PT COLORS OF MUSIC: ENJOY THE MELODY OF MARCH

March of Johann Strauss Sr via Radetsky March

Radetzky March, Op,228 is a March composed by Johann Strauss Sr. in 1848. It was dedicated to the Austrian Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz who become a national hero fighting the French during the Napoleonic wars. He was in military over 70 years services until his death at age 91. He lead Australian army against Napoleon at the age 82. The song now became quite a popular march among soldiers

When it was first played, in front of Austrian officers in attendance, they promptly clapped and stomped their feet when the chorus was played. This tradition is carried over today when the march is played in classical music venues in Vienna, among members of the audience who are familiar with the tradition. It is almost always played as the last piece of music at the Neujahrskonzert, the Vienna New Year Concert.

Despite its military nature, its tone is rather festive than martial, in accordance with its dedicates exuberant personality and popularity in the ballroom as well as the battlefield. It is usually played in under three minutes.

Now, let's enjoy several selected versions of the march songs

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Radetzky NEUJAHRSKONZERT 2008

MARCH OF CRISTOBAL OUDRID VIA EL SITIOS DE ZARAGOZA
Cristóbal Oudrid
(1825 - 77)
Cristóbal Oudrid arrived in Madrid, taking lessons from the teacher-composer Baltasar Saldoni, earning his living as a pianist whilst writing (according to the critic Antonio Peña y Goni) salon pieces for that instrument.
His work is now almost forgotten, though the jota taken from his incidental music for the actor Juan Lombia’s play El sitio de Zaragoza(The Siege of Zaragoza) remains a staple of the wind band repertoire. What remains is the memory of a provocative, bohemian personality who cared more for pragmatic music making than theory or technique – a choice which may account for the fact that his once-popular body of work has sunk almost without trace. Yet the recent revival of Buenas noches señor Don Simón raised questions about the justice of this. The score proved to be uncomplicated without being trivial, melodically graceful and theatrically intelligent. Its musical personality came across as less Italianate than that of his better-known contemporaries, intriguingly closer in spirit to the work of the later género chico composers. Whether this is true of his larger-scale zarzuelas remains to be seen, but Oudrid’s music is certainly a prime candidate for modern revaluation.

Played by Orchestra International de Praga