Radetzky March, Op.

Opus number

An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...

 228, is a march

March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

 composed by Johann Strauss Sr.

Johann Strauss I

Johann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...

 in 1848. It was dedicated to the Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 Field Marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

 Joseph Radetzky von Radetz

Joseph Radetzky von Radetz

Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz was a Czech nobleman and Austrian general, immortalised by Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March...

, and 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 they heard the chorus

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

. This tradition is carried over today when the march is played in classical music venues in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, 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. This is because the Field Marshal could have executed the son of Strauss who served in the army, but chose not to. The march is thus more of a piece by a thankful father to the savior of his son than a march about a military man. It is usually played in under three minutes.

Radetzky March consists of three main parts:

• The introduction: The whole orchestra plays here and the brass section plays the melody.
• The first figure: This is played by the string section.
• At figure two, the whole orchestra plays until figure three when it repeats back to the D.S.
  Dal Segno
  In music notation, Dal segno is used as a navigation marker. From Italian for "from the sign," D.S. appears in sheet music and instructs a musician to repeat a passage starting from the sign shown at right, sometimes called the "segno" in English.Two common variants:*D.S...
  
   (first figure.)
• The trio: This is played by the brass section and the trumpet plays three triplets
  Tuplet
  In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...
  
   in the last bars of the trio.
• Figure five: The whole orchestra plays here.
• Figure six: The whole orchestra plays here and then repeats back to figure 5.
• The orchestra plays on the last bar.
• They go back to the D.C.
  Da capo
  Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning . It is often abbreviated D.C. It is a composer or publisher's directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space. In small pieces this might be the same thing as a repeat, but in larger works D.C...
  
   (beginning).
• They play until figure three; and the piece finishes with the Fine ("end") bar—i.e., the direction is Da capo al fine (repeat from beginning up to the word fine).

The Swedish department store chain Åhléns

Åhléns

Åhléns is a Swedish chain of department stores, located in almost every city in the country, and with several stores in the major cities, including 18 stores in Stockholm alone . Åhléns also has business operations in Norway. It is one of Sweden’s leading retailers in a number of fields...

 traditionally played the Radetzky March on a loop beginning about ten minutes before closing time to remind customers to complete their selections and head for the tills. This has resulted in an almost Pavlovian

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is a form of conditioning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov...

 reaction amongst a certain generation of Swedes to look about for an exit when they hear this piece played.

Since 1899 it has been the official presentation march of the Chilean Army's Military School of the Liberator Bernardo O'Higgins

Bernardo O'Higgins

Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile , he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder...

. The 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and is the senior cavalry regiment, and therefore senior regiment, of the line of the British Army...

adopted the Radetzky March as its regimental quick march.

External links

• Alter Tanz aus Wien, a Radetzkymarsch trio adaptation (sheet music)