfants) (Children's Verse)
Nous entrerons dans la carrière[25] We shall enter the (military) career
Nous y trouverons leur poussière There we shall find their dust
Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre Much less keen to survive them
Que de partager leur cercueil, Than to share their coffins,
Nous aurons le sublime orgueil We shall have the sublime pride
De les venger ou de les suivre Of avenging or following them
English versification, public domain[26]

Ye sons of France, awake to glory,
Hark, hark! what myriads bid you rise!
Your children, wives and white-haired grandsires.
Behold their tears and hear their cries! (repeat)
Shall hateful tyrants, mischiefs breeding,
With hireling hosts, a ruffian band,
Affright and desolate the land,
While peace and liberty lie bleeding?
To arms, to arms, ye brave!
The avenging sword unsheath,
March on, march on!
All hearts resolv'd
On victory or death!
Now, now, the dangerous storm is rolling
Which treacherous kings confederate raise!
The dogs of war, let loose, are howling,
And lo! our fields and cities blaze! (repeat)
alt: And lo! our homes will soon invade!
And shall we basely view the ruin
While lawless force with guilty stride
Spreads desolation far and wide
With crimes and blood his hands embruing?
To arms, to arms, ye brave!...
With luxury and pride surrounded
The vile insatiate despots dare,
Their thirst of power and gold unbounded,
To mete and vend the light and air! (repeat)
Like beasts of burden would they load us,
Like gods would bid their slaves adore,
But man is man, and who is more?
Then shall they longer lash and goad us?
To arms, to arms, ye brave!...
O Liberty, can man resign thee
Once having felt thy generous flame?
Can dungeons, bolts or bars confine thee
Or whips thy noble spirit tame? (repeat)
Too long the world has wept, bewailing
That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield,
But freedom is our sword and shield,
And all their arts are unavailing.
To arms, to arms, ye brave!...

Additional verses[edit]

These verses were omitted from the national anthem.

La Marseillaise

French lyrics English translation
Dieu de clémence et de justice God of mercy and justice
Vois nos tyrans, juge nos coeurs See our tyrants, judge our hearts
Que ta bonté nous soit propice Thy goodness be with us
Défends-nous de ces oppresseurs (bis) Defend us from these oppressors (repeat)
Tu règnes au ciel et sur terre You reign in heaven and on earth
Et devant Toi, tout doit fléchir And before You all must bend
De ton bras, viens nous soutenir In your arms, come support us
Toi, grand Dieu, maître du tonnerre. You Great God, Lord of the thunder.
Peuple français, connais ta gloire; French people know thy glory
Couronné par l’Égalité, Crowned by Equality,
Quel triomphe, quelle victoire, What a triumph, what a victory,
D’avoir conquis la Liberté! (bis) To have won Freedom! (repeat)
Le Dieu qui lance le tonnerre The God who throws thunder
Et qui commande aux éléments, And who commands the elements,
Pour exterminer les tyrans, To exterminate the tyrants
Se sert de ton bras sur la terre. Uses your arm on the ground.
Nous avons de la tyrannie Of tyranny, we have
Repoussé les derniers efforts; Rebuffed the final efforts;
De nos climats, elle est bannie; It is banished from our climes;
Chez les Français les rois sont morts. (bis) In France the kings are dead. (repeat)
Vive à jamais la République! Forever live the Republic!
Anathème à la royauté! Anathema to royalty!
Que ce refrain, partout porté, That this refrain worn everywhere,
Brave des rois la politique. Defies the politics of kings.
La France que l’Europe admire France that Europe admires
A reconquis la Liberté Has regained Liberty
Et chaque citoyen respire And every citizen breathes
Sous les lois de l’Égalité; (bis) Under the laws of Equality, (repeat)
Un jour son image chérie One day its beloved image
S’étendra sur tout l’univers. Will extend throughout the universe.
Peuples, vous briserez vos fers People, you will break your chains
Et vous aurez une Patrie! And you will have a Fatherland!
Foulant aux pieds les droits de l’Homme, Trampling on the rights of man,
Les soldatesques légions soldierly legions
Des premiers habitants de Rome The first inhabitants of Rome
Asservirent les nations. (bis) enslave nations. (repeat)
Un projet plus grand et plus sage A larger project and wiser
Nous engage dans les combats We engage in battle
Et le Français n’arme son bras And the Frenchman does not arm himself
Que pour détruire l’esclavage. But to destroy slavery.
Oui! Déjà d’insolents despotes Yes! Already insolent despots
Et la bande des émigrés And the band of emigrants
Faisant la guerre aux Sans-Culottes Waging war on the unclothed [lit. without-breeches]
Par nos armes sont altérés; (bis) By our weapons are withered; (repeat)
Vainement leur espoir se fonde Vainly their hope is based
Sur le fanatisme irrité, On piqued fanaticism
Le signe de la Liberté The sign of Liberty
Fera bientôt le tour du monde. Will soon spread around the world.
À vous ! Que la gloire environne, To you! Let glory surround
Citoyens, illustres guerriers, Citizens, illustrious warriors,
Craignez, dans les champs de Bellone, Fear in the fields of Bellona,
Craignez de flétrir vos lauriers! (bis) Fear the sullying of your laurels! (repeat)
Aux noirs soupçons inaccessibles As for dark unfounded suspicions
Envers vos chefs, vos généraux, Towards your leaders, your generals,
Ne quittez jamais vos drapeaux, Never leave your flags,
Et vous resterez invincibles. And you will remain invincible.
(Couplet des enfants) (Children's Verse)
Enfants, que l’Honneur, la Patrie Children, let Honour and Fatherland
Fassent l’objet de tous nos vœux! be the object of all our wishes!
Ayons toujours l’âme nourrie Let us always have souls nourished
Des feux qu’ils inspirent tous deux. (bis) With fires that might inspire both. (repeat)
Soyons unis! Tout est possible; Let us be united! Anything is possible;
Nos vils ennemis tomberont, Our vile enemies will fall,
Alors les Français cesseront Then the French will cease
De chanter ce refrain terrible: To sing this fierce refrain:

Historical use in Russia[edit]

La Marseillaise performed on a synthesizer.

Problems playing this file? See media help.


Criticism and controversy[edit]


In popular culture[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ John Lloyd, John Mitchinson (2008). Where was "La Marseillaise" written? In QI: The Book of General Ignorance - The Noticeably Stouter Edition. Faber and Faber. p. 56. Google Book Search. "The tune had been written eight years earlier. Its composer was the Italian virtuoso violinist, Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824)".
  2. ^ "La Marsigliese? E' di un italiano". L'Espresso. Retrieved 9 May 2013. , "The French anthem was copied from a piece of the Vercelli composer Giovanni Battista Viotti dating back to 1781". (article in Italian language)
  3. ^ Performance of "Tema e variazioni in do maggiore" in
  4. ^ "Il caso della Marsigliese nel secondo Violin Concertos". La Stampa. Retrieved 18 May 2013.  (article in Italian language)
  5. ^ "La Marseillaise". National Assembly of France. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
  6. ^ a b Weber, Eugen (1 June 1976). Peasants Into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. Stanford University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-8047-1013-8. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
  7. ^ Stevens, Benjamin F. (January 1896). "Story of La Marseillaise". The Musical Record (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson Company) (408): 2. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
  8. ^ "General François Mireur". Retrieved 26 January 2015. 
  9. ^ Wochenblatt, dem Unterricht des Landvolks gewidmet, Colmar 1792 [1].
  11. ^ Modern History Sourcebook: La Marseillaise, 1792.
  12. ^ Willaim Apthorp (1879) Hector Berlioz; Selections from His Letters, and Aesthetic, Humorous, and Satirical Writings, Henry Holt, New York
  14. ^ "SCANDALES DU XXe SIÈCLE - Gainsbourg métisse 'La Marseillaise' " (September 1, 2006) Le Monde, Paris (French)
  15. ^ E. John B. Allen (2007) The Culture and Sport of Skiing: From Antiquity to World War II, University of Massachusetts Press
  16. ^ Recording of "For norge, kjaempers Fødeland" at the Library of Congress
  17. ^ "La Marsellesa Aprista", Partido Aprista Peruano, Official Website
  18. ^ Boletín del Comité Central del PSCH N°34-35, April–May, 1973.
  19. ^ YouTube
  21. ^
  22. ^ Wikisource-logo.svg "Marseillaise". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.  See also Geschichte eines deutschen Liedes at German Wikisource.
  23. ^ Wikisource-logo.svg "Marseillaise". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  24. ^ La Marseillaise, l’Elysée.
  26. ^ Library of Congress
  28. ^ Bremner, Charles (14 May 2014). "Cannes star denounces ‘racist’ Marseillaise at festival opening". The Times. Retrieved 14 May 2014. 
  30. ^
  31. ^ Günther, Dionysios Solomos. Übers. und kommentiert von Hans-Christian (2000). Werke. Stuttgart: Steiner. p. 222. ISBN 978-3-515-07249-6. 
  32. ^ Balkan studies: biannual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies. 1999. p. 101. 
  33. ^ "The Letter of Marque" (1992 ed.). Norton. , page 63

Further reading[edit]

  • Charles Hughes, "Music of the French Revolution," Science and Society, vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring 1940), pp. 193–210. In JSTOR.

External links[edit]