Hertel, Peter Ludwig

Wiki entry: Peter Ludwig Hertel

International Music Score Library Project [IMSLP] entry: Peter Ludwig Hertel

Peter Ludwig Hertel [1817-99] was a German composer of operas and ballets.

PieceMP3MidiGenre
Firemen's Galop MIDI   piano   salon  
Firemen's Galop, or Feuerwehr-Galopp, Op 33, was taken from the comic ballet, Die Abenteuer von Flick und Flock [The Adventures of Flick and Flock], choreographed by Paul Taglioni and first performed in 1858. Think of the Keystone cops or Laurel and Hardy.
Sequenced in 2021 from the version in the 6th Star Folio, Paxton [London], no date or copyright or further information.
This is a novelty piece; the firemen gallop to the fire with bells and whistles announcing their progress. 19thC pianos [fairly] commonly had bells and drums of various sorts; whistles were less common, but [no doubt!] not unknown -- the phrase `bells and whistles' has to come from somewhere!
By a weird coincidence, when I bought the Star Folio, I went home and sight-read the pieces; liked this one, which I had never to my knowledge heard or heard of before, so played it through again, and then switched on the TV. The Royal Tournament was being shown, and they were doing that manoeuvre where horse artillery are charging around in intricate patterns pulling heavy field guns at high speed, and missing each other seemingly by inches. To the accompaniment of this very piece!


Sequencing: Copyright © Andy Walker, 2021. You may use all my work freely for private purposes; commercial use is permitted only with my permission.

    Andy Walker, anw [at] cuboid4.me.uk [remove digit to construct address]