Johann Gottfried Piefke (9 September 1817 – 25 January 1884) was a German band leader, (''Kapellmeister'') and composer of military music. Piefke was born in

Schwerin an der Warthe Skwierzyna () is a town in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, serving as the administrative seat of the Gmina Skwierzyna. , it had a population of 9,078 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Obra and Warta rivers, about north of ...

, Prussia (now

Skwierzyna Skwierzyna () is a town in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, serving as the administrative seat of the Gmina Skwierzyna. , it had a population of 9,078 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Obra and Warta rivers, about north o ...

, Poland). In the 1850s, he was band leader for the 8th Infantry Regiment in Berlin. His famous

marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a state's "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diffe ...

include ''

Preußens Gloria Preußens Gloria, ''Armeemarschsammlung, Prussian Army March Collection II'', p. 240, is a well-known march (music), military march of the 19th century, composed by Johann Gottfried Piefke (1817–1884). "Preußens Gloria" ("The Glory of Prussia ...

'', ''Düppeler Schanzen-Marsch'' and the ''

Königgrätzer Marsch The Königgrätz March ( AM II, 134 (AM II, 195)), also known as Der Königgrätzer or Der Königgrätzer Marsch, is one of the most famous German military marches, composed in 1866 by Johann Gottfried Piefke in commemoration of the Battle of Kö ...

'' – the latter composed after the

Battle of Königgrätz The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königgrä ...

in 1866, the decisive battle of the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

). He arranged

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

's symphonic poem – ''Tasso'' for military band and may also have similarly arranged some of Liszt's marches. He died in

Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Marchian dialects, Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With a ...

. Piefke also wrote: * ''Pochhammer Marsch'' * ''Siegesmarsch'' * ''Gitana Marsch'' * ''Margarethen Marsch'' * '' Kaiser-Wilhelm-Siegesmarsch'' * ''Der Alsenströmer'', a march commemorating the

Battle of Als A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

during the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig–Holstein question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 Februar ...

. * ''Der Lymfjordströmer'', another march commemorating the Danish War.

Honors

Piefke received the following medals: *

Düppeler-Sturmkreuz The Düppel Storm Cross () was a military medal of the Kingdom of Prussia. The cross was awarded to Prussian participants in the Battle of Dybbøl (''Düppeler Schanzen'') which took place on 18 April 1864, during the Second Schleswig War. Establis ...

, 1864 *Golden Medal of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, 1865 * Royal Order of the House of Hohenzollern, 1869 *

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

Second Class, 1870 * Prussian Crown Order, 1880

In popular culture

* "Piefke" persists as a derogatory nickname for Germans in Austria. * Piefke's ''Königgrätzer Marsch'' can be heard playing during the

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politic ...

scene in the film ''

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jone ...

''. It was one of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's favorite marches and was often played during his public appearances.

References

External links

Naxos Records: Johann Gottfried Piefke
1817 births 1884 deaths 19th-century classical composers Composers from the Kingdom of Prussia Conductors (music) from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German composers 19th-century conductors (music) German Romantic composers German male classical composers German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) German military musicians Military music composers People from Skwierzyna People from the Grand Duchy of Posen {{Germany-composer-stub