La Marseillaise... ou "Les Marseillaises"?
On July 14th , the French celebrate the " Fête Nationale ," the French National Holiday. If you'd like to learn more about this Holiday and how we celebrate it in France, I recommend you check out this page . (In English, with French vocabulary and short texts.) One element of the celebrations is the French National Anthem, which is called " La Marseillaise ". So why, then, is this blogpost's title " Les Marseillaises "? There is only one official " Marseillaise ," composed during the war that followed the French Revolution, but over the decades many people have complained about its violent, belligerent lyrics, and some have proposed alternative versions. In our class handout, you'll discover, on top of the official song, two of those alternative, more pacific (but unfortunately almost unknown) Marseillaises . 1. La Marseillaise de Rouget de Lisle The first song in the handout is the first stanza and the choru...