The Seven Weeks War of 1866 occurred during a golden age of military music in both Austria and Prussia. This study will examine the background to this music, the role of military bands in contemporary culture, their repertoire and their exploits on the battlefield.PART ONE Prussia: the Wieprecht era - the development of military music, the three types of music (infantry, Jaeger and cavalry), and the composition of the respective bands, the Army March Collection, Berlin's golden era: concerts, parades and competitions. PART TWO Austria: the Leonhardt era, bandsmen as "musical missionaries,"...

This is an extremely thorough 4-volume guide to the regimental march tunes and other parade music, which inspired loyalty, pride and battlefield motivation for generations of Germans over three centuries. Built around a translation of the previously unpublished works of two great German military music historians - the late Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Toeche-Mittler and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Werner Probst - it describes the history of every march in the official collections sanctioned by successive kings of Prussia, German Emperors, and later by Chief Inspectors of Music of the German...