!!!Blasmusik

Music for Wind Instruments is divided into three different groups: art 
music (including jazz), military music and popular brass bands. The 
oldest roots of brass music can be found in the church (despite 
repeated bans) and at court (trumpet players and drummers as symbols 
of imperial power); from the Middle Ages until the 19%%sup th/%  
century, musicians in cities organized themselves in guilds, so-called 
"Turner" (from "Turm", the German word for "tower", as it was one of 
the tasks of these musicians to send acoustic signals from the city 
tower). These guilds greatly influenced musical life in the cities. 
Military brass bands became popular at the time of Empress Maria 
Theresia, their development is ascribed to the legendary Freiherr 
Franz von der Trenck; however, their roots go back to the time of the 
lansquenet armies. At the end of the 18%%sup th/%  century, richer 
regiment leaders paid for their own bands, which were mainly used for 
non-military entertainment; the great era of marching bands began in 
the 19%%sup th/%  century. In this context, important military 
bandmasters like C.M.  Ziehrer, K.  Komzák sr. and K.  
Komzák jr., P.  Fahrbach and F.  Lehár jr. and sr. 
should be mentioned. This musical tradition is still alive, if in a 
somewhat reduced form, in the Guards band of the Austrian army. Today, 
wind music in Austria is mainly associated with folkloric marching 
bands organized in villages or towns by musicians' associations or 
professional groups (e.g. railway employees, miners); these roughly 
2000 wind bands are part of the Austrian Association of Wind Music 
(Oesterreichischer Blasmusik-Verband) which works to safeguard 
artistic standards and to promote young talents.

!Literature
W. Suppan, Lexikon des Blasmusik-Wesens, 1973; E. Rameis, 
Die oesterreichische Militaermusik von ihren Anfaengen bis zum Jahre 
1918, 1976.


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