Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (), sometimes spelled de l'Isle or de Lile (10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836), was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. He is known for writing the words and music of the "Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin" in 1792, which would later be known as "La Marseillaise" and become the French national anthem. Rouget de Lisle was born at Lons-le-Saunier, reputedly on a market day. His parents lived in the neighbouring village of Montaigu. A plaque was placed at the precise spot of his
History of music in Paris old contredanse by the violinist Bécaut called "Le Carillon national". The song took its title from an expression, "That will happen," which Benjamin Franklin, the American envoy to Paris, had popularized, describing the American Revolution. The most famous song of the period was the "Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin" (Battle Song of the Army of the Rhine), by a young army officer, Claude Rouget de Lisle. It was first sung in public on 30 July 1791 by a battalion of volunteers from Marseille as they marched into Paris, and thereafter became known as the "Hymne des Marseillais", which