Armeemarschsammlung

The Armeemarschsammlung (Army March Collection), also known as the Prussian Army March Collection (Preußische Armeemarschsammlung) refers to the basic catalog of works of German military march music.

The basis for the creation of an extensive set of scores for military brass bands lies in a highest cabinet order (Allerhöchste Kabinettsorder) of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia on 10 February 1817 requesting a selection of proven compositions for every regiment:

In order to assist the regiments of the army in the selection of good military music, I have had a number of well-proved pieces prepared, and a set of them is to be supplied to each regiment. As, in this way, the army will come into the possession of good music, I decree that on all ceremonial occasions, at grand parades, and reviews, and particularly those at which I am present, no other marches will be played.

Friedrich Wilhelm III's initial collection consisted of 36 slow marches and 36 quick marches for infantry.

This Army March Collection in time contained Prussian, Austrian and Russian marches, divided into three collections:

Marches in the third (cavalry) collection were first published by Schlesinger in Berlin beginning in 1824 and continued by Bote & Bock in Berlin and finally Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig (a project terminated at the end of World War I). This was titled Collection of Marches and Fanfares for Trumpet-Music for the Use of the Prussian Cavalry (Sammlung von Marschen und Fanfaren für Trumpetenmusik zum Gebrauch der preußischen Kavallerie).

All the marches incorporated into the army march collection have an official number including a Roman numeral designation (denoting collection) and an Arabic number (list number in the collection). Some well known examples:

A comprehensive and systematic collection of marches was also created for the Kaiserlich und Königlich Armee (Imperial and Royal Austrian Army).

On March 24, 1894 the Imperial and Royal War Ministry issued an order (Kriegsministerium no. 1157) to create the publication of a standardized list of marches. This order includes: "The Imperial War Ministry intends to revive and preserve the tradition of outstanding epochs in the history of our nation and army by compiling and publishing in uniform orchestrations the older historic marches which owe their fame to successes in war, as well as suitable marches that were dedicated to the memory of glorious regiments, famous generals, or regimental colonels-in-chief".

The official codification, the Historische Märsche und sonstige Compositionen für das kaiserliche und königliche Heer (Historical Marches and Other Compositions for the Imperial and Royal Army) was ready in time for Franz Joseph I of Austria’s fiftieth jubilee year of 1898. Included were 49 marches and military tunes, including 36 officially recognized regimental marches arranged numerically by regiment: from the 1er Regimentsmarsch "Trautenauer Gefechtsmarsch" by Ferdinand Preis to the 79er Regimentsmarsch "Jellačić-Marsch" (Anon).

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Wikipedia