Batalla Imperial 1

One of the great pleasures of being a king or emperor in the Middle Ages was, that you could order ordinary yokels to fight your battles for you.
The yokels being hacked, burned, maimed, decapitated and other unspeakable things done to just because you wanted another "Nobleman's" piece of land, or wife or whatever.

Actually not that much change today: only substitute "nobleman" by "government" and call the war a "peace mission" to get away with it. The yokels still pay the price.

This piece is about a situation like that, but then depicted musically.

The first three minutes of it get lost getting the eager warriors out of bed, push a hearty breakfast into them and persuade them that they are fighting for a good cause, because the other side are the bad guys.

This is done by a subversive speech on the plenum about "our" team.

When all the noses at last are pointing in the same direction, the hobo calls the men to work.

With eager reluctance they spring into action; the battle trumpets are really pumping up the situation and the adrenaline flows almost as profusely as the blood.
And this is only the first stage!

Just when they start to doubt their mission the enemy attacks even more fierce, using the full might of the trompetteria this time.

The noise alone is enough to make even the general up the hill a safe three miles away blow his nose and cover his ears

Sheer panic is the result.
The music depicts the awful scene of men fleeing every which way, never to be seen again, deaf to the shouting of their superiors about letting the team down and being a part of the problem if you're not willing to be a part of the solution.

The music goes back to a plenum for the last page. A little feast is thrown. Come to think of it, I let the wrong side win.

But then who cares?
There's only losers in a war.