Chant du départ

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The Chant du Départ (French for "Song of the Departure") is a revolutionary and war song written by Étienne Nicolas Méhul (music) and Marie-Joseph Chénier (words) in 1794. It was the official anthem of the First Empire.

The song was nicknamed "brother of the Marseillaise" by Republican soldiers. It was presented to Robespierre, who called it "magnificent and republican poetry way beyond anything ever made by the Girondin Chénier."[citation needed]

The song was first performed by the orchestra and choirs of the Music academy on 14 July 1794. 17,000 copies of the music sheets were immediately printed and distributed in the 14 Armies of the Republic. The song became the official anthem of the First Empire, Napoléon preferring it over the Marseillaise. The original title was Anthem to Liberty, but was changed by Robespierre.[citation needed]

The song is a musical tableau: each of the seven stanzas is sung by a different character or group of characters:

  • The first stanza is the discourse of a deputy cheering his soldiers and encouraging them for the fight for the Republic
  • The second stanza is the song of a mother offering the life of her son to the patry
  • The fourth stanza is sung by children exalting Joseph Bara and Joseph Agricol Viala, children of 12 and 13 respectively, who died for France:
    • Surrounded by Vendeans, Bara was ordered to shout "Long live Louis XVII"; he shouted "Long live the Republic" instead and was executed on the spot.
    • Viala was killed by a bullet as he was trying to sabotage an enemy bridge. His last were "I die, but I die for the Republic."

(Both these stories are heavily romanticized.)

The song survived both the Revolution and the Empire, and is still in the repertoire of the French Army. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing even used it as his campaigning song during the presidential elections of 1974. As a president of the Republic, he would often have it played by troops, along with the Marseillaise.

[edit] Lyrics

Un député du Peuple A deputy of the People
La victoire en chantant

Nous ouvre la barrière.
La Liberté guide nos pas.
Et du Nord au Midi
La trompette guerrière
A sonné l'heure des combats.
Tremblez ennemis de la France
Rois ivres de sang et d'orgueil.
Le Peuple souverain s'avance,
Tyrans descendez au cercueil.

La République nous appelle
Sachons vaincre ou sachons périr
Un Français doit vivre pour elle
Pour elle un Français doit mourir.

Victory singing

Opens for us the gates
Liberty guides our steps
And from the North to the South
The war trumpet
Signals the hour of the fight
Tremble, enemies of France
Kings drunk on blood and pride
The sovereign People comes forth
Tyrants go down to your graves

The Republic is calling us
Let us prevail or let us perish
A Frenchman must live for her
For her a Frenchman must die

Chant des guerriers (Refrain) Song of the Warriors (Chorus)
La République nous appelle

Sachons vaincre ou sachons périr
Un Français doit vivre pour elle
Pour elle un Français doit mourir.

The Republic is calling us

Let us prevail or let us perish
A Frenchman must live for her
For her a Frenchman must die

Une mère de famille A mother of a family
De nos yeux maternels ne craignez pas les larmes :

Loin de nous de lâches douleurs !
Nous devons triompher quand vous prenez les armes :
C'est aux rois à verser des pleurs.
Nous vous avons donné la vie,
Guerriers, elle n'est plus à vous ;
Tous vos jours sont à la patrie :
Elle est votre mère avant nous.
(Refrain)

Do not fear that our motherly eyes should weep

From us begone, cowardly grief!
We must triumph when you bear arms
It is kings who have to weep
We gave you life
Warriors, it is no longer yours
All your days belong to the Motherland
It is your mother above all
(Chorus)

Deux vieillards Two old men
Que le fer paternel arme la main des braves ;

Songez à nous au champ de Mars ;
Consacrez dans le sang des rois et des esclaves
Le fer béni par vos vieillards ;
Et, rapportant sous la chaumière
Des blessures et des vertus,
Venez fermer notre paupière
Quand les tyrans ne seront plus.
(Refrain)

May the fatherly iron arm, the hand of the braves

Think of us on the Field of Mars (battlefield)
Bless with the blood of the kings and of the slaves
the arms blessed by your elder
And bringing back home
wounds and virtues
come and close our lids
when tyrants are no more
(Chorus)

Un enfant A child
De Barra, de Viala le sort nous fait envie ;

Ils sont morts, mais ils ont vaincu.
Le lâche accablé d'ans n'a point connu la vie :
Qui meurt pour le peuple a vécu.
Vous êtes vaillants, nous le sommes :
Guidez-nous contre les tyrans ;
Les républicains sont des hommes,
Les esclaves sont des enfants.
(Refrain)

The fates of Barra and Viala fill us with envy

They died, but they prevailed
The coward plagued with years never experienced life
He who dies for the People has lived
You are brave, we are too
Guide us against Tyrants
Republicans are men
Slaves are children
(Chorus)

Une épouse A wife
Partez, vaillants époux ; les combats sont vos fêtes ;

Partez, modèles des guerriers ;
Nous cueillerons des fleurs pour en ceindre vos têtes :
Nos mains tresserons vos lauriers.
Et, si le temple de mémoire
S'ouvrait à vos mânes vainqueurs,
Nos voix chanterons votre gloire,
Nos flancs porteront vos vengeurs.
(Refrain)

Leave, valiant husbands! Battles are your feasts

Leave, models for warriors
We shall pick flowers to crown your heads
Our hands shall braid laurels
And if the temple of memory (death)
Should open for your victorious manes
Our voices shall sing your glory
Our wombs shall bear your avengers
(Chorus)

Une jeune fille A young girl
Et nous, sœurs des héros, nous qui de l'hyménée

Ignorons les aimables nœuds ;
Si, pour s'unir un jour à notre destinée,
Les citoyens forment des vœux,
Qu'ils reviennent dans nos murailles
Beaux de gloire et de liberté,
Et que leur sang, dans les batailles,
Ait coulé pour l'égalité.
(Refrain)

And we, sister of the heroes, we who of Hymenaios

ignore the loveable knots
if, for uniting themselves some day with our destiny
a citizen would express the wish
let them come back in our walls
embellished with glory and liberty
and that their blood, in battles
would have been spilled for equality
(Chorus)

Trois guerriers Three warriors
Sur le fer devant Dieu, nous jurons à nos pères,

À nos épouses, à nos sœurs,
À nos représentants, à nos fils, à nos mères,
D'anéantir les oppresseurs :
En tous lieux, dans la nuit profonde,
Plongeant l'infâme royauté,
Les Français donneront au monde
Et la paix et la liberté.
(Refrain)

On the iron, before God, we swear to our fathers

to our wifes, to our sisters
to our representatives, to our sons, to our mothers
that we shall annihilate oppressors
Everywhere, into the deep night
by sinking the infamous royalty
the French shall give to the world
peace and liberty
(Chorus)

[edit] External links

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