The "Jäger March" ( fi, "Jääkärimarssi", italic=no, originally "Jääkärien marssi"), , is a military march by

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

. He set in 1917 words written by the Finnish Jäger, ''Hilfsgruppenführer''

Heikki Nurmio Heikki Nurmio (1887-1947) was a Finnish jäger and writer. He is remembered for writing the lyrics for "Jääkärien marssi" (''Jäger March'') composed by Jean Sibelius in 1917. Heikki Nurmio joined the 27th Jäger Battalion in 1916 in German ...

who served in Libau, in the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion of the Imperial German Army. This unit was fighting against the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, of which the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

still was a part. The words were smuggled into Finland to Sibelius, who composed the song in

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

. Sibelius wrote the "Jäger March" originally for

men's chorus A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...

and piano, and later arranged it for men's chorus and symphony orchestra. The first public performance of ''Jäger March'' was in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

on 19 January 1918 by the choir

Akademiska sångföreningen The Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki ( sv, Akademiska Sångföreningen, lit=The Academic Song Association, ), abbreviated AS, colloquially also known as , but without lexical meaning. (), is a Finland-Swedish academic male-voice choir in H ...

, led by Olof Wallin. The

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

began on the same day between the White and the Red troops. The march is the honorary march of many army detachments such as the Lapland

Military Band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

from

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

Lyrics

References

External links

*
''Jääkärimarssi''
Lyrics
''Jääkärien marssi''
(sound clip, 28 seconds, 488 kB,

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

) presented by Pohjanmaan Sotilassoittokunta ( Pohjanmaa

) in th
military music homepage
of

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (whic ...

Pushkin Quintett: ''The Jäger March'' — new version (YouTube)

Jäger March on Youtube (Instrumental)

Jäger March on Youtube (With vocals)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jager March Compositions by Jean Sibelius Finnish military marches 1917 compositions