Anthems (11) – France and the United States

The “Watch on the Rhine” (“Die Wacht am Rhein”), which I mentioned in connection with Germany, is considered a bit “nationalist” and “aggressive” by non-Germans.  It calls on Germans to rise up and defend the western borders of Germany.  Of course, when it was written, in the 1840s, there was no single “Germany” to defend.  Most non-Germans don’t realize what an effect the French Revolution and its aftermath had on Germany.  The Revolution inspired Germans to rise up against inequality in their own lands—but eventually the oppression was felt to be coming from Napoleon and the French, who after all tramped through Germany on their way east against Austria and Russia.

The French, on the other hand, felt threatened by the Germans.  The inspiration for “The Marseillaise” wasn’t the fight against the King and Ancien Régime; it was the fight against the Germans on the other side of the Rhine.  So it was appropriate that the two anthems should battle each other out in the film “Casablanca.”

“The Marseillaise,” originally titled “War Song for the Army of the Rhine,” was written in 1792 (during the Reign of Terror).  It became the anthem of the French Republic in 1795—after the execution of Robespierre but before the rise of Napoleon.  It was called “The Marseillaise” (“The Song from Marseille”) because it was first sung by volunteers from Marseille.

So even though it became a great international song for revolutionaries, and was banned for being revolutionary, it was written to inspire the French Nation against the German/Prussian and Austrian invaders (who threatened to topple to revolutionary government).  Later, it was replaced by Napoleon and banned by various monarchs after the monarchy was restored.

It’s a bloody song.  “The bloody banner is raised,” it says.  “These ferocious soldiers come into your arms to kill your sons and companions.”  It continues:  “Let us march, so that an impure blood will water our furrows!”  Perhaps appropriate for a song that became a revolutionary standard!

But a stirring song to be sure!  Americans dissatisfied with “The Star-Spangled Banner” often lament that our anthem is not as beautiful as the French one!  Many Americans lament the American anthem’s glorification of war—a bloody irony, considering the French anthem.  The American anthem doesn’t glorify war; it honors endurance.  The British, during the War of 1812, had captured Washington, burned the White House, and laid siege to Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.  Francis Scott Key, a British prisoner, watched as British warships bombarded the Fort.  He wondered, during the long night, whether the American flag still waved over the fort.

But the song didn’t become the National Anthem until 1931, because the United States (like other countries we’ve discussed) didn’t feel the need to have a national anthem!  The music, after all, came from an English gentlemen’s club drinking song!  And, like the Greek anthem, it’s in 3/4 time—but not really a waltz either.

We might have chosen “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” (Charles Ives loved to quote that in his music).  Some people would prefer “America, the Beautiful” or even “This Land Is Your Land” (both share with “Deutschland Über Alles” that pesky problem of emphasizing specific geographical territory as “ours;” raising the question of who, exactly, is included as “American”—and why?).  And of course some of us grew up singing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”—to the tune, of course, of the ever-popular British National Anthem.

Okay.  I’m just about ready to tackle that one!