The '' Marsch'' in E-flat major, WAB 116, is a military march composed by

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

in 1865.

History

Bruckner composed this for him unique work on 12 August 1865 during his stay in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

, at the time when he was composing his first symphony,van Zwol, pp. 681–682 He composed this occasional work for the ' (

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 tit ...

of the hunting

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troop Ro ...

) in Linz, as a gesture of appreciation for its participation in performances of two of his works, the festive cantata ''Preiset den Herrn'' and ''

Germanenzug ''Germanenzug'' ( WAB 70) is a secular, patriotic cantata composed in 1863–1864 by Anton Bruckner on a text by August Silberstein. History After the completion of Psalm 112, Bruckner composed ''Germanenzug'' in July 1863. It is the first m ...

''.C. Howie, Chapter III, p. 125 However, it is not known whether it ever was performed by this military band. In the ''Bruckner-Handbuch'' is only noted that the march was presumably performed in Linz in 1865. Bruckner's manuscript is stored in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. It was first edited in Band III/2, pp. 226–233 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. The work is put in Band XII/8 of the '.Gesamtausgabe - Frühe Orchesterwerke und Instrumentalstücke
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Music

The work, a march of 32-

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and a trio of 32 bars too, is scored in E-flat major for military band (

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, 5

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s, 2

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

s, 7

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, 3

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

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trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

s, 3 euphoniums, 2 tubas,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s and

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

In the hunting scherzo Symphony No. 4">Symphony_No._4_(Bruckner).html" ;"title="f Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)">Symphony No. 4 where the dense and brilliant brass scoring recalls Bruckner's 1865 infantry march in E flat, WAB 116 ...

''Apollo-Marsch''

Another military march, the ''Apollo-Marsch'', was for many years attributed to Bruckner and put as WAB 115 by Grasberger. This march was even performed on 14 September 1924, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bruckner's birth.Paul Hawkshaw, Anton Bruckner and the ''Apollo-March'' for band
/ref> It is now definite that the ''Apollo-Marsch'' was composed in 1857 as ''Mazzuchelli-Marsch'' for the Austria-Hungary Infantry-regiment No. 10 by Béla Kéler, another Kitzler's student, while Bruckner copied the instrumentation and form exactly, but not the music, for his own ''Marsch'' in E-flat major. The ''Apollo-Marsch'' is put in an addendum to Band XII/8 of the '.

Discography

There are four recordings of Bruckner's Military march: *Désiré Dondeyne, La Musique des Gardiens de la Paix de la Préfecture de Police de Paris, ''Marches militaires allemandes. Anthologie de la Musique d'Harmonie'' – LP:Societé d'études et de Réalisations Publicitaires (SERP) MC 7.033, 1976. A digitalization of the march can be heard on John Berky's website.March in E Flat by Desiré Dondeyne
/ref> *Ryusuke Numajiri, Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band, ''Harmoniemusik of the Great Composers'' – CD: Exton OVCL-00113, 2002 *Clark Rundell, Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra, ''Experiments on a March'' – CD: Chandos CHAN 10367, 2005 *Major Arjan Tien, Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, ''Worthweill Originals'' – CD: Channel Classics, CCS 4219, 2018

References

Sources

* August Göllerich, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild'', c. 1922 – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932 * Uwe Harten, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch'', , Salzburg, 1996. . * ''Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XII/8: Marsch in Es-Dur für Blasorchester (1865)'', Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Rüdiger Bornhöft (Editor), Vienna, 1996 * Cornelis van Zwol, ''Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken'', uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. * Crawford Howie, ''Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography'', online revised edition *

External links

*
Score of the March, WAB 116 by Martin Tousignant

Critical discography by Hans Roelofs * A performance of Bruckner's Military march by the United States Coast Guard Band can be heard on John Berky's website
March in E Flat, October 2013
: Another performance by the

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Wind Sinfonica can be heard on YouTube
Marsch in Es-Dur (WAB 116), January 2015
* A performance of Kéler's ''Mazzuchelli-Marsch'' by the Militärmusik of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

can be heard on YouTube
Mazzuchelli-Marsch
{{Authority control Compositions by Anton Bruckner 1865 compositions Compositions in E-flat major Austrian military marches