99er Regimentsmarsch

Apart from his thrilling “99th Regimental March”, Richard Hunyaczek left no other traces in the history of Austro-Hungarian military music. He only had been a military bandmaster for nine years, and he also died during World War I. In 1908 Richard Hunyaczek became regimental bandmaster of Infantry Regiment (IR) No. 51 as successor to Anton Kutschera who had been appointed organizing director of music of the Imperial Royal Landwehr. Hunyaczek left IR 99, when it deployed to Maros-Vásárhely (today 'Neumarkt an der Raab'). This evidently was no promising perspective for his career as a regimental bandmaster. In October 1912 he was employed as regimental bandmaster of IR 99, and remained with this regiment until his untimely death on September 22, 1917 in Vienna. The brisk “99th Regimental March” - the patriotic lyrics set to its trio say “Hail 99! Brave regiment” - was composed in 1914 and dedicated to Hunyaczek’s regimental commander, Colonel Otto Herzmansky.