With their gorgeous programs of the most beautiful Viennese songs, waltzes, marches and melodies from Austria, the traditional band in their neat uniforms enchants their listeners and makes a concert an unforgettable experience. Wilhelm Furtwaengler liked to tell of an event that made a deep impression on him. On the occasion of a tour of the Dolomites in 1914 he met the band of one of the Kaiserjaeger regiments: “The mountain landscape, the sun, the melody, everything mingled, was, as it were, one. It is no small touchstone for music as it appears in the open air. I have never become more aware of the greatness of music than I was then.”
“We are the Kaiserjaeger …”
When the brisk gentlemen in their neat uniforms walk through the Vienna imperial court with a game of tinkling, you might think that time has stood still. You almost feel like you have been transported back to the time of the monarchy. It all began in 1815, when the Tyrolean Kaiserjaeger was set up for the first time and the Austrian emperors acted as regiment owners. Their blue-gray uniforms have a grass-green turn-up color and yellow buttons, and their magnificent plume is famous. The most important bandmasters of the Kaiserjaeger were Gustav Mahr, Karl Komzák and Karl Mühlberger. Mühlberger’s march “Mir san die Kaiserjäger” is one of the most popular and most played works of Austrian military music. Even Johann Strauss composed a “Kaiser-Jaeger-March”. On July 18, 1915, the 1st regiment of the Kaiserjaeger parade with their garrison music to the sounds of the “Kaiserjaeger March” in front of Emperor Franz Joseph in the palace gardens of castle Schoenbrunn. It was the last time that the aged monarch accepted the march past a troop.
The golden age of Austrian military music began in the 19th century when every k.u.k. Regiment had its own military music. Many well-known composers of the 19th century were military musicians: Philipp Fahrbach, Alfons Czibulka, Wilhelm August Jurek, Karl Komzák, Carl Michael Ziehrer, Franz Lehár, Julius Fucik and many others. Military music bandmasters had officer status and wore a special uniform.
Karl Muehlberger was the last bandmaster at the k.u.k. Tiroler Kaiserjaegerregiment No. 1 After completing his duty in IR 84 under Karl Komzák and with the Hoch- und Deutschmeistert under Carl Michael Ziehrer, Karl Muehlberger took over the leadership of the military music of the 1st regiment of the Tyrolean Kaiserjaeger. His regimental music was ordered twice to Bad Ischl and Vienna. Of his compositions, the march “Mir san die Kaiserjaeger” has remained alive to this day.
Other famous marches of the Kaiserjaeger:
Andreas Leonhardt: “Kaiser Jaeger March”
Gustav Mahr: “High Tyrol March”, “Andreas Hofer March”
Karl Komzák: “Andreas Hofer March”
Rudolf Achleitner: “Seyffertitz-Marsch”, ” Tyrol Eagle”
Johann Strauss II: “Kaiser Jaeger March”
Signals from the Tyrolean Kaiserjaeger regiments:
