A guide to the regimental march tunes and other parade music which
inspired loyalty, pride and battlefield motivation for generations of Germans
over three centuries
Built around a translation of the previously unpublished works of two
great German military music historians, the late Lieutenant Colonel Joachim
Toeche-Mittler and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Werner Probst, here is described
the history of every march in the official collections sanctioned by successive
kings of Prussia, German Emperors, and later by Chief Inspectors of Music of the
German Republic and The Third Reich. Even today these tunes are still used by
German armed forces units, providing the only officially permitted link between
them and the military history of the German nation. It describes how the use of
this superb parade march repertoire spread around the world, far beyond
Germany's borders, and can
often be heard in use today, especially in Britain and America.
This is no apology or eulogy for a militaristic culture now long gone
amongst the German people, but a description of the international and home
sources for the march repertoire, and the personalities involved in composing,
commissioning and dedicating marches to the leading personalities of the age,
and their adoption as regimental music by the fighting units of the Old German
States, Imperial Germany, and the later German Reich and Republics. Much more
than a book about music, it is an unusual window on a colourful and tuneful
aspect of culture in the Imperial Age, whose lasting influence is still with
us.
