Hoch Habsburg!

Johann Nepomuk Král was born in Mainz in 1839. Král’s father later became city music director there and he was also responsible for the thorough musical education of his son. Following a first musical engagement in Amsterdam he moved back to Austria-Hungary. In 1866 he was employed as a military bandmaster in Infantry Regiment (IR) No. 13. In the years to come he served as a military bandmaster of IR 20, 36, 17, 38, 24 and finally IR No. 23 until 1895. Upon retirement as regimental bandmaster of IR 38 he performed in Vienna with his own “Civilian Elite Orchestra”.

But he did not remain without the uniform for a long time, as in the following year he joined the ranks of regimental bandmasters again, this time serving with IR 23. Král died in Tulln one year after leaving IR 23 as regimental bandmaster. Johann Nepomuk Král who became world-famous for two of his marches – the „March of the Bruck Encampment“ and “Hail Habsburg!” – served in the major cities of the monarchy during this tenure as military bandmaster, namely in Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, but also in Olomouc and Mlada Boleslav. The march “Hail Habsburg!” belongs to the “Historical Marches and other Compositions for the Imperial and Royal Army” (1895). According to data shown there, the march was written in 1879 for the occasion of the silver wedding anniversary of the Emperor Franz Joseph I with Empress Elizabeth. By the way, the title derived from this dedication, namely “Imperial Wedding March” helped it to survive musically during the Communist reign in Czechoslovakia, when the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was not popular at all, and above all the house of Habsburg was simply “non-existent”.

Contrary to this, the first piano edition of the march which was published in Vienna in 1882, showed a dedication for the “600th festive anniversary of the Existence of the Dynasty of the House of Habsburg in Austria”. Král is shown there as bandmaster of IR 38, a position which he did not occupy prior to October 1882. This evidently is a striking example how a fine march was artfully presented with different dedications for various occasions. Today we would refer to this as an “excellent marketing strategy”…