Rouget De Lisle, Claude-joseph

Author of “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem. A lowly army officer and only a moderate republican, Rouget de Lisle never wrote anything else of significance. He composed both the words and music of “La Marseillaise” for his comrades in 1792 while stationed at Strasbourg; it was originally called “Chant de guerre de l'armée