h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone know what the official French nayional anthem was before the French Revolution?`
In Russia, the pre Bolshevik Revolution anthem during the reign of the Romanoffs was "God save the Czar" and as well as using fragemnts of the current French national anthem in his 1812 Overture, Tchaikowsky finishes it off with "God save the Czar" bells ringing, cannons booming out for the victory

interesting question... and no answer from my part as if there was one before the marseillaise it sure has been hidden from us when i went to school...

i would be curious to know as well...

loup

Im putting my money on a Lully type anthem Loup, tho Im not sure how far back national anthems go. One thing is for sure Nobody in the world can NOT know the Italian one since MichaelSchumacher my fave F1 driver has seldom if ever been off the podium. (maybe we will get lucky & some h2g2 historian will know if the Bourbons had any anthem`

yep... i'm sure someone will see that as a challenge and will eventually find the answer...

loup

Hiya Sam, and Loup,

In my ignorance, i suspect that there wasn't any specific tune or song that was considered the 'French National Anthem' pre-revolution. Indeed, the Marseillaise wasn't just instantly 'adopted' as the national anthem... but then, you know that already.

I'm not sure when God Save the King became the 'official' national anthem for GB, but i suspect that the concept of 'official national anthems' only really became widely accepted in the 19th C.

interesting question; and my answer us off the cuff and without considerable grounds. Just what i thought...

anyway thanks for reading and commenting (albeit belated )
spiff

the only bit i remember about la marseillaise was that we were forced to learn it at school... apart from that it's a very foggy area for me... selective amnesia can be bliss... tho' when i learned that there were some parts that were not in the official version it kind of started to interest me... it was a revolutionary anthem first before being a traditional national anthem... so when the most right-wing french citizens sing it as the proud nationalists they are... they actually sing their nemesis' song...

mmmmmm... ok... i did add some poetic licence there but the irony pleases me...

and nope, i definitely can't think of any french national anthem before the marseillaise...



loup

Hi Loup,

er... i just noticed it looks a bit like i meant the comments were 'belated'!

that wasn't what i meant at all! If you see what i mean,

hi spiff...

it's ...

i realised what you meant... after a while...

talk later...

loup