Rakoczy March

Rakoczy March, a simple but grand military air by an unknown composer, dating from the end of the 17th century (see NATIONAL HYMNS), said to have been the favourite march of Francis Rakoczy II. of Transylvania. The Hungarians adopted it as their national march, and in 1848 and 1849 it is alleged to have had the same inspiring effect on the revolutionary troops of Hungary as the Marseillaise had on the French. The air most generally known in Germany and elsewhere out of Hungary as the Rakoczy march is one by Berlioz in his Damnation de Faust; Liszt also wrote an orchestral version of the original.