Composed in 1792, La Marseillaise became the official anthem of the French Republic a century later, in 1879. Although it has become a national emblem, one whose desecration is punishable by a fine of 7,500 euros, this revolutionary war song has lost none of its original energy. It is an energy that keeps cracking through the anthem's polished surface. Endlessly appropriated, debated, and reinterpreted, La Marseillaise is one of those works that, like sentinels from the past, have the power to wake us up.
Guillaume Mazeau historian at the université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, specializing in the French Revolution and the uses of history
Coproduction IRCAM / Bpi - Centre Pompidou.
