This is a extremely guide to the regimental march tunes and other parade music which inspired loyalty, pride and battlefield motivation for generations of Germans over three centuries. Built around a translation of the previously unpublished works of two great German military music historians, the late Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Toeche-Mittler and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Werner Probst, it describes the history of every march in the official collections sanctioned by successive kings of Prussia, German Emperors, and later by Chief Inspectors of Music of the German Republic and Third Reich. In these descriptions one discovers that the collections are not just German, but a pan-European treasure trove of labyrinthine musical influences. The book details how even today these tunes are still used by German armed forces units, providing the only officially permitted link between them and the military history of the German nation. It describes how the use of this superb parade march repertoire spread around the world, far beyond Germany's borders; it can often be heard in use today especially in Britain and America. The authors detail how modern regimental military music began to develop during the reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia in the mid-18th Century, before its development reached its zenith during the German Empire established by Bismarck from 1871 to 1918. They also trace the aftermath of its potent influence in the march compositions of the 20th Century. This book is no apology or eulogy for a militaristic culture now long gone amongst the German people, but a description of the international and home sources for the march repertoire, and the personalities involved in composing, commissioning, and dedicating marches to the leading personalities of the age, and their adoption as regimental music by the fighting units of the Old German States, Imperial Germany, and the later German Reich and Republics.

The book goes on to provide information in its appendices about how the regimental bandsmen and signaler musicians on fife, drum and bugle paraded and performed this repertoire, the manufacture and embellishments of their instruments, Jingly Johnnies and Drum Majors' Staffs, and their employment and deployment in the ranks of the fighting units on parade and in battle. The detailed text and appendices are supported by a huge number of rare images showing all aspect of German military music, including an 8-page color section. This book will be produced in a limited-edition hardback printing of only 500 copies (all individually numbered and signed). Much more than a book about music, it is an unusual window on a colorful and tuneful aspect of culture in the Imperial Age, whose lasting influence is still with us, and is about the stirring sounds that can still be heard on parade around the world today. The very concept of cataloguing a collection of parade marches encompassing music gathered over centuries emanated in the early 19th Century from a country abolished by the Allies in 1947 as the fount of German militarism; this music is however Prussia's legacy to the world - indeed, Prussia's Glory!.