The Königgrätz March, also known as Der Königgrätzer or Der Königgrätzer Marsch, is one of the most famous German military marches, composed in 1866 by Johann Gottfried Piefke in commemoration of the Battle of Königgrätz, the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. In Piefke's most successful arrangement of the Königgrätzer Marsch, another march, Der Hohenfriedberger, is used as a trio. The commonly played version is set as an infantry march, while an alternate adaptation is arranged as a cavalry galop. The German military march catalogue also has the "Königgrätzer mit anderem Trio", but this secondary composition is far less recognized.
Königgrätzer Marsch
The Battle of Königgrätz, deciding battle of the Austro-Prussian War.
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 Philip Sousa and the martial hymns of the late 19th century. Examples of the varied use of the march can be found in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, in the Marches Militaires of Franz Schubert, in the Marche funèbre in Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor, the "Jäger March" in the Op. 91a by Jean Sibelius, and in the Dead March in Handel's Saul.
The Band of the Welsh Guards of the British Army play as Grenadier guardsmen march from Buckingham Palace to Wellington Barracks after the Changing Of The Guard.
Statue of "Warship march"