Ah! ça ira
Encyclopedia
"Ah ! ça ira" is an emblematic song of the French Revolution
, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain
.
The music is a popular contredanse air called le Carillon national, and was composed by Bécourt, a violin
ist (according to other sources: side drum
player) of the théâtre Beaujolais. The queen Marie Antoinette
herself is said to have often played the music on her harpsichord
.
The title and theme of the refrain were inspired by Benjamin Franklin
, in France as a representative of the Continental Congress
, who was very popular among the French people. When asked about the American Revolutionary War
, he would reportedly reply, in somewhat broken French
, "Ça ira, ça ira" ("It'll be fine").
The song first became popular as a worksong during the preparation for the Fête de la Fédération
of 1790 and eventually became recognized as an unofficial anthem of revolutionaries.
and the clergy
.
, and, during the Directory
, it became mandatory to sing it before shows. It was forbidden under the Consulate
.
The ship of the line
La Couronne was renamed Ça Ira
in 1792 in reference to this song.
At the 1793 Battle of Famars
, the 14th Regiment of Foot, The West Yorkshire Regiment, attacked the French to the music of Ça Ira. The regiment was later awarded the tune as a battle honour and regimental quick march
. It has since been adopted by the Yorkshire Regiment
.
Carl Schurz
, in , reported from exile in England
that upon Napoleon III's coup d'état
of 2 December 1851
, “Our French friends shouted and shrieked and gesticulated and hurled opprobrious names at Louis Napoleon and cursed his helpers, and danced the Carmagnole
and sang ‘Ça Ira.’”
for the soundtrack of the film Si Versailles m'était conté, by Sacha Guitry
.
The song is featured in the Richard E. Grant
film The Scarlet Pimpernel, where the lyrics are sung in English as follows :
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
.
Original version
The author of the original words "Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira", Ladré, was a former soldier who made a living as a street singer.The music is a popular contredanse air called le Carillon national, and was composed by Bécourt, a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist (according to other sources: side drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
player) of the théâtre Beaujolais. The queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
herself is said to have often played the music on her harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
.
The title and theme of the refrain were inspired by Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, in France as a representative of the Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
, who was very popular among the French people. When asked about the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, he would reportedly reply, in somewhat broken French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, "Ça ira, ça ira" ("It'll be fine").
The song first became popular as a worksong during the preparation for the Fête de la Fédération
Fête de la Fédération
The Fête de la Fédération of the 14 July 1790 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the establishment of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France and what people of the time considered to be the happy conclusion of the French Revolution the outcome hoped for by the...
of 1790 and eventually became recognized as an unofficial anthem of revolutionaries.
Sans-culotte version
At later stages of the revolution, many sans-culottes used several much more aggressive stanzas, calling for the lynching of the nobilityNobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
and the clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
.
Post-revolutionary use
The song survived past the Reign of TerrorReign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, and, during the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
, it became mandatory to sing it before shows. It was forbidden under the Consulate
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
.
The ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
La Couronne was renamed Ça Ira
French ship Ça Ira
Five ships of the French Navy have borne the name Ça Ira in honour of the revolutionary anthem Ah! ça ira:* Couronne , an 80-gun ship of the line, was renamed Ça Ira in 1792* A gunship...
in 1792 in reference to this song.
At the 1793 Battle of Famars
Battle of Famars
The Battle of Famars was fought on 23 May 1793 during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. An Allied Austrian, Hanoverian, and British army under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld defeated the French Army of the North led by General François Joseph Drouet Lamarche...
, the 14th Regiment of Foot, The West Yorkshire Regiment, attacked the French to the music of Ça Ira. The regiment was later awarded the tune as a battle honour and regimental quick march
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
. It has since been adopted by the Yorkshire Regiment
Yorkshire Regiment
The Yorkshire Regiment is one of the largest infantry regiments of the British Army. The regiment is currently the only line infantry or rifles unit to represent a single geographical county in the new infantry structure, serving as the county regiment of Yorkshire covering the historical areas...
.
Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz
Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
, in , reported from exile in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
that upon Napoleon III's coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 2 December 1851
French coup of 1851
The French coup d'état on 2 December 1851, staged by Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte , ended in the successful dissolution of the French National Assembly, as well as the subsequent re-establishment of the French Empire the next year...
, “Our French friends shouted and shrieked and gesticulated and hurled opprobrious names at Louis Napoleon and cursed his helpers, and danced the Carmagnole
Carmagnole
La Carmagnole, the name of the short jacket worn by working-class militant sans-culottes adopted from the Piedmontese peasant costume whose name derives from the town of Carmagnola, is the title of a French song created and made popular during the French Revolution, based on a tune and a wild dance...
and sang ‘Ça Ira.’”
Modern adaptations
An alternate "sans-culotte"-like version was sung by Edith PiafÉdith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
for the soundtrack of the film Si Versailles m'était conté, by Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
.
The song is featured in the Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
film The Scarlet Pimpernel, where the lyrics are sung in English as follows :
Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira Over in France there's a revolution Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira Watch what you say or you'll lose your head Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira Pass some time, see an execution! Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira Une deux trois and you fall down dead Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira Hear the tale of Marie Antoinette-a! Ah Ça Ira, Ça Ira, Ça Ira A bloodier sight you have never seen! |
External links
- "Ça ira" sung by Edith Piaf, 1954 (mp3)
- "Ça ira", original version (mp3)
- "Ça Ira" from the Modern History Sourcebook website of Fordham UniversityFordham UniversityFordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, includes translation and discussion of lyrics (song title translated as "We Will Win!")