Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836), catalogued here as Lisle, was a French army officer, poet and composer. He is remembered above all as the author of La Marseillaise.

La Marseillaise was written in 1792 and became one of the great revolutionary songs before later becoming the French national anthem. It has since appeared in countless arrangements and ceremonial contexts.

Rouget de Lisle was not a major composer in the usual catalogue sense, but one song gave him extraordinary historical reach. Its melody and rhythm carry direct public force.

His place in music history is therefore narrow but unmistakable. Some composers build cathedrals; Rouget de Lisle lit a torch and watched a nation carry it.