Our Top Five Fanfare-Filled Marches

What better way to leave the winter blues behind than with a morale-boosting march to usher you into sunny season? From the celebratory in spirit to the traditional in tone, these marches evoke a sense of success, victory, and optimism that will put a spring in your step as you step into spring.

Here are five feel-good marches we often include in our Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert programmes that are sure to get your heart pumping.

Entrance March (from The Gypsy Baron) - Johann Strauss II

This celebratory march is filled with brass fanfares and dance-like rhythms. A thematic piece from operetta The Gypsy Baron, the march starts Act 3 by setting the scene in Vienna, where characters have gathered for a victory celebration following the war. This Johann Strauss Jr. composition from 1885 is often performed as a standalone piece in concerts.

Schönfeld March - Carl Ziehrer

Flavours of Austrian composer Carl Ziehrer’s distinguished career as a military bandmaster can be found in this traditional military-style march composed in 1890. Ziehrer toured as a military bandmaster between1885 and 1893, and dedicated this particular march to Austrian Lieutenant General Anton Freiherr von Schönfeld, corps commander and commanding general of the II Corps in Vienna.

Weiber March (from The Merry Widow) - Franz Lehár

Franz Lehár’s “Women’s March” is full of operetta sparkle. Typical of Lehár’s flirtatious style, the melodies in this piece are both lively and elegant. This march, performed in Act 2 of Lehár's 1905 operetta The Merry Widow, remains an immensely popular standalone piece in operetta concerts.

Florentiner March - Julius Fučik

This light-spirited march feels more like music at a parade than that of a battlefield, and is a common favourite of Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert conductors due to the playful choreography opportunities it provides. Czech composer and military bandmaster, Julius Fučik, wrote this march while in Budapest in 1907.

Radetzky March - Johann Strauss Sr.

Originally composed to celebrate the victory of the Austrian Empire under Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz in 1848, this Johann Strauss Sr. march is considered one of Austria's unofficial national anthems (alongside Strauss Jr.'s Blue Danube Walz). This audience favourite is now better known as a clap-along encore at Viennese New Year's concerts. In fact, if you have attended Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert in the past, you have likely clapped along to this march with our cast!

Whether you like to sit back and enjoy taking in every beat of these marches, or play your favourite as motivation during your get-out-the-door-in-the-morning routine, there's no denying that the fanfare and bravado of these pieces are a perfect energy boost. If you find it difficult to stay in your seat when we launch into your favourite march at Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert, no one will fault you for getting up on your feet to march merrily in place. We'll be right there clapping along with you.