Russischer Marsch (Russian March), Op.426

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)

Russischer Marsch (Russian March), Op.426

One of the least likely of Johann II’s many enterprises was the seasons of summer concerts - ten of them between 1856 and 1865, two more in 1869 and 1886 - which he directed in the Vauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk Park near St Petersburg. As the result of a deal with the Tsarskoye-Selo Railway Company, which was eager to publicise its line between St Petersburg and Pavlovsk, the Russian audience had the privilege of being the first to hear such favourite pieces as the Tritsch-Tratsch and Pizzicato Polkas, an unknown composer called Tchaikovsky had his first opportunity to hear his music performed in public, and Johann Strauss made a small fortune in roubles.

The Russischer Marsch was respectfully dedicated to Tsar Alexander III and first performed under the title Marche des gardes à cheval at a concert in aid of the Red Cross Society in St Petersburg in 1886. Not at all the solemn kind of thing another composer might have written for the occasion, it takes a mischievous delight in the faintly exotic quality of the Russian tune with which it begins and, after the comparatively glamorous ball-room-style middle section, finds even more fun in the opening theme as the