Narhallamarsch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Narhallamarsch (also called "Narrhallamarsch") is a traditional German carnival tune, a staple of the Mainz carnival ("Meenzer Fassenacht") since the 19th century.^[1]

1 Usage
2 History
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] Usage

The Narhallamarsch is usually used as a march which is played whenever a speaker enters or leaves the stage on a convention. "Narr" in German means jester, and "Narrhalla" is the jesters' heaven, and a pun on Walhalla which was Odin's heaven in German mythology.^[2]

[edit] History

In 1838, the people of Mainz founded the "Mainzer Carneval-Verein" (translatable to "Carnival Club of Mainz") and were searching for a lead melody for the local carnival. One of the founding members was the Austrian bandmaster Karl Zulehner, who got inspired by the Adolphe Adam opera "Der Brauer von Preston" ("The Brewer of Preston") and used certain musical motives to create the "Mainzer Narrhallamarsch". The new tune was presented in 1840 and grew out to the signature tune of the "Meenzer Fassenacht".^[1]