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Historical Notes

Returning to the years following the Franco-Prussian war, although France quickly resumed its special and industrial life - paying off a huge war indemnity in record time to rid its soil of the invader - there was a desire for change in many aspects of French life even though the dissension on the course to be taken was great. Present also was the determination that the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine should one day he regained. Most Frenchmen thought of it as 'La Revanche' and in this spirit they went to war again in 1914.  Belief in herself as a martial nation, even after defeat, had remained and in the many marches to be written during the forty-three years of peace there is usually a vigor and élan inspiring hope and confidence. In listening to examples we must remember that the French march comes in three varieties. The form which is regarded by foreigners as typically French is the Defile-march. It is played by the combined military band (l'Harmonie) and batterie-Fanfare, comprising drums and trumpets or bugles (clairons). The latter obscures the former if the proper balance is lacking, but a good example of a properly balanced rendition is the Garde Republicaine's recording of a defile based on themes from the opera CAID (Ambroise Thomas, arr. Michel). The second type is the Marche, the form of march used for general military duties and played by l'harmonie alone. This brings us to a march by a distinguished Chef de Musique, Gabriel Allier (1860-1934), whose output of marches far exceeded that of any other French march writer, all of a consistently high standard. He is chiefly remembered for his Entante-Cordiale, which was inspired by the Anglo-French rapprochement of 1904. In the same atmosphere of cordiality between the two countries he wrote another march which he appropriately called Paris-Londres and this attractive march is deserving of far more frequent performances.

The third form of march is the Pas Redouble, which should not be translated as a double-march in the sense of running. It is the customary quick march as was used by the regiment of the First Empire and about twice as fast as the very slow formal marching pace of earlier times. It presaged the rhythm of the modern march but it now takes the form of a concert march played from the bandstand or platform. An example of this style of march is VILLARS, also by Allier and named after the French Marshal defeated at Malplaquet by the Duke of Marlborough in 1709. In strict terminology "l'Harmonie" is the military band and "La Musique" is the concert band. There is considerable choice and flexibility. If what may have been written simply as a "march" is played by the combined "harmonie" and batterie", in sound it cannot be distinguished from a  a regular march. A recent concert band record by La Police Nationale describes the ensemble as L'Orchestre d'Harmonie de la Police Nationale, no stringed instruments are present, however - one has also noticed the normal military wind band called an "orchestre militaire".  "La Musique" is certainly the French word for band, but when La Garde Republicaine performs orchestrally it calls itself La Musique a Cordes - literally the String Band. It would therefore seem that Mr. Cole Porter was correct when he observed that "Anything Goes".  Before leaving the matter of variety and variations, it should he mentioned that prior to the liquidation of the French Empire in this century, one could have seen five different ensembles providing music when the French Army was on the march. Two have already been mentioned, vis. infantry regiments and regiments of Light Infantry and Chasseurs, each with their distinctive cliques. By 1914 the clique of all types of infantry consisted of clairons and tambours and sometimes horns and trumpets. Regiments having a Trumpet Fanfare were led by a clique of clairons, horns and trumpets, but minus drums. Bands of the Colonial Infantry were preceded by clairons only. The clique of the Foreign Legion contained tambours, clairons and fifes - but sometimes they also had horns and trumpets, Fifthly, there were Les Tirailleurs (Native Colonial Infantry) who used the usual Infantry clique but which was led by its "nouba"- a group composed of variously shaped drums, tambourines, small Arab clarinets and apparently any other type of native instruments that took their fancy. French military music in the past century cannot be mentioned without reference to Louis Ganne (1862-1923). He was not a military musician but a popular conductor and composer who wrote successful ballets, operettas, walzes and marches. He had studied composition under Massenet and the organ with Cesar Franck.  His marches are all of merit and character, probably the most played being MARCHE LORRAINE.

This review of the military band in France has, for the most part, portrayed it as contiguous to its raison d'etre - a component of the larger machine of war and whose music was a weapon. Musicians could also produce non-martial music but this was secondary and incidental. Bands went into battle until as late as the early months of the First World War and their existence had always depended on their military contribution. In Europe providing music for social entertainment on a wider scale came about during the 19th century. The unique situation in France during the First Empire has been described but unfortunately, the genre did not endure under the regimes which followed, where the concert repertoire comprised mainly orchestral transcriptions.

The paucity of major compositions for the military or concert band was not confined to France. A few pioneers in various countries occasionally wrote works of stature, but such composers could almost he numbered on one's fingers. Within very recent years there has been a marked interest and growth in the writing of so called wind band music, especially in America but for the purpose of this paper the temptation to digress must be resisted. Nevertheless, in France the major bands by no means neglect serious modern music and transcriptions (often by the directors of music) have an important place in the repertoires, although the programs contain, advisedly, a prudent balance between the old and the new. There is today an outstanding French composer of music for the concert and symphonic band - Serge Lancen, who was born in Paris and studied music at the Conservatoire: later he obtained a "Prix de Rome" and, although a pianist of concert dimension, he became a composer. In addition to symphonic chamber, choral, organ and orchestral works he has also composed some thirty works for symphonic band. The style and character of this composer, born in 1922, is well summarized in a quotation from the sleeve notes of a recent record -- "In his orchestration Serge Lancen uses successfully all the rich tone colors of the symphonic band". His main musical quality is sincerity, expressed in clear and simple language which comes straight from the heart". His recorded works include:

MONT ST MICHEL, RAPSODIE SUR DES THEMES NORMANDS, RAPSODIE SUR DES THEMES BRETON, HYMNE A LA MUSIQUE, SYMPHONIE DE PARIS, CAP KENNEDY, PARADE CONCERT POUR PIANO ET ORCHESTRE D'HARMONIE (Composer as soloist), VERSAILLES SUITE, TRIANON SUITE and others.

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