The subject of this paper is the work of Franz Jaksch (1851–1931), a versatile musician who served as the bandmaster of the Imperial and Royal Navy Orchestra in Pula, the main port of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in the period between 1899 and 1917. It was in Pula that he composed most of his pieces tailored for military orchestras, opera stages and bourgeois salons. During his bandmaster term, the Navy Orchestra performed some of the most significant orchestral pieces from the symphonic repertoire.