When the Echelsbach Bridge was inaugurated in 1930, Karl Echtler was there as a five-year-old boy.
This year the Rottenbucher had a march composed - for the reopening.
Rottenbuch
- It was a sight that still makes Karl Echtler smile. The Rottenbuch band recently paid their honorary conductor a visit. In the evening she stood in front of his house, the fire brigade donated the necessary light. Then the musicians played three marches in a row. Echtler enjoyed the performance from the window. “That was a great show,” says the 96-year-old. “It was wonderful.” And something very special. Because the men and women had a good reason to exclusively play one of these marches to Echtler: The conductor of honor had it composed, the “Rottenbucher Bridge March” - on the occasion of the renovation of the Echelsbacher Bridge.
It has always been a very special building for the Rottenbucher.
“That was an achievement of the construction workers at the time,” he says.
He witnessed the inauguration in 1930 as a five-year-old.
His grandfather, Karl Berger, was Rottenbuch's mayor at the time.
Thousands of people listened to his words at the time.
Echtler still cherishes the top hat that Berger wore that day.
Meeting point Echelsbacher Brücke: A scoop of ice cream for a fiver
As a boy he spent a lot of time at the impressive bridge.
It became a meeting place for children and young people, not just from Rottenbuch.
"The Wildsteiger Buam and Madl came too." No wonder: "The kiosk there was home-made ice cream, there was a scoop for a fiver," says Echtler.
He has many memories of the bridge and didn't live far away all his life.
His parents' house is at the southern entrance to Rottenbuch, around two kilometers from the building.
Echtler set up a campsite there 50 years ago.
And later made just as much service to the place as his grandfather once did: he was Rottenbuch's mayor from 1984 to 1996 and conductor of the band for around 20 years, and can now call himself an honorary citizen and honorary conductor.
The fascination for the bridge has remained with him over the decades, he has even passed it on - one of his two sons gives tours of the bridge.
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Childhood memory: Karl Echtler as a boy with his grandfather Karl Berger.
© private
It was absolutely clear to Echtler that something special would also be needed to reopen the street.
So he came up with the idea of having a concert march composed.
The 96-year-old presented his thoughts on the piece to the conductor Michael Luther and the chairman of the band, Tobias Schmid.
They passed this on to the composer Thomas G. Greiner from Rieden (Antdorf).
“Somebody had to put that into notes,” says Echtler.
It took six weeks, then the piece was put on paper.
Concert march symbolizes the opening of the bridge
Exactly as Echtler wanted it - the march musically symbolizes the opening of a bridge.
With a festive fanfare at the beginning.
This is followed by a calm marching pace.
That should describe the moment when “the guests of honor walk across the bridge”.
Then things get more hectic: The opening is presented to the public with the pounding of horses, bicycle bells and horns.
This is followed by a bass solo that symbolizes the arch of the bridge, as well as a part in which “God is thanked that there were no major accidents during the renovation”.
This is followed by a “grandiose conclusion”, as Echtler says with a smile.
The band rehearsed the march for weeks, played it to Echtler - and thrilled him with it.
The musicians “did it nicely”.
The work is intended for all instruments in the band; anyone can play along.
But for the time being, the big, public premiere will not work.
Because the public festival for the reopening of the bridge is canceled due to the corona - it may be made up for in late summer 2022.
Echtler does not know whether the march will be presented there or beforehand at another event.
Nobody knows that yet.
In addition to Karl Echtler, other Rottenbuchers had thought about the reopening of the Echelsbach Bridge: Two of them restored a model that is just as old as the bridge.
