Austrian Military Music of the 19th century and Olomouc.

Austrian Military Music of the 19th Century and Olomouc At the end of 2002 the Palacky University in Olomouc published a book entitled Austrian Military Music of the 19th Century and Olomouc. It is the first monography in Czech musicological literature to deal with the history of military music in Czechland, and is divided into two distinct parts. The first is a general account of the history of 19th-century Austrian military music, and considers the types, nature and repertoire of military performances as well as the lives of the most important military bandmasters. The second part looks at the significance of military orchestras for the musical life of Olomouc, one of the most important garrison towns in the Austrian monarchy. The reader will learn which military bands and bandmasters were active in Olomouc, what, when, where and how often they played and which local institutions they collaborated with. This article summarises the most important facts.

The history and functions of Austrian military music parallel the history and functions of military music in the other European powers. The 19th century was its golden age. This was a period in which the institutional basis for the creation and reproduction of music was transformed. Court and church music, representing the two richest groups in feudal society--nobility and church--were gradually losing their original standing. The emergent bourgeoisie, continuously on the rise as the 19th century wore on, saw music as a public affair and so brought concerts and operas out of closed private spaces and into halls accessible to everybody. The new bourgeoisie also wanted to be entertained. They wanted music in open-air settings, in the country, in squares, parks and inns. For these purposes it was military bands--perhaps rather paradoxically--that proved the most versatile and usable. While the newly developing theatre, school, municipal, and other ensembles had to struggle for resources, military bands were subs idised by the state and were never hampered by money problems in their musical work. It was also very difficult for civilian music institutions to compete at the level of thousands of musically trained soldiers in dozens of regimental bands. With technical improvements to wind instruments and the possibility of adding strings to orchestras, military orchestras were capable of performing practically anywhere.

From the early 19th century their field of activity shifted ever further towards the nonmilitary public, since what was known as "extra-service productions" were increasing in importance. The elaborate system of public performances by military bands played a significant role in the democratisation of music, although--paradoxically--the army itself was hardly a democratic institution. No other musical productions were so easily accessible for the lay public. When anyone could go and hear them without in most cases needing a ticket or evening dress, they were considerably more open than opera, concerts and events organised by associations of one kind or another.

In terms of style and genre, the range of repertoire presented by military bands was unusually wide, from folk music, popular music deriving from folk music to dance music and from specific military genres to the best elite music of the day and the classics. The repertoire of military orchestras, representing a kind of sui generis type of "semi-serious" music, thus influenced the tastes and habits of musical response of the general public to a much greater extent than is generally acknowledged.

The high standard of performance in Austrian ensembles, confirmed by a number of victories in international competitions, was to a considerable extent the result of the hiring of civilian conductors and the training of the young musical generation. Austrian military music was also distinctive for the multifarious national origins of its musicians. The other European powers with a highly developed military musical tradition--Prussia, France, Britain or Russia--were countries with a relatively homogeneous national identity, while Austria, sometimes branded as the "prison of nations" was made up of a relatively balanced spectrum of very diverse ethnic groups. No other European state covered so many different lands as the Austrian monarchy of the time. The musicians of the Austrian army therefore moved over a far larger and more variegated territory than their colleagues from other European countries. These circumstances found reflection in both the distinctive composing style of the bandmasters, and the specific performing methods of the military ensembles. The two factors on the one hand emphasised the musical roots of players and conductors, and on the other influenced elements of the musical idiom of the regions in which the orchestras were active at one time or another. The result was the legendary "exotic charge" which characterised performances of Austrian military orchestras and resulted from the unique combination of Balkan and Hungarian temperament with Viennese sentiment and Czech musicality. In the view of many it was this combination that played the greatest part in the success of Austrian military bands.

The best known Austrian military bandmasters--and also composers and arrangers--were Philipp Fahrbach, Andreas Leonhardt, Alfons Czibulka, Carl Michael Ziehrer and Joseph Franz Wagner.

Czech musicians, who formed up to two thirds of the members of military orchestras in Austria as a whole, contributed to the success of Austrian music through a number of outstanding bandmasters and bandmaster composers, such as Karel Komzak the younger, for example, Julius Fucik, Rudolf Novacek, Karel Sebor, Antonin Emil Titl, Jan Subrt and Wilhelm Wasek. The ambitions of the Czech military musicians were crowned in 1856 with the founding of the Military Music School in Prague, which then trained young musicians for the needs of the whole monarchy for four decades. Lasting benefits also derived from Czech production of musical instruments, thanks especially to the instrument making workshop of Vaclav Frantisek Cerveny's firm (founded in 1842). The part played by military ensembles in the musical life of Austrian garrison towns can be illustrated by the situation in Olomouc. There were always several military ensembles active in this strategically important town. A significant role was played by the music of the 54th Infantry Regiment, for example (e.g. the bandmasters Josef Hickl and Karl Hackensollner), which had its territorial reservist area here.

The capital of the Hana region became known throughout the monarchy thanks to several visits by the emperor and its hosting of a number of meetings between heads of state and military dignitaries at international level. The prestige of Olomouc and its garrisons was increased particularly when two sets of manoeuvres were held there in 1851 and 1851. The cultural programme accompanying the second of these manoeuvres, which included performance by as many as fifteen hundred military musicians under the direction of army bandmaster A. Leonhardt, became an event of legendary stature. The audience at this 'meeting of majesties" included Anton Bruckner, who expressed his impressions in his 8th Symphony.

The military musicians in Olomouc also played for dancing and listening at dance meetings, soirees, masked balls and balls organised by the regiment, the town, restaurants, and local clubs and organisations. We should also mention a series of charity performances, which especially during the 1st World War proved a way of raising substantial sums to support the war funds and suchlike.

Apart from programmes that were part of military activity, such as the changing of the guard, service concert, the last post ceremonial reveille and the "monsterconcert," the military musicians put on promenade and military concerts that attracted the attention of the citizens of Olomouc. These productions became eve r more frequent, until at the end of the 19th century the public were encountering military music almost daily. Through these events the military ensembles presented a repertoire that was rich and various in terms of repertoire. In addition to the marches, favourite dances, potpourri and fantasia on new opera and operetta themes, they presented opera and operetta preludes, ballet music, and even symphonic, concerto and chamber music.

Whole orchestras and individual musicians developed close contacts with almost all the local musical institutions. They collaborated particularly intensively with the Utraquist choral societies--the Mannergesangverein, and Gesangverein in Neu-und Greiner-gasse. In 1881-1913 the military ensembles took a major share in the productions of the Czech Zerotin Music Society, at which they presented some orchestral pieces by themselves and took part in performances of important cantatas, oratorios and operas (e.g. Smetana's The Bartered Bride, Dvorak's The Wedding Shirt, Brahms's German Requiem and Beethoven's Symphony no. 9). The Municipal Opera Company also engaged military musicians to help with more difficult operas (specifically Wagner's Tannhauser, The Flying Dutchman, Rhinegold and Tristan and Isolde).

Analysis of musical life in Olomouc in 1848-1918 has shown that in the 19th century military ensembles and musicians were as great an influence, possible even a greater influence on musical life and the development of general musical knowledge and taste outside the Austrian capital as court ensembles were for the development of general musical culture in the 17th and 18th centuries.