Marche Henri IV
Encyclopedia
"Marche Henri IV," alternatively "Vive Henri IV" or "Vive le roi Henri" was the nominal national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

 of the Kingdom of France
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France was one of the most powerful states to exist in Europe during the second millennium.It originated from the Western portion of the Frankish empire, and consolidated significant power and influence over the next thousand years. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, developed a...

 up until the French Revolution
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...

 in 1789, then again by the restored monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 after 1815. This modified version is rarely sung due to its paradoxical ending which was added by the royalists. Marche Henri IV was composed around 1590 and refers to the first Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

 King of France, Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....

 (Henry III of Navarre), who had ended the wars of religion and restored peace to France.

Lyrics in Renaissance 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...

 

Vive Henri quatre

Vive ce Roi vaillant

Ce diable à quatre

A le triple talent

chorus
De boire et de battre

Et d'être un vers galant

De boire et de battre

Et d'être un vers galant

Au diable guerres

Rancunes et partis

Commes nos pères

Chantons en vrais amis

chorus
Au choc des verres

Les roses et les lys

Au choc des verres

Les roses et les lys

Chantons l'antienne

Qu'on chant'ra dans mille ans

Que Dieu maintienne

En paix ses descendants

chorus
Jusqu'à c'e qu'on prenne

La lune avec les dents

Jusqu'à c'e qu'on prenne

La lune avec les dents

Vive la France

Vive le roi Henri

Qu'à Reims on danse

En disant comme Paris

chorus
Vive la France

Vive le roi Henri

Vive la France

Vive le roi Henri

Translation

Roughly translated into English, this becomes:

Long live Henry IV
Long live this valiant king
This fourfold devil
With the three talents
Of drinking, fighting
And womanising

To hell with wars
And enmity, and spouses
Let us all together
Sing as true friends
Clink the glasses
The roses and the lilies

Let us sing the refrain
That we will sing in a thousand years:
May God maintain
His descendants in peace
Until we take the moon with our teeth (i.e. achieve the impossible)

Long live France
Long live king Henry
To Reims we dance
Singing as they do in Paris
Long live France
Long live king Henry

Later, these rather jocular lyrics were replaced with more dignified and ones which suited the French Kings during the Restoration. This new version of Marche Henri IV became an anthem to monarchy.

Lyrics in revolutionary France

Aristocrate,

Te voilà donc tondu !

Le Champ-de-Mars

Te fout la pelle au cul;

Aristocrate,

Te voilà confondu !

Aristocrate,

Te voilà confondu !


Tout's vos noirceurs

Et vos projets tissu

A la Nation

Ils pendent tous au cul !

Aristocrate,

Te voilà donc foutu !

Aristocrate,

Te voilà donc foutu !


Aristocrates,

Vous voilà dans l' bahut !

J' bais'rons vos femmes

Et vous serez tous cocus;

Aristocrates,

Je vous vois tous cornus.

Aristocrates,

Je vous vois tous cornus.


Aristocrates,

Il vous faut un repos !

Le scenis du Diable

Sera votre tombeau

Aristocrates,

Il vous faut un repos !

Aristocrates,

Il vous faut un repos !


Buvons mes frères,

A la fédération !

Le pont en vient

Avec notre union

Buvons mes frères,

A toute la Nation !

Buvons mes frères,

A toute la Nation !


N'oublions rien

Et portons à Louis

Une santé

Et à tous ses amis...

N'oublions rien

Et chérissons Louis !

N'oublions rien

Et chérissons Louis !


Lyrics in Restoration France

Fils d'Henri quatre,

O Louis ! ô mon Roi !

S'il faut se battre,

Nous nous battrons pour toi ;

En vrai diable à quatre,

Je t'en donne ma foi.


Vive Alexandre !

C'est l'ami des Bourbons ;

C'est pour nous rendre

Un roi que nous aimons,

Qu'il vient nous défendre,

Avec ses escadrons.


Bon Roi de France,

Si longtemps attendu,

La Providence

Enfin nous a rendu

La paix, l'espérance,

Cela nous est bien dû.


Toi, d'Angoulême,

Fille de tant de Rois ;

La vertu même.

Mille échos, mille voix

Disent que l'on t'aime

Comme on aime d'Artois.


Chant d'allégresse,

Chant du coeur, chant d'amour,

Redis sans cesse,

Et redis nuit et jour

Que dans notre ivresse

Nous chantons leur retour.


Later on during the Restoration, other verses were added to honor Louis XVIII:

Du fils de France

Sur nous l'étoile luit ;

C'est la clémence

Qui vers nous le conduit :

La paix le devance,

Et le bonheur le suit.


A ce bon maître

Notre coeur appartient,

Pour nous soumettre,

Par l'amour il nous tient.

Henri va renaître

Dès que Louis revient.


Elle est tarie

La source des malheurs.

O ma patrie !

Mets fin à tes douleurs ;

La main de Marie

Vient essuyer tes pleurs.


Comme Antigone,

Doux appui de son Roi,

Loin de son trône

Elle bannit l'effroi.

Du Dieu qui la donne,

France, bénit la loi.

In Other Works

  • Marche Henri IV was a common leit motif for French royalty in several 19th century operas, such as in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims
    Il viaggio a Reims
    Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del giglio d'oro is an operatic dramma giocoso, originally performed in three acts, by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Balocchi, based in part on Corinne, ou L'Italie by Mme de Staël.Rossini's last opera in the Italian language Il viaggio a...

     (in the finale, when Charles X is crowned) and Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty.
  • The anthem is also referenced in Tolstoy
    Tolstoy
    Tolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...

    's War and Peace
    War and Peace
    War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...

    , and actually performed by French prisoners in the Russian film production with the same name.
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