Authors

Philipp Ther¹;  ¹ University of Vienna, Austria

Discussion

Military marches were a key tool for mobilizing the masses during the revolution, but were then captured by the imperial government and army to demonstrate its power and popularize itself after the violent counterrevolution. The presentation will discuss this through the example of two major composers of marches, who are mostly famed for their waltzes: Johann Straus senior and junior. Both wrote half a dozen revolutionary marches in the spring and summer of 1848 for the mostly bourgeois national guards, student fraternities, and the German national movement. These disruptive and yet mainstream marches followed and propagated major demands of the initial liberal revolution.
When the Austrian Empire was threatened by the national uprisings in Lombardy and other key regions, Strauss Sr. turned away from the revolution and composed loyalist marches. The most famous example is the Radetzky March, followed by the Jellacic (Jelačić) March. While Strauss Sr. marched forward in the disruptive spring and summer, he then represented a larger loyalist movement that created at least five other Radetzky-marches. Johann Strauss Jr. adhered longer to the revolution, also in its proletarian phase, and refused to take part in its violent suppression by the liberal government and national guard. He even risked conducting the Marseillaise with two encores in a club after the military suppression of the revolution. However, after a police interrogation he also switched sides and wrote loyalist marches honouring the reactionary emperor and even Tsar Nicholas, who had helped to squash the Hungarian revolution.
During the period of neo-absolutism, Franz Josef and the army heavily invested in military bands, which were present all over the empire and came together for new formats such as the ‘monster concerts’. On several occasion more than a thousand army musicians played and paraded, and thus also deterred the population from future disruptive action. Since military music was usually free of charge, it reached all levels of society and helped to popularize the imperial army. The musical armament was interrupted by the war in 1866, when Strauss’ Radetzky March was used in battle, but turned out to be futile against the superior rifles of the Prussia army.
In spite of the defeat, military music remained highly popular until World War I. It might even be regarded as one of its deeper cultural causes, since it contributed to the militarization of society. Yet, military bands played increasingly popular dances and melodies, sometimes even classical pieces, and thus contributed to making military culture more civilian.