Three Marches Militaires (Schubert)

It is not certain when the Marches militaires were written: many scholars favour 1818[1] but some prefer alternative dates such as 1822 or 1824.

[2] It is known that they were written during Schubert's stay at Count Johann Karl Esterházy's summer home in Zseliz in Hungary (now Želiezovce in Slovakia).

He had accepted a job there as music teacher to the Count's daughters, Maria Theresia and Caroline, and these and similar works were written for instructional purposes.

[3] They are all in ternary form, with a central trio leading to a reprise of the main march.

Recordings of the original piano 4-hand version include those by Christoph Eschenbach and Justus Frantz; Radu Lupu and Daniel Barenboim; Robert Levin and Malcolm Bilson; Evgeny Kissin and James Levine; and Artur Schnabel and Karl Ulrich Schnabel.