Meaning & Performance
The Musquetier March (alt: Parademarsch, Feldmarche; Austrian: Fusilier-Marsch; Swiss: Der ordinaire Marsch) was a common time march beaten to march a column or line forward.
How to Beat
On the command to march, the drummers at the head of the column beat the march. The men march in step with rifles at shoulder arms.
When To Beat
| Leaving Camp / Garrison | On the order to ‘March’, all the drums beat. This continues until the battalion has passed out of the gate to a convenient place to pause. |
| When marching through a city | When the battalion approaches a gate to a city, the drums beat and continue until they have passed through the city. The soldiers dress and move to shoulder arms. |
| When marching through a ‘main quarters’ OR small village with a general staff | Drummers beat a march until they have passed through. Soldiers move to shoulder arms. |
| When entering a village without a general staff | One drummer per battalion beats a ‘Feldmarche’. Soldiers club their rifles |
| When entering a town at night | Drummers beat a march. Soldiers move to shoulder arms. |
| When entering a village at night | Drummers DO NOT beat a march. |
Hessian Regulations, 1757, p. 568-76
Note: This is the same concept as in the British & American army, as well as French army. The General and the Assembly are beaten in the circuit at the parade ground in all cases.
Drum Beatings
Winters’ manual doesn’t include a Musquetier or Fusilier March.
Kastern includes “Armee Marsch”, which is nearly the same as Kruger’s Parademarsch.
Kastern’s beating has 4-parts. Included here are the first two. The 3rd and 4th parts are scored with Schaar Wacht for reference.
NOTE: The final drum measure was added to match the 9th measure in the Darmstadt music.
Fife Tunes
The Darmstadt MS included one Musquetier March in the Prussian ordonnance.
Only 9 tunes appear in the Darmstadt MS that are referred to as Musquetier March (and 1 titled Fusilier March under the Austrian ordonnances). Nearly a hundred tunes are labelled simply March; many of them are likely meant to be Grenadier Marches.
Marten speculates that fife music for Musquetier Marches fell into disfavor during the 18th century considering that regiments only officially had Grenadier Fifers and a Regimental Fifer from 1735-1749 and again from 1764-1787.
Here, I have included the Prussian Musquetier March listed under the Prussian ordonnance. This is probably not the most appropriate tune for general Hessian use; however, we currently do not have Musquetier Marches for the various Hessian units in North America.
Marten, Die Musik der Spielleute des Altpreussischen Heeres, 1976, p. 47
Prussian Musquetier March
Interpretation for Hessian Use
Drum beating is the ‘Armee Marsch’ from Kastner.
Fife part is the Musquetier March listed under the Prussian ordonnance in the Darmstadt MS.
To learn more about other Marches:
To learn how to play the other major Prussian duty calls, check out:
Have more information about Hessian or Prussian music, contact me or comment below.