Johann Strauss (Sohn)

Persian March

Among the some 1500 compositions by Johann Strauss Sr. and his three sons there are some 70 marches, 45 of them written by Johann Strauss Jr. He composed military marches, marches for students and even a revolutionary march. Besides several exotic sounding concert marches, such as the Russian March, the Egyptian March, the Serbian March and the Spanish March Johann Strauss Son also wrote a Persian March: 'Persischer Marsch' opus 289. Originally the march was called 'Persischer Armeemarsch' (Persian Army March) and was written for the Shah of Persia, Nasir Ed-Dir in 1856. The composer made a first revision for a concert in the Vienna 'Volksgarten' (Popular Garden) in 1864 and a second for a concert in Pavlovsk, Russia in 1869. It is a march with an oriental sound in which the composer tried to recreate some exotic sonorities; he did not use any real Persian theme, but only tried to suggest the Persian atmosphere in his own style.