Friedrich August Reissiger (1809–1883) was a German-born Norwegian composer, organist and bandmaster. He hailed from the town of Bad Belzig in Saxony (now in Brandenburg), being the younger brother of a more well-known musician, Carl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798–1859), conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and composer of Die Felsenmühle (Mill on the Mountain).
Young Friedrich August had studied music in Leipzig, but employment was scarce all over Germany, so in 1840 his brother recommended him for the post of choirmaster at the only theatre in Christiania (Oslo).
Not being a skilled conductor, he was still able to stage 33 operas and lighter operettas during his ten years of tenure there.
In 1850 he had to leave the theatre and worked for the rest of his life as conductor of the Halden military band as well as being organist in this small frontier town in southeastern Norway.
Although not achieving an illustrious musical career, Reissiger nonetheless managed to make his mark as a composer at a time when composing was an almost non-existent profession in Norway.
In particular, he took an interest in the ongoing collection of folk songs and wrote as a novelty four rhapsodies for wind band using these songs.
He also composed patriotic songs for men’s choir that are still being sung, a Requiem on the death of King Karl Johan (recently recorded), as well as cantatas and six masses which are now lost.
Signal March is a piece of non-military character written for bandstand concerts that Reissiger conducted in Halden. He did not write much for wind band, because the band’s repertoire consisted mostly of popular music from abroad.
This arrangement has been recorded by the Royal Norwegian Navy Band (CD Komponister i uniform, Grong Productions GMP 16016).
The sound clip is computer generated using sampled sounds (AI). Transcriptions and descriptions are not AI generated.
Friedrich August Reissiger (1809–1883) was a German-born Norwegian composer, organist and bandmaster. He hailed from the town of Bad Belzig in Saxony (now in Brandenburg), being the younger brother of a more well-known musician, Carl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798–1859), conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and composer of Die Felsenmühle (Mill on the Mountain).
