Marsch der Blaukehlchen
For Piccolo Solo and Band
by Leos Janacek
Concert Band - Sheet Music

Concert band - Grade 3

SKU: ML.012297040-S

For Piccolo Solo and Band. Composed by Leos Janacek. Arranged by Jan Hawlin. Piccolo Solo and Band/Arrangements of Classical Compositions. Molenaar Band Music. Recorded on Charleston Forever (ML.311041720). Score only. Duration 2 minutes, 33 seconds. Published by Molenaar Edition (ML.012297040-S).

The Czech composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928), born and bred in the Moravian capital Brno, became famous at an advanced age. His composition style was rather modern. The imperatives of publicity obliged him to gather autobiographical data when his country celebrated his 70th birthday. So several youth memories came back to his mind. When he visited Berlin in March 1924 to attend the first performance of his opera 'Jenufa', he was impressed by a statue of Frederick II, the great flautist, nearby the Sanssouci Castle. This inspired him to compose this little children's march for piccolo flute and piano. In the composition he uses two images from his childhood. On one hand there is the scene of the marching students of the Augustinian Abbey at Altbrunn, where Janacek studied as a choir boy. These boys were dressed in a light-blue smock, hence their nickname. On the other hand there is the vision of the parading Prussian soldiers marching into Brno to the shrill tones of their fifes in 1866. Janacek did not use neither romantic nor classical style characteris-tics, though the elements are completely tonal and rather simple. By means of polytonal interactions he obtained a floating effect, intensified by the frequent use of fourth-sixth-chords. In this way, despite the apparent themes, the grotesque character of this vague souvenir is stressed.