Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle | |
|---|---|
 Rouget de Lisle in 1835 | |
| Born | 10 May 1760 (1760-05-10) Lons-le-Saunier, France |
| Died | 26 June 1836 (1836-06-27) (aged 76) Choisy-le-Roi,Seine-et-Oise, France |
| Allegiance | France |
| Branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1784–1793 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Awards | Chevalier.Legion of Honour (1831)[1][2] |
| Other work | Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin/ "La Marseillaise" |
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle[a] (French:[klodʒozɛfʁuʒɛd(ə)lil]; 10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836) was a French army officer of theFrench Revolutionary Wars. Lisle is known for writing the words and music of theChant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin, which would later be known asLa Marseillaise and become the Frenchnational anthem.[4]
Rouget de Lisle was born atLons-le-Saunier, reputedly on a market day. His parents lived in the neighbouring village ofMontaigu.[5] A plaque was placed at the precise spot of his birth and a statue erected in the town's center in 1882. He was the eldest son of Claude Ignace Rouget (5 April 1735 – 6 August 1792) atOrgelet and Jeanne Madeleine Gaillande (2 July 1734 – 20 March 1811).[6]
In 1784, he was initiated into "Les Frères discrets", amasonic lodge inCharleville, just after being promoted officer.[7]
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He enlisted into the army as an engineer and attained the rank of captain. A royalist like his father, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new constitution.[1] Rouget de Lisle was cashiered and thrown into prison in 1793, narrowly escaping the guillotine.[4] He was freed during theThermidorian Reaction and retired to Montaigu.[1]
The song that has immortalized him, "La Marseillaise", was composed atStrasbourg, where Rouget de Lisle was garrisoned in April 1792. However, another composition with the same tune[8] was composed 11 years before by the Italian composerGiovan Battista Viotti at the court ofMarie Antoinette. France had just declared war on Austria, and the mayor of Strasbourg and worshipful master of the local masonic lodge,baronPhilippe-Frédéric de Dietrich, held a dinner for the officers of the garrison, at which he lamented that France had no national anthem. Rouget de Lisle returned to his quarters and wrote the words in a fit of patriotic excitement. The piece was at first calledChant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin ("War Song for theArmy of the Rhine") and only received its name ofMarseillaise from its adoption by theProvençal volunteers whomBarbaroux introduced into Paris and who were prominent in the storming of theTuileries Palace on10 August 1792.[4][2]
After the war, Rouget de Lisle wrote a few other songs of the same kind as the "Marseillaise", and in 1825 he publishedChants français (French Songs) in which he set to music fifty poems by various authors. HisEssais en vers et en prose (Essays in Verse and Prose, 1797) contains theMarseillaise; aprose taleAdelaide et Monville of the sentimental kind; and some occasional poems.[4] He returned to public life after theJuly Revolution and was awarded theLegion of Honour byLouis Philippe I.[2]
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Rouget de Lisle died in poverty inChoisy-le-Roi, Val de Marne.[9] His mortal remains were transferred fromChoisy-le-Roi cemetery to theInvalides on 14 July 1915, duringWorld War I.[9][10][11]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rouget de Lisle, Claude Joseph".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 770.
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