Clapping Along on Cue with Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March
The Best Moments
Radetzky March, Op. 228
Hello, I am Johann Strauss I, and I would love to share the best moments of my Radetzky March with you. Here you will hear how a cheerful military tune I wrote in Vienna in 1848 gets a whole room clapping along from the very first bars. On this site the other composers and I also help you recognize our music whenever it comes on, so feel free to visit the Trainer and give it a go.
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A polite kick out of bed
I open Radetzky March with a snappy roll on the snare drum and a bright, bouncy tune that wakes you up faster than a bucket of cold water. I borrowed a bit of that main melody from my earlier Jubel-Quadrille, and the story goes that the rhythm was so infectious at the early Vienna performances that the officers in the crowd started clapping and stamping their feet right along with the band.
Teaching an old dance to march in a straight line
For the middle section, I took an old Viennese folk tune called the Tinerl-Lied, which used to sway along in three beats, and squeezed it into a neat two-beat march. The music turns much softer and lighter here, a bit like a soldier who has temporarily stepped out of the parade to tip his hat to someone pretty on the sidewalk.
Leave them clapping before they ask for their money back
To wrap things up, I bring that cheerful opening march right back again, because a good tune is like a favourite coat that you want to put on one more time before heading out the door. The strings and brass build back up from a quiet tiptoe to a grand, joyful finish, and then the whole piece stops on a dime while everyone still has a smile on their face.
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Did you enjoy walking through the best moments of my Radetzky March with me? Even a short march like this one has plenty more stories hidden behind the notes, from the turbulent year in Vienna when I wrote it to the way audiences around the world clap along to it today. If you are curious to hear the rest of the tale, just click on the links on this page and we can explore Radetzky March a little further together.
Recording: United States Marine Band, Public domain