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The March of the Preobrazhensky Life-Guard Regiment (russian: Марш Лейб-гвардии Преображенского полка) is one of the most famous Russian military marches. The
Preobrazhensky Life-Guard Regiment The Preobrazhensky Life-Guards Regiment (russian: Преображенский лейб-гвардии полк, ''Preobrazhensky leyb-gvardii polk'') was a regiment of the Imperial Guard of the Imperial Russian Army from 1683 to 1917. The Pr ...
was one of the oldest and most elite guard regiments of the
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Arm ...
.


Usage history


Russian Empire

The march was used as an unofficial
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europe ...
in early imperial times.


Modern Russia

March of the Preobrazhensky Regiment was often used in modern Russia, particularly in the annual
Victory Day Parade ukr, Парад Перемоги be, Парад Перамогі , nickname = Victory Parades , observedby = Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, some former Soviet countries , duration = 1 day , frequency = annual , scheduling = same ...
for the trooping of the colours (
Flag of Russia The national flag of Russia (russian: Флаг России, Flag Rossii), also known as the ''State Flag of the Russian Federation'' (russian: Государственный флаг Российской Федерации, Gosudarstvenny fla ...
and
Banner of Victory The Soviet Banner of Victory (russian: Знамя Победы, translit=Znamya Pobedy) was the banner raised by the Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide. It was rais ...
), notably at the 2005 Victory Day Parade. However as of 2010 ''
The Sacred War "The Sacred War" ( rus, Свяще́нная война́, links=1, r=Svyashchénnaya voyná, p=svʲɪˈɕːenːəjə vɐjˈna), also known as "Arise, Great Country!" ( rus, Встава́й, страна́ огро́мная!, r=Vstaváy straná ...
'' has been played instead, both for the trooping of flags and the inspection of troops. It is not believed to have been officially used in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
much, but it was played by Soviet military bands in concerts and, infrequently, during the inspection segment of parades.


Other uses

Before World War I, the work was used as the presentation march (german: Präsentiermarsch) in several military formations in
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was '' de facto'' dissolved by an ...
. Since 1964, it has been used as the slow march of the
Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
in the arrangement of
Francis Vivian Dunn Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Francis Vivian Dunn (24 December 1908 – 3 April 1995) was a British conductor who was Director of Music of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines from 1931 to 1953 and Principal Director of Music of the Royal Mari ...
. It was used in 1969 to the opening credits of The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten.


Origin

Neither composer nor date of its writing are known. Judging from an old title of the march, "March of the Peter the Great", some conjecture that it was written in the time of
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
. Some European scholars suggested Swedish authorship, but there is no evidence to that. In German sources the name of Ferdinand Haase (1788—1851) is mentioned. Haase indeed worked in Russia in the 19th century, and he wrote the second ''Marsch des Leib-Garde Preobraschenski Regiments''."История марша Лейб-Гвардии Преображенского полка"
reprinted from the article Агафонов Н., Петров Ф. "Марш лейб-гвардии Преображенского полка", ''Оркестр'', 2007
Some English sources, when referring to the arrangement of the march for the Royal Marines, erroneously give the name of the composer as Donajowsky. Vivian Dunn, and early 20th Century British copies of the march, mistakenly attributed it to an Ernest Donajowski, who was in fact in the sheet music publishing business, and was not a composer.Tony Dean
"Mistaken Attributions: The Preobrajensky March"
''IMMS UK (Founder) Branch Journal'', No. 112, Summer 2017, p. 13 (retrieved January 31, 2020)
Several lyrics are known for the march.


References

{{reflist Russian Imperial Guard Russian military marches