A Fiedler Favorite

Arthur Fiedler

Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler recorded a collection of his favorite marches and called it, appropriately, Fiedler's Favorite Marches. As a teenager, I loved listening to this recording. It always lifted my spirits. My favorite march of Fiedler's favorites was Norwegian composer Johannes Hanssen's Valdres March.

The march will face off against Copland's Hoedown at our October 25th concert, You Be the Judge! The audience will be presented with a series of two choices and will vote at the concert on which of the two they want to hear.

In the case of Valdres versus Hoedown I can pretty much guess that the audience will pick the Copland. After all, how many people know Hanssen's march? And people just can't get enough of the Beef Tune. Today, however, I want to plead my case for the Valdres March. I hope you will take the time to listen to the recording below and give old Hanssen a chance.

Johannes Hanssen

Johannes Hanssen was born December 2, 1874 in Ullensaker, Norway, a small town near Oslo, and died on November 25,1967 in Oslo. A Norwegian bandmaster, composer and teacher, he led the Oslo Military Band from 1926 to 1934 and again from 1945 to 1946. Hanssen received the King's Order of Merit in Gold and King Haakon VII's Jubilee Medal.

His most famous composition is his Valdres March (1904), a march celebrating the beautiful Valdres region in Norway that lies between Oslo and Bergen. The main theme is the signature fanfare for the Valdres Battalion, which is based on an ancient melody formerly played on the medieval lur, an uncoiled wooden wind instrument. The melody of the trio section derives from a fiddle tune traditional in Hardanger and a pentatonic folk tune, above a typical Norwegian drone bass line. It was first performed in 1904 by the band of the second regiment of Norway, with the composer playing the baritone horn himself. Numerous settings for brass band exist in addition to various arrangements for concert band and orchestra. (From a wikipedia article on Hanssen)


What I love about the Valdres March is its novelty. First, it is more stately than, say, a march of John Philip Sousa's. Instead of a typical four bar introduction, it begins with the first theme, played by the clarinet, which is also unusual. Also, the trio theme, played by trumpet, does not have the usual oom-pah accompaniment of a Sousa march. Instead, there is a syncopated figure that gives it a floating or more relaxed feeling. My favorite moment is towards the end of the dogfight or break strain, where the French horns blast out a triumphant figure that propels us back into the first theme. The march ends, but without a "stinger," the final note that ends most marches.

Unfortunately, orchestras rarely play marches anymore (except on July 4th programs). It is part of the orchestra's heritage: Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn composed marches. In addition to Fiedler, great conductors like von Karajan and Kleiber conducted them. Let's not neglect these little gems. Attention conductors: let's not leave it to our colleagues in the band world. Play more marches!

Listen to a performance by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.

Tomorrow, I will discuss Barber's Adagio for Strings.