Meaning & Performance
The General March (Hessian: General March/General Marche; Prussian & Swiss: General Marsch; French: La Générale) was beaten when the Regiment was to march out.
(Note: General March and Vergatterung were omitted when in a large garrison.)
When To Beat
The General March was the warning that told the soldiers to begin packing and
tearing down camp; it was later followed by Vergatterung to assemble the regiment.
How to Beat
All drummers beat the General March at the center of their respective battalion flag.
- Drummers beat Locken, as described before.
- All Drummers commence the General March together.
- Begin at the center of the battalion parade.
- March to the right down to the end of the parade.
- Turn around and march to the other end.
- Turn around and return to center.
- End back at the center, in front of the battalion flags.
Hessian Regulations, 1767, p. 240, 272, 568,
Prussian Regulations, 1750, p. 179
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
Winter’s manual does not include the General Marsch; instead, there is a simple 6/8 beating found in Kastner.
The beating has a Line A and Line B, each 4 measures long. This beating, unfortunately, will not conform to the 2/4 tunes found throughout the Darmstadt Fife MS.
Fife Tunes
Throughout the Darmstadt MSs, we find 3 versions of the General March.
While some of the original music may indicate a Line A of 4 bars or Line B of 9 bars, these variations still correlate to the other music, showing a clear rule of 2+5 bar structure.
One version (MS 1224, p. 71, 166), matches the first part of the English General.
Another version (MS 1224, p. 65, 69, 344) has similarities to the second part of the English General.
According to Die Musik der Speilleute…, the General March listed under the Prussian Ordonnance (which appears in many other places throughout MS 1224), may have been composed by Erbprinz Ludwig von Hessen-Darmstadt. It appears to be a variation on the second example.
While these second options are no longer distinctly recognizable as the same as the English General, they still follow the odd 2+5 bar structure.
The overlap between these German tunes and the English General certainly raises an interesting conversation of whether the tune was original Prussian or English and who stole it from whom!
Considering the nature of the fife tunes found, the best drum beating would be the English General found in sources like The Young Drummer’s Assistant and the “Drum Beatings” MS. YDA’s beating is heavily right-hand dominant, similar to the Prussian style.
Prussian General March
Interpretation for Hessian Use
Drum beating is ‘The General’ from the English duty in ‘Young Drummers Assistant’ (c1780).
Fife part is the General March listed under the Prussian ordonnance in the Darmstadt MS.
To learn more about other General March:
- English and American The General
- French La Générale
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.