The original
What makes the Original Hoch- und Deutschmeister Band "original"?
The first reason:
We are the last guardians of the historical tradition of Austro-Hungarian military music. We play as they did back then, and we are proud that we sound as "original" as the military bands of old Austria originally played:
- In high pitch, a specific feature of Austro-Hungarian music, which was common at the time to ensure that the band could be heard and understood clearly in the field (a semitone higher than is common today), when tone signals were still used to communicate commands over wide areas (e.g., attack, retreat, etc.).
- Consequently, we play with instruments specially built shorter for us (with expensive "custom-made" instruments) or with "vintage" instruments, as well as with instruments other than those commonly used today (E-flat piston, E-flat trumpet, rotary valve trombones, bass trumpet, helicone, etc.), since the instrumentation has also changed.
- Our stylistic model is historical shellac recordings, and our goal is to interpret the repertoire of Viennese music—as once performed by the numerous Viennese military bands of the monarchy—in the authentic style of previous generations of musicians.
Our aim is therefore to preserve this special tradition of the Imperial and Royal Deutschmeister Band in its purest and thus "historically original" form, even if this requires considerable expense and effort. Some of our musicians, driven by idealism, also maintain collections of several historical instruments, which they regularly use with the Deutschmeister Band. Hear and experience the difference—the historically authentic performance practice of old Austria!
The second reason:
The music of the Deutschmeister Band has always been something special. Good musicians, good bandmasters, ambitious, a close-knit and successful ensemble with a stellar reputation. It's quite understandable that over the course of its long history, partly dating back to the time of the monarchy, various other ensembles, all of which no longer exist, tried to capitalize on this reputation in the shadow of the "masters," though they couldn't necessarily match the quality of the "original." Therefore, after the end of the monarchy, Wilhelm Wacek, the last bandmaster of the Imperial and Royal Deutschmeister Band, founded the traditional Hoch- und Deutschmeister Band with numerous well-known "musical veterans" from the time of the monarchy.
The "Original Hoch- und Deutschmeister Band" has always maintained a continuity of musicians who are proud to build upon the historical, original style of playing – not following fashionable or other trends. "Original" therefore refers to a line that can be traced directly back to the last Kapellmeister in the monarchy, Wilhelm Wacek.
The third reason:
During the mourning period following the death in 1977 of Julius Herrmann, the bandmaster for decades, who had taken over the band directly from Wilhelm Wacek, the band's continued existence was initially uncertain, and numerous newspapers reported on the Deutschmeister Band's last performance at the funeral and thus the band's final demise. Suddenly, another ensemble, under the direction of bandmaster Anton Janosch, now newly outfitted in the appropriate uniforms and with only a few musicians in its ranks who had once assisted Professor Julius Herrmann, attempted to claim, using false historical justifications and borrowed "pens," the legitimate successor band called the "Original Wiener Deutschmeisterkapelle" (last existing as the "K. u. K. Wiener Regimentskapelle IR4", dissolved in 2023) and to fill the perceived vacuum. Meanwhile, the original musicians of Julius Herrmann, who had remained until the very end and had even played at his funeral in the Vienna Central Cemetery in the presence of 3000 mourners, decided to continue their work after his burial and founded our association, initially with interim bandmaster Ferdinand Kastner, Herrmann's long-time music director, and later with the new bandmaster, Professor Horst Winter, at its helm.
This formed the basis for the decision of the historic and original band founded by Julius Herrmann to secure the trademark rights to "Hoch- und Deutschmeister" and "Deutschmeister" in order to guarantee the highest possible quality in the long term and to prevent further falsification, devaluation, and defamation of the noble and unique Deutschmeister musical tradition, which had repeatedly occurred over the decades.
- This was the basis for the decision of the historic and original band founded by Julius Herrmann to secure the trademark rights to "Hoch- und Deutschmeister" and "Deutschmeister" in order to ensure the highest possible quality in the long term and to prevent further falsification, devaluation, and defamation of the noble and unique Deutschmeister musical tradition, as had repeatedly occurred over the decades.
The fourth reason:
We don't just play music in the historical style; we are also deeply aware of the rich legacy of our musical ancestors. Being a member of the Deutschmeister Band is a special feeling, but also a great responsibility, because being "original" means knowing your own history intimately and embodying it accordingly. Members of our band therefore dedicate themselves extensively and to an extraordinary degree to the long history of the Hoch- und Deutschmeister Band. In their free time, they research the numerous available sources of all kinds, reconstruct biographies of key figures, and even create and continually expand valuable collections of numerous historical items of all kinds (sheet music, postcards, newspaper articles, etc.) at their own expense—collections that could now fill a museum in their own right.
- It is therefore only natural that, for example, at the opening of the "Deutschmeister Exhibition" at the Vienna-Landstraße District Museum in 2020, we not only performed but also shared our acquired expertise!