MUSIC is powerful, for it can beguile, annoy or inspire. One sentiment it readily inspires is patriotism—pride and love for one’s country. Thus, the world has followed Britain in adopting national anthems —a musical coat of arms, trademark or aural flag—for use on state occasions, sporting competition or in war. God Save the King will be the musical cynosure of Charles III’s coronation.
Such anthems were rare outside England when, in April 1792, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 31, a French army captain, heard the mayor of Strasbourg lament the lack of a good revolutionary song. De Lisle, a man of action, overnight wrote words and music for a ‘chant de guerre’ for the army of the Rhine. An instant success (which saved him from the guillotine), it was christened La Marseillaise when adopted by Provençal irregulars marching to storm the Tuileries. It is a ferocious call to war. ‘Aux armes, citoyens… let the impure blood of our enemies water the furrows of our land.’ Although not perhaps what might be expected from a country of quiet cafés and ubiquitous romance, it is the epitome of a rousing national anthem—ideal preliminary to a rugby match or bayonet charge. Napoleon Bonaparte banned it as unsuitably Republican.
Countries emerging from dismantled empires in the 19th and 20th centuries acquired anthems almost as national birth certificates. Now more than 200, they vary remarkably in style and merit, often favouring what Fanny Burney called ‘the delusive seduction of martial music’. Fatherlands, motherlands and homelands without gender utilise opera- tic marches, hymns, odes to natural beauty or melodic history lessons. Moving or turgid, ecstatic or sanguinary, some confirm, others contradict, their nation’s character.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
