Josef Sawerthal´s Reisebericht as a Testimony to the Conditions and Functions of Military Bands in Hungary and Austria before 1848 (original) (raw)

Josef Rudolf Sawerthal (1819-1893) was a bandmaster of Bohemian origin with an exceptionaly rich and cosmopolitan life. He studied at Prague Conservatory with valve brass instruments propagator Josef Kail. Subsequently he built modern brass bands gradually in Sárospaták, Temesvár, Trieste, Pula, Ciudad de Mexico and Chatham. As a twenty-five-year-old bandmaster, he made a journey to the regimental bands in Hungary and Austria, to establish a pension fund for retired military musicians. On this occassion he published in "Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung" a literary ambitious travel report, where he highlights to the professional qualities and working conditions of his colleagues. From today's perspective, it is an extremely valuable testimony of the artistic level and actually problems of the military bands at a time, when the later prestige of Austrian brass music with a Slavic element was growing. Among the most interesting are his views on the new types of instruments, on the arrangement for the brass bands, and on the unequal social status of musicians in different parts of the monarchy.