Today is Marseillaise Day in France. The day honours the National Anthem of France, the Marseillaise, on the anniversary of the day in 1792 when it was first sung in Paris (by 500 men from Marseilles).
10 things you might not know about La Marseillaise, the French national anthem:
It was written on 24 April 1792 by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a captain of the engineers and amateur musician. He was staying in Strasbourg at the time. War had broken out between France and Austria and P.F. Dietrich, the mayor of Strasbourg, declared that a song was needed "that will rally our soldiers from all over to defend their homeland that is under threat".
His song was called “Chant de guerre de l’armée du Rhin” (“War Song of the Army of the Rhine”), but after it became popular among volunteer army units from Marseilles it became known as “La Marseillaise”.
It was first adopted as the French national anthem in a decree passed on July 14, 1795.
Napoleon and Louis XVIII both banned it because of its revolutionary lyrics. in 1879, it was restored as France's national anthem, and has remained so ever since.
Rouget de Lisle wrote six verses of which just the first and last are generally sung on official occasions. Later on a seventh verse was added especially for children. This might have been because some of the lyrics are quite violent, referring to throats being torn out and mothers’ breasts being torn apart.
In more peaceful times, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing once said it was somewhat inappropriate to sing a song about killing Prussians when the German Chancellor was in attendance. However, attempts to change the words have never been successful.
The Russians used the song as an anthem as well during the 18th century. After the February Revolution of 1917, it was the semi-official national anthem of the new Russian republic.
Tchaikovsky uses it in his 1812 Overture to represent the invading French Army under Napoleon. It is drowned out by cannon fire, symbolising the Russian victory at the Battle of Borodino.
During World War I, bandleader James Reese Europe played a Jazz version.
The opening bars of "La Marseillaise" form the introduction to The Beatles song All You Need is Love.
The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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