Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-07-05
A FAMOUS SONG.
The Marseillaise and It's Inter-
esting History.
Tor . Long Time the Rallying song Of
EuroPe-Written by Young
Onicer In q Single
NIGHT.

There is an interesting account in
Music of the circumstances under
which the "Marseillaise" was written,
together with short sketch of Rouget
de Lisle, the author of this famous ma
tional air. On the oath day of April,
1892, the mayor of Strassbourg, Diet
rich, gave banquet to company of
volunteers who were about to Join the
army. Four days earlier France had
declared war on Austria and Prussia.
and in consequence the prevailing sem
timent was one of intense patriotism.
One OF the participants of the banquet
was the captain of engineers. Claude
Joseph Rouget de Lisle at that time
was thirty-two years old. He was
born on May 10, 1850, at Ions lie Saul
nier. The young officer was known as
a successful amateur musician and
poet Mayor Dietrich asked him if he
could not undertake to write a war
song for the departing volunteers.
Rouget de Isle answered yes and
went home. That whole night he sat
at his desk, and when the morning of
April 25 dawned the ''Marseillaise"
was finished 1t was the result of one
nights work. The author had called
1t Chant du Guerre de PArmee du
Rhin." The northern wing of the
French army brought the song with
them to the seat of war, and copies of it
were quickly scattered over the whole of
Alsace. In Paris it remained unknown
Tor some time. First it must pass
through Marseilles In June, 1872, the
council Of Marseilles had, on the ap-
peal OF Barbaroux, collected a number
OF volunteers ''who understood how to
die" and whose moral worth was such
as to deserve death. These 'sbrave
Marseilleans" were feasted by their fell
low citizens on June 25. A citizen bv
the name of Mireaux, from Montpel-
lier, rendered Rouget de Lisle's song.
The enthusiasm it created was ire
mendous, and on the following day the
journal des Departments Meridionaux
printed the song in it's columns under
the title, "Chant de Guerre aux Armees
des Frontieres. This was its second
title. The soldiers of Marseilles who
went to Paris brought copies of the
song with them. It was sung during
their entrance into Paris on july ID.
and again on August 10, while the Tuil-
ieries were stor1ned, it resounded from
the lips of the whole populace. Short
~ afterward its author was imprisoned
on account of his moderate opinions. {"
and was only liberated after the fall of
Robespierre. In Paris, where the his
tory OF the song was unknown, it was
called "Hymne DIES Marseillaise, as
the volunteers of Marseilles had
brought it with them This became its
final name. AS la Marseillaise" it is
not alone the patriotic song of the
French republic, but the song of liber-
ty, or rather of revolution, for the
whole world. That Rouget de Lisle
composed the melody of the ''Marseil-
laise" is hardly credible. The latest
researches would show that it is taken
from an oratorio called Esther" com
posed by Grison, of st. One, and thus
OF French origin. During the first en-
pire and the restoration the "Marseil-
laise" was prohibited. With the reyo-
luton Of July it came into fame once
more, and its author was offered a PEN
sion of six thousand francs, which.
however, was refused. Rouget de Lisle
died in 1886, at Choisy 10 Roi, where
later statue was erected to his mem
DRY. Last year the "Marseillaise" cell
ebrated its ninety-ninth anniversary
by being played before the car in
Kronstadt harbor, an occurrence the
author could not have dreamed of
when he wrote it, almost hundred
years previously, as a war song against
despots. 1t would be difficult to point
out any other song which has reached
the masses in the same manner as has
the "Marseillaise." In Europe at least
there must be few who have not heard
1t and cannot hum the melody. It's only
competitor for popularity is its abso-
Lutte contrast-the English God Save
the Queen" On these two melodies lie
hidden great part of the history of
the nineteenth century.