STORMTROOPER MARCHES
£14.99
Description
Includes favourites like: Pariser Einzugsmarsch (Paris Entry March), Lili Marlene, and Wacht am Rhein.
It seems remarkable that the music on this C.D., once familiar to the entire German people, was so purged from their culture in the post-war period that the songs and instrumentals performed during Hitler’s struggle for power seemed to have utterly vanished. Throughout the last half of the 20th Century, collectors seeking these rare recordings considered themselves fortunate indeed to find a relatively undamaged copy of the Nazi Party’s formerly ubiquitous anthem, the Horst Wessel Song, or the Fuehrer’s personal favourite, the Badenweiler March.
In view of such long-term scarcity, they must feel very fortunate to have at their disposal the twenty-three selections, all performed and recorded in the original circumstances of the 1920s and ‘30s, presented on “Stormtrooper Marches”. Not only does it feature the Horst Wessel Song and Badenweiler, but far less well-remembered numbers, such as the “Stahlhelm Bundesmarsch” and “Franz Seldte”. Both refer to the “Steel Helmet”, an organization of World War One veterans, who allied themselves with the Nazi Party, and voluntarily abolished their group after the National Socialist “Seizure of Power” on 30 January 1933. These two marches are like many of the selections, in that they originated during Hitler’s early political struggle, and reflect that period.
For example, the “SA Totenmarsch”, or Stormtrooper funeral march, accompanied the hundreds of men, women and children who fell in street battles against their numerous opponents. Their sacrifice echoes in “Als die goldnen Abendsonne” (“As the golden evening sun”, which tells of the body of an SA man carried by his comrades to the grave; “Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden” (I once had a comrade”), a popular First World War dirge performed here by an SA Band; and “In Muenchen sind viele gefallen” (“In Munich many have fallen”), dedicated to the sixteen National Socialist demonstrators shot by government forces in 1923.
These dark harmonies are contrasted by the up-beat “Heide Marie”, about a Stormtrooper’s girl friend he cannot forget, even when he’s marching along the banks of the Rhein, or “Am Adolf Hitler Platz”, a plaza where Germans can escape the depression of Weimar democracy. More typical are “Volk ans Gewehr” (“Folk, take up arms!”), “Es zittern die morschen Knochen” (“The rotten skulls are decaying”) and “Die Braune Kompanie” (“The Brown Company”), which surge with iron fortitude and grim determination.
As such, this collection accurately reflects the times in which they were recorded. They are beyond duplication, and cannot be identically performed today, because the spirit that motivated them is absent from these times. Listeners in search of the most hard-driving, militant music, or history students anxious to know what Hitler’s rise to power really sounded like will find “Stormtrooper Marches” a real-life echo of the past that can still stir emotions, one way or the other.
TITLES ON STORMTROOPER MARCHES CD:
Horst Wessel Lied (Nazi Party Anthem – choral)
Die braune Kompanie (choral)
Mein Regiment-Mein Heimatland
Am Adolf Hitler Platz (choral)
Franz Selte
Wir Sind Die brauned Soldated (choral)
Stahlheim-Bundesmarsch
Der Führer Ruft SA-SA Votan! (choral)
Volk ans Gewehr (choral)
Hindenburg March
Es zittern die Morschen Knochen (choral)
In München sind viele gefallen (choral)
Weichsel und Warthe
Die alte Garde (choral)
Hakenkreuzschwur (choral)
SA Totenmarsch
Heidemarie, wenn wir am Rhein marschieren (choral)
Badenweiler Marsch
Als die Goldner Abendsonne (choral)
Ich hatt’ einen Kamaraden
Deutschland erwacht (choral)
Triumphmarsch der erwachten Nation (choral)
Es pfeift von allen Dächern SA (choral)
TOTAL PLAYING TIME 66:20