About

A captain in the Corps of Engineers stationed at Strasbourg, Rouget de Lisle also wrote poetry and music. He had already supplied the words for an Hymne à la Liberté performed during celebrations of the Constitution when, in April 1792, the mayor Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich asked him to compose a war song. Rouget de Lisle wrote the Chant de guerre pour l’armée du Rhin during the night of 25 to 26 April. Printed and carried to Marseille, it was adopted by the Marseille volunteers on their march to Paris and became known as La Marseillaise. A constitutional monarchist, Rouget de Lisle was suspended from military service after 10 August for refusing a new oath, briefly returned to duty and was imprisoned as a suspect in 1793. Released after Thermidor, he pursued several unsuccessful literary and commercial ventures and experienced prolonged financial difficulties. Louis-Philippe granted him a pension in 1830, and he died at Choisy-le-Roi in 1836