Ah! Ça ira
Ah! Ça ira ( French literally: 'that will work', in a figurative sense: 'we can do it!') Describes the beginning and recurring refrain of a well-known battle song from the time of the French Revolution , which was written in May 1790 and during the federation festival on July 14, 1790 was sung frequently. It called for a fight against the aristocracy, clergy and nobility.
The song exists in different versions, which all have the repetitive Ça ira as an intersection . Melodically Ça ira is based on the contemporary popular counter dance Le Carillon national .
Original version
The first widespread version is ascribed to the street singer Ladre, while the popularity of the phrase Ça ira goes back to Benjamin Franklin , who, at the time in France, made his prognosis for the American War of Independence . The Ça ira achieved its first notoriety among the revolutionaries during the preparations for the federation festival. With the course of the revolution, the popularity and usage of the song increased rapidly. In the later course of the revolution, the relevance of the song gradually decreased with the increasing importance of the Marseillaise .
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Sans-culottes version
The following version was sung by the sans-culottes during the reign of terror and is explicitly more radical in tone and semantics than the original version above.
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Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, |
Ah, we'll make it, |
German reception of the “Ah! Ça ira "
Due to the great waves that the French Revolution made, the Ça ira was received or mentioned as a well-known revolutionary song in contemporary German magazines and monthly newspapers.
- Journal of Luxury and Fashions , vol. 5, 1790, pp. 651f. Written in Paris, November 6th, 1790.
The Journal des Luxus was a German fashion magazine from 1787 to 1812, which appeared in Germany and was continued under different titles until 1827. Here, not only fashion, but also reports on various cultural-historical topics, such as music, literature or art, were discussed.
The detailed article deals with the development of Ça ira from its beginning at the Federation Festival to its popular status as a general, political and national folk song. It is also noticeable that the magazine Ah! Ça ira defined as "our folk song". The text of the melody, which was based on a provincially known contratance, was, however, often changed subjectively at one's own will, so that there are different variations of Ah! Ça ira developed. The song and its variations also led to disputes, so that there were sometimes complications among the citizens. The article reports on an incident between an aristocrat and a republican shoemaker a few weeks before its publication in Chalon sur Saone . When the shoemaker sang the song in a pump room, a passing aristocrat felt offended and sued the shoemaker to the mayor. The mayor accused the shoemaker of violating the law and publicly proclaimed that one should not offend citizens with speeches and songs. However, the people laughed at the mayor's order and gathered in front of the house of the mayor and plaintiff in the evening and sang in chorus loudly Ah! Ça ira . The author of the report adds that figuring out the real lyrics should be difficult because there are so many arbitrary variations on the song. He also notes that the song is very important for French historiography and revolution.
- German monthly magazine 1793, Vol. 1, pp. 3-33, KF Häberlin.
The Ça ira was also mentioned in the article on the quality of the German state link by the well-known German lawyer Karl Friedrich Häberlin . The article appeared in the first volume of the German monthly magazine in 1793 and elaborates the advantages of the contemporary constitutions already in Germany. At the beginning, he also sums up the changes for citizens and constitution alike in various other European states influenced by revolution and the Enlightenment. Even though the song itself is not the focus of the article, Häberlin speaks out against the explicit call for violence against the authorities in the refrain of Ça ira , which contradicts his understanding of the rule of law.
- Bayreuth Newspaper . Written July 16, 1790.
In the Bayreuther Zeitung one commented briefly on July 16, 1790, two days after the great federation festival in France, where Ah! Ça Ira is known to have been sung. The report mainly deals with the details of the federal celebration and the ceremony. The report also addresses the division of departments in France through the revolution. In this context it is mentioned briefly that the windows on the boulevard were opened and the women gave the deputies aloud the following verses from the song Ah! Ça ira have sung: “Ah we will make it. Our brothers will regain our provinces. "
- Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung , No. 237.Written on August 17, 1804
In number 237 of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung of August 17, 1804, in the review by Joachim Heinrich Campes, New Collections of Strange Travel Descriptions for Young People , in the fifth part of Campe, differences a. a. wanted to work out between Paris in 1803 and 13 years earlier, referred to the Ça ira : “The famous folk songs: 'Ah! Ça ira ' etc., one could still hear in London, but no longer in Paris. "
- General Musical Newspaper , July 1816.
The general musical newspaper of July 1816 also briefly refers to the song Ah! Ça ira . The article is mainly about a cantata from June 18, 1816, which was organized by Carl Maria von Weber to celebrate the anniversary of the last battle at Belle Alliance . The complete sequence of the cantata is reproduced step by step. At the point where the warrior choir introduces, Ah! Ça ira called, which is to illustrate the arrogance of the enemy. At that time was with Louis XVIII. again a monarch in office, which explains the use of the song to defame the revolution.
- Augsburg Ordinari Postal Newspaper , No. 15, January 18, 1791.
In the Augsburg Ordinari Postzeitung , No. 15 of January 18, 1791, the daily news from various cities reported on the use of a modification of the Ça ira in a Paris Christmas service: “One knelt down and sang a long French Christmas carol to the Savior Birth, after the melody of the opera aria, the closing verses of which begin with the words: 'Ah ca ira, ca ira', and which is known to be the signal that you are a good democrat. ”Due to the conservative orientation of the postal newspaper and the following mention of the If the priests involved in the mass were disapproved, the song was rated negatively in this context.
- Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 4, January to July 1836 issue.
In the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which was founded in Leipzig in 1824, the song Ah! Was referred to on February 9, 1836 . Ça ira . One briefly reports on an event which happened in May 1798 at the Paris Elephant Concert. When the song Ah! Ça ira played with a full orchestra, some animals reacted with full vigor, behaved funny and made trumpet-like sounds. Others disagreed with the sound, hissing in between and walking back and forth, the magazine reports. The article clarifies the effect of music on animals, which has been known since ancient times, and emphasizes the conspicuous and contrary behavior of animals through the song. The report also poses the open question of how the behavior of the animals caused by the song can be based on the song.
- Concordia: Zeitschrift für Arbeiterfrage , Vol. 3. Written on January 2, 1873.
In Concordia, which is oriented towards social democracy , the leading article Ça ira by the New Social Democrats is received, in which the song is presented in such a way that even after 80 years it “still spreads horror and horror among the enemies of the revolution.” The song reminds the ruling class Class of the storm that the people could unleash.
In the second edition of 1793, the Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Literaturzeitung reviewed Johann Christian Dieterich's “Revolutions-Almanach von 1794”, which contains an essay that closes with “The Franzen muntres ça ira, is now reversed in ça s'en va!”.
additional
In addition, a book publisher (" Ca ira Verlag ") was founded in 1985 by a grouping Initiative Socialist Forum (ISF) from Freiburg im Breisgau, which publishes works that are critical of ideology. As you can see from the name of the publisher, the name leads to the French revolutionary song “Ah! Ca ira “back.
A caricature has survived from the collection of the Belgian author and collector Carl de Vinck, which shows an emaciated farmer inside his living space after the revolution. The text to the caricature reads: O Sacre Dieu we get bien the Liberte - Welck ein Wollöben! Milk and Hönick are thriving! Ah, ca ira! , roughly translated: "Oh Lord God, freedom is good for us - what a good life! The milk and honey flow! Ah, we will make it."
The French chanson singer Edith Piaf sang the song in 1954.
Musical quotes
- Umberto Giordano : Overture to the opera Andrea Chénier (1896).
- Nikolai Mjaskowski : Symphony No. 6 in C minor, Op. 23 (1921–1923 / rev. 1947–1948), 4th movement (next to the Dies irae ).
literature
- Claude Duneton , Emmanuelle Bigot: Histoire de la chanson française. Vol 2. De 1780 à 1860 , Paris, Éditions du Seuil 1998, ISBN 978-2-02-017286-8 .
Web links
- Ça ira (1954) - Edith Piaf
- Lyrics with English translation
- The text of the song and the historical background
- English translation and additional information
Individual evidence
- ^ Duneton, Bigot: Histoire de la chanson française. Vol 2. De 1780 à 1860
- ↑ Ah, ca ira! ca ira! The famous French folk song. In: Journal of Luxury and Fashions. December 1790. Retrieved January 11, 2017 .
- ↑ KF Häberlin: About the goodness of the German state constitution. In: German monthly. January 1793. Retrieved January 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Bayreuther Zeitung 1790 . Giessel, 1790, p. 634 ( preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Joachim Heinrich Campe: Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung . CA Schwetschke, 1804, p. 343 ( preview in Google Book search).
- ^ General musical newspaper . tape 18 . Rieter-Biedermann, 1816, p. 497 ( preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Augsburgische Ordinari Postzeitung von Staats-, schehrten, histor- u. economic news 1791 . Moy, 1791, p. 13 ( Preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ New magazine for music . tape 4 . Schott, 1836, p. 51 ( Preview in Google Book Search).
- ^ Concordia magazine for the workers question . tape 3 , 1873, p. 48 ( preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung in 1973 . Royal Baier. Newspaper Comtoir, 1793, p. 921 ( preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Caricature from de Vinck's estate. Retrieved February 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Edith Piaf: Ca ira. Retrieved February 7, 2017 .