Clapping Along on Cue with Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March
The Listen Guide

Keeping the brass polished and the drums behave

When you sit down to listen to my Radetzky March, the first thing to listen for is how the snare drum and the bass drum set a crisp, steady walking pace right from the start. Above that steady beat, the strings and woodwinds carry the bouncy main melody, while the horns, trumpets, trombones, and tuba step in to give the loud passages a warm, golden punch. If you hear big, crashing cymbals on a modern recording, you are actually hearing a later addition, because in my original 1848 orchestral manuscript I left the cymbals out altogether to keep the sound lighter on its feet. Instead of trying to follow every single player at once, just let your ears ride along with that brisk two-beat pulse, like someone watching a parade from a sunny café table.

A general who earned a very catchy tune

That parade feeling fits right in with why I gave Radetzky March its name in August 1848. I wrote the piece for a charity festival in Vienna that raised money for wounded soldiers and the Vienna National Guard, and I dedicated it to Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. He had just led the army to victory at the Battle of Custoza in July 1848 during the First Italian War of Independence, and the organizers wanted a piece to celebrate the occasion. We gave the premiere on 31 August 1848 at the Wasserglacis park in Vienna with my Strauss Orchestra, and the old field marshal's name has been tied to my tune ever since.

Building a musical sandwich with three neat layers

Putting the structure of Radetzky March together was a fun exercise in keeping things clear and lively. Rather than writing a winding sonata or a rondo, I built the piece in a classic ternary march form, which works a bit like a neat three-layer sandwich. We start with a short introduction and a two-part main march, stroll into a gentler two-part middle section called the trio, and then head right back to the main march to finish. In the next few paragraphs, I will walk you through each of these sections one by one so you know exactly what to listen for along the way.

Section 1: Lowering the pitch so nobody pulls a muscle

We kick off with a short, punchy introduction and the two strains of the main march, marked Vivo in a brisk 2/4 time that practically tugs at your coat sleeve to get you moving. When I first conducted the piece at the premiere, I actually had it in the bright key of E major and at an even faster clip. Right after that first performance, I had a good chat with my colleague Philipp Fahrbach Sr. and decided to lower the main key to D major and ease the tempo back slightly before Tobias Haslingers Witwe und Sohn published it in September 1848. That small adjustment gave the two main strains a rounder, friendlier ring, shifting smoothly between crisp, quiet tiptoeing and cheerful, full-band bursts.

Section 2: Teaching a waltzing folk song how to march

After the bold main march finishes its second strain, the music slips into the central trio section and shifts from D major into the relaxed, sunny key of G major. The mood turns much lighter and more playful here, as if the soldiers have stepped off the parade ground for a moment to tip their hats to the crowd. To get that charming Viennese flavor, I took an older local folk tune in 3/4 time called the Alter Tanz aus Wien, also known as the Tinerl-Lied, and reshaped it to fit my 2/4 marching beat. The story goes that I heard soldiers returning from Milan singing that very tune on the streets of Vienna and decided on the spot to weave it into the two strains of this middle section.

Section 3: Bringing back the big tune for one last lap

Once the quiet trio has had its say, the score calls for a da capo return, which simply means we jump straight back to the main march in D major. Coming back to that snappy Vivo opening after the gentle G major middle section makes the brass and drums sound twice as bright as they did the first time around. It is the musical equivalent of welcoming an old friend back into the room after a short breather, and you can feel the energy in the hall rise right away. Since Josef Krips conducted it on 1 January 1946, this joyful return has helped make the piece the famous closing encore of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert, with the conductor turning around to lead the audience in clapping.

Your turn to tap along from the comfort of your chair

Now it is time for you to put Radetzky March on and hear how all these pieces fit together for yourself. Go ahead and press play, settle in, and let that lively Vienna rhythm carry you along from the opening drum roll to the final chord. As the music unfolds, see if you can spot the gentle shift into the folk tune in the middle and the big return of the main march at the end. I hope you have just as much fun listening to my Radetzky March today as I had bringing it to life in the summer of 1848.