The Evolution of the Military Band in France (Part 2),

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY BAND IN FRANCE (Part 2)
Edward Bevan

If the turning point in the development of the modern military band was the hautbois band, then the turning point in the career of General Bonaparte was the French Revolution: a lesser upheaval would not have provided him with the impetus he required to gain a crown.  His great opponent and ultimate vanquisher, the Duke of Wellington, had learned to play the violin as a youth but he appears to have left decisions on Army music and bands to his subordinates – although a request to be included in the Line at Waterloo, from an untried battalion of the 14th Regiment of Foot, was granted only after the Duke had observed them parade to the beating of The Grenadiers March.

The Corsican had very firm views on army bands and their function and his interest in military music is reflected not only in the splendid formal marches written whilst he was First Consul and then Emperor, but in orders that he issued, tastes he expressed and even jokes he cracked with his veterans – his ‘Grognards’ – about their songs.  Before he left on the Egyptian expedition he gave special attention to the formation of good bands.  In Cairo he ordered noonday concerts by regimental bands, stationed in public places near the hospitals, where they were to play ‘Various airs which will cheer the sick and recall to their minds the finest hours of past campaigns’.  Sometimes he could demand the near impossible, as when he asked Lebrun and Rouget de Lisle to ‘compose a hymn based on a familiar tune like LA MARSEILLAISE or ~ DU DEPART to be used in combat and contain sentiments for any and all circumstances of war’.

Some marches had been composed for use in battle.  LA MARCHE DE LA GARDE CONSULAIRE has had several arrangers but original composer is never indicated.  The march is said to have been performed at the Battle of Marengo (1800), the ‘Pas de Charge’ being in the trio.  The outcome was an important victory for France but it is ironic that the dispositions he had made caused Bonaparte to be surprised by the Austrians and he was saved only by the staunchness of the Guard and the brilliant action of a subordinate.  Characteristically, Napoleon took full credit and named his celebrated charger after the battle.  ‘Furgeot’ an arrangement of the march has often been recorded by leading French bands.

The Consulate had come into being in 1799 and as First Consul and General, Bonaparte suppressed the cavalry bends for a time, saying that by discharging the cavalry bandsmen the saving of horses would enable him to raise four extra regiments of horse.  During the five years of the Consulate the Band of the Consular Guard, led by Gebeuer and Blasius established a high reputation. In the meantime, the high clarinet in F had been introduced and the oboe restored.

In 1802 the Gendarmerie de Paris was formed, a military body which carried out certain internal duties of a police nature.  Its title underwent such changes as La Garde Municipale and La Garde Royale, until its suppression by the Provisional Government after the February Revolution of 1848.  It had a Batterie-Fanfare (drums, bugles and/or trumpets) dating from 2 October 1802, and in 1804 a Fanfare de Cavalerie (mounted trumpet corps) was formed.  In the same year Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French. A larger band for the Grenadiers of the Guard comprised twelve clarinets, two clarinets in F, two piccolos, four oboes, four bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, two serpents, one bass drum and two pairs of cymbals. It was headed on the march by drums and fifes.  Cavalry bands were re-established and handsomely furnished with sixteen trumpets, six horns and three trombones, to which, in the cases of cuirassiers and caribiniers, kettle drums were added.

The years of the First Empire, and the decade before, were a golden age for the military band in France. Indeed, one questions whether any other country has ever enjoyed such a stimulating period. The bands lacked virtually nothing materially and the important factor of morale must have been braced by the fact that they were a necessity to the military and social structure.  Even so, the claim that it was a golden age for bands cannot be sustained without the recognition that the cardinal requirement had been present — worthy music.  This need was met in abundance by a group of fine composers such as Gossec, Catel, Mehul, Gebauer, Charubini and others.  Their output was enormous. Quick steps and other items for military evolutions and arrangements of patriotic songs were to be expected but there were also suites, overtures and symphonies of the first rank composed especially for the military bend.

Francois Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) was already a pioneer before the Revolution and had been the first to regard the military band orchestrally; also to demonstrate the benefits of the clarinet and trombone in the orchestra.  Mozart referred to him as ‘his very good friend and a dry man’ and he has been called the ‘founder of symphonic music in France’.  He might equally be called the founder of French chamber music, as he wrote eighteen string quartets.  With its positive cleavage from the past, the Revolution gave him his opportunity.  Very active in composing in his early days, he made his first authentic instrumental arrangement of LA MARSEILLAISE.  In terms of symphonic form, those of Gossec take first place, but Catel is more original and Louis Jardin bolder and more advanced in conception.  Regrettably, little of their music, and music for band by Mehul and Charubini (whom Napoleon disliked, as being too independent!) is ever played.  The band music of these ‘composers of the Revolution’ deserved a better fate at the hands of the later conductors of bands, whose programs suggest a preference for transcriptions from the popular classics, opera, the theatre and the dance.  Perhaps one day a musician with a sense of history will be inspired to revive some of this unique music written for the bends of the Revolution and the First Empire.

From the time the first Napoleon left the stage at Waterloo (1815) until the end of the Second Empire (whose fall was caused by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71), military bands remained very much a part of the French scene, reflecting the country’s martial ardor and desire to re-capture ‘La gloire’, as well as her colonial aspirations.   As the years progressed a greater diversity developed amongst the Army bands and the heavy stateliness of the earlier marches no longer predominated.  A regiment or battalion had its military band (L’Harmonie) but it also had a separate musical unit known as a ‘clique’.  With Infantry regiments the clique comprised drums and fifes, but in the Light Infantry and Chasseur (rifle) regiments the clique used a bugle termed a cornet’ (not to be confused with the present day cornet in bands) which was a small bugle shaped like a hunting horn.

In the days of the First Empire these bugles had only been used for field calls in battle or on maneuvers but, through ‘esprit de corps‘, they became the chosen marching instruments of such regiments: such was the origin of their use as we know it today.  In 1830 France began her protracted conquest of Algeria, involving thousands of troops for many years and these campaigns speeded the official adoption of bugle bands.  A company of the 8th Chasseurs distinguished itself at SIDI BRAHIM in 1845 and the march named after it by an anonymous composer and played by a Chasseurs clique is typical of the style.   In the same year France appointed a special commission to enquire into the modernizing of its bands and its members included Auber, Carrefois, Onslow, Spontini and Adam.   As a result the Infantry were allowed fifty-four players per band and the Cavalry and Chasseurs thirty-six.   It involved the introduction of the new instruments of Adolphe Sax, who was strongly supported by King Louis-Philippe.  The change was short lived as with the 1848 Revolution the king abdicated and the bands were ordered to return to the old instrumentation.   However, Hector Berlioz blazed away furiously at what he regarded as the inferiority of the former French band instrumentation and, with the assumption of power by Louis Napoleon, Sax was entirely back in favor again.   In fact his prestige was such that he brought about the closing of the Military School of Music, which he regarded as reactionary.   It was replaced by special music classes at the Conservatoire.

Mention has been made of the disbandment of the Fanfares of La Garde Royale in 1848, but a few months later it was re-formed as La Garde de Paris and included twelve trumpeters under Trumpet-Major Jean Paulus, who composed a special fanfare for the presentation of Colors on the Champ de Mars, Paris in May 1852, by which time the Second Empire had been proclaimed by the new Emperor Napoleon III.   The Military Governor of Paris, Marshal Magnan, publicly congratulated Paulus. Within two years the fanfare was enlarged to a full band and given the title of La Musique de la Garde de Paris.   In 1871 it was changed to La Musique de La Garde Republicaine.   France maintained her bands during the Crimean War (1854-56) and many went to the front.  They gained high praise from her Allies whose own bands were organized far less effectively than the French. They continued to receive strong support, as a Decree of 1854 allowed a band of fifty-five for the Imperial Guard and bands of thirty-five for the Cavalry, with commissioned bandmasters.   It was said that the music of the French bands at Inkerman did as much to drive back the Russians as the bayonet.   Yet after the war in Italy (1859) there were drastic cuts and in 1867 the cavalry bands were abolished.   Even so, in that same year a Military Band Congress was staged at the Paris Exhibition. The following countries competed and received awards in the order given: Prussia, France, Austria, Bavaria, Russia, Holland, Baden, Belgium and Spain. The smallest band was Bavaria’s – fifty-one.   Austria had seventy-six, but Prussia combined two bands to make eighty-seven players.   The judges were Ambroise Thomas, Leo Delibes, Felicien Cesar David, Franz von Bulow, Hansluck and Kastner.

France’s agonizing period from 19 July 1870 until 1 March 1871, from her declaration of war on Prussia until her acceptance of peace terms, has little relevance to this inquiry, except to observe that the country returned to its peacetime life rapidly.   Even during the quickly ensuing blood-thirsty suppression of the Commune of Paris (when the barricades went up again) theatre and café life in the capital was hardly affected.   The bands settled down again, the leaders being the Garde Republicaine under Paulus and the Mounted Guides under Cressinois.   In 1872 the former represented France at the Boston Peace Festival.   Sellenick took over from Paulus in 1873, to be succeeded by Wettge (1884), Pares (1893), Balay (1911), Dupont (1927), Brun (1945), Richard (1969) and Boutry (1973~ )- and names as famous in French military music as Sousa, Santelmann, Schoepper, Benter, Whiting and Gabriel in America, and Godfrey, Williams, Rogan, O’Donnell, Ricketts, Miller, Jaeger and Dunn in England. An American bandmaster named Cappa who visited Paris in 1889 described the ensemble of the Garde Republicaine as almost perfect. For well over a century it has been regarded as the premier bend of France and it remains one of the great bands of the world. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that today in France there are others deserving of equal approbation, such as the major staff bands of the French Navy, Army and Air Force, and Les Gardiens de la Paix de Paris and La Police Nationale. These high standards of rendition arise from the meticulous organization of military music in France and the methods of personnel selection. With growing record production this is being increasingly appreciated outside France. Yet coverage on French radio and television is surprisingly limited.

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The Evolution of the Military Band in France (Part 1)

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILITARY BAND IN FRANCE (In two parts.)

Part One.

By Edward Bevan (an IMMS Reprint July 1991)

In common with military bands generally, those of France have their origins in the music of War, and beginning with a romantic example, we mention the sound of Roland’s horn at Roncevalles, in AD 778. This French soldier, killed by the Basques during Charlemagne’s invasion of Spain subsequently became the hero of the 11th century Chanson de Roland.  At Hastings (1066) a Norman warrior, Taillefer, rode out from the ranks and entertained his comrades with some of its verses, dispatching two foes apparently not appreciative of music before being slain himself. It was a Norman custom to sound trumpets if they triumphed in battle or at a siege, and we may conclude that the practice was not confined to Norman France alone. However, this feudal custom was the prerogative of royalty and nobility. In France, as elsewhere, trumpeters were members of royal households and usually exempt from the normal military service. Their training and employment was often regulated by the trade guilds. As a rule trumpeters headed any royal procession or progress, even by water as on one historic occasion. On May 18 1588 when England was threatened by the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth decided to visit her troops assembled at Tilbury. Both London and Tilbury being on the River Thames, the Queen’s Majesty entered her royal barge, hard by St James’s Palace, preceded by her musicians blowing loudly on silver trumpets, and the procession of barges proceeded down river on the ebb tide, cheered by the citizens who lined the foreshore, this stretch of the river being tidal.

For use in battle the primary instruments ware the horn or bugle ( the Roman bucan) and the drum, made of wood or metal with skin or parchment strained and tightened by crossover cords. Their function was to sound calls and rallying signals; to frighten or annoy the enemy; to encourage troops on the march and to set the pace.  Relieving Orleans in 1429, Joan of Arc made a triumphal entry to music probably played on tambours (drums) and trumpets or bugles. We know that the tune was a Scottish air which France had adopted and called La Marche de Robert Bruce.  In the medieval wars Scotland and France usually united against their hereditary foe, England. This tune is more widely known as “Scots Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled”, from verses written after a lapse of about four centuries by the poet Robert Burns (1759-96). Sir William Wallace, a Scottish patriot who had been executed in 1305, was a staunch henchman of Robert the Bruce, who is said to have used the tune at Bannockburn (1314).  Le Marche de Robert Bruce is still played by French Service bends and it has been recorded by La Musique Principale des Troupes de Marine, in tones more dulcet than Joan of Arc and the Orleans populace would have heard.

The passage of time saw the development and growth of regiments and armies in Europe and with these, the introduction of more varied instruments that emanated chiefly from Asia, via those countries of Eastern Europe exposed to the depredations and invasions of the Ottoman Empire. The first example to arrive in France is believed to be a kettledrum from Turkey, presented to the Court of France by an ambassador from Hungary, in 1471.  It was described as a ‘tambour des Perses’, but the Persian name was ‘timbale’ and by that name the instrument has been known in France ever since.  Another Turkish innovation, the fife, was first seen in the hands of Swiss Mercenaries in France towards the end of the 15th century.  Fifes came into use fairly quickly, but they were not used for drill purposes but as ‘instruments of pleasure’. Following the reign of Francis I (king from 1519-1547) the large bands of trumpets and kettledrums were favored but by 1588 there had been a marked change. On May 12 1588 a later king, Henry III, gave the people of Paris the opportunity of indulging in what was to become one of the capital’s most popular pastimes in the ensuing centuries – the erection of barricades. The king had ordered his Swiss and French Guards to take up positions at vantage points in the city.

The outcome was a disaster that sent the king scurrying off to Chartres, but an account of the day’s events includes a reference to the Guards marching along the Rue St Honore to ‘the rolling thunder of 20 tambours and the shrill squealing of a score of fifes’. Another very important introduction was the oboe, derived from the Turkish zurna. In archaic English this double wood reed woodwind instrument was called the hautboy (pronounced 0 Boy!), from the French hautbois, which I shall not presume to translate.

Coming to the 17th century we find further innovation and development. Louis Quatorze (1638-1715) is justly praised for the enhancement of military music but he was only five when he became king and there had been noteworthy progress during the reign of his father, Louis Treize, who had assumed the royal power in 1617. The infantry fife and drum bands had remained but the trumpet and drum were of prime importance to the cavalry. The King’s Trumpeters only numbered four, plus a kettle drummer but in addition there were the musicians of the Garde du Corps, amounting to 28 trumpeters and four kettle drummers. Of far greater musical importance was the King’s Hautbois Band, of eight hautbois (2 treble, 2 alto, 2 tenor and 2 bass), two cornettes and two trombones. It seems that the idea came from the shawm, zurna and drum bands of the Turkish Janissaries. Before the end of the reign several regiments had hautbois bands, and this may be regarded as a turning point for the military band as we know it. Nevertheless, the trumpet retained its prominence and before leaving Louis Treize we refer to two trumpet fanfares of this period -La Guet (a watch or look-out) and La Cavalquet (a mounted scout).

During the infancy of Louis Quatorze the country was ruled by Cardinal Mazarin, as France had been ruled in the previous reign by another cardinal, Richelieu. After Mazarin’s death, in 1661, Louis never appointed another first minister but took full control himself in concert with his own saying, “L’etat c^‘est moi’.  He took great interest in the music of his regiments and saw the bands were organized to his liking.  He engaged the celebrated Jean-Baptiste Lully to supervise the army bands and to compose suitable music.  The King’s Musketeers were allowed three hautbois and five drums per company, and by 1672 the Dragoons were similarly equipped.  The Garde du Corps had its bands playing in choirs, viz. using music written in four parts. Among the military music written by Lully (1639-87) was La Marche des Mousquetaires du Roy which has been recorded by La Musique da la Garde Republicaine. There is also a fanfare version and this can be heard on record by the Fanfare Trumpets of the French Air Force.

Louis Quatorze was succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis Quinze, whose indolence and frivolity were coupled with misgovernment and unsuccessful wars, leading to increasing discontent and laying the foundations for the French Revolution, which finally erupted in 1789. By then military music had reached a low ebb in France, but it was to have a phenomenal revival during and after the Revolution, when the pre-eminence of French bands caused astonishment and admiration in the rest of Europe. The Revolutionary leaders seem to have had little to learn as regards the value of audio-visual instruction in educating the new citizenry and consolidating the revolution. The process often took the form of great national fetes, such as the Fête Funebres for Mirabeau and Voltaire, or such philosophical and doctrinal events as the Fête de la Federation and the Fête de la Raison.  Held in the open air with monster bands and choirs, they were spectacular. An outstanding feature at these fetes was the band of the National Guard, massed with other bands. This band had been raised in 1789 by Bernard Sarrette, with 45 performers and in the following year was taken over by the Paris Municipality. The massed bands for the fetes were enormous. At one there were 10 flutes, 30 clarinets, 18 bassoons, 4 trumpets, 2 tubae curvae, 2 buccins, bass trombones, 12 horns, 3 trombones, 8 serpents, 10 percussion, bass, side and kettle drums; cymbalists and triangle beaters. 300 drummers could be added for the more prodigious occasions. The National Guard and their band also attended the numerous ceremonial plantings of ‘Trees of Liberty’ by the mayors of the various communes and we read of the accompanying brilliant ceremonial music’. The National Guard was not a police force but it had obligations to help maintain public order. In Paris it was commanded by one not unknown in America, Marie Joseph Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, until his hurried departure for Austria in 1792 after his attempt to restore the monarchy.

Returning essentially to the military music scene the regiments of the Revolution soon discarded much of the music of the old regiments, whose fine uniforms gave way to the blue great-coats of the new demi-brigades. The popular revolutionary songs were played by the bands and we can have a taste of them by listening to some verses of La Garmagnole, then to be combined instrumentally with the rabble-rousing Ca Ira and to be followed by the emotive La Marseillaise, which Rouget de Lisre (1760-1836) wrote for France’s Rhine Army but was adopted by all revolutionary France. Two years after the Paris Municipality had taken over the band of the National Guard they decided to disband it to economize. Fortunately, Sarrette was able to create from it the Ecole Gratuite de Musique de la Garde Nationale Parisienne, which in 1795 was amalgamated with the old Ecole Royale, at the Conservatoire de Musique. Both the Ecole and the Conservatoire were the mainstay of military music in those stirring times and supplied all the French armies with their bandsmen. As recommended by the Conservatoire at this time a military band comprised one flute, six clarinets, 3 bassoons, one trumpet, two horns, one serpent and bass drum and cymbals. There had been a temporary eclipse of the oboe by the clarinet, because the latter instrument, played with the reed uppermost and open embouchure (as in jazz bands today), produced a clarino high trumpet tone. The trombone and serpent gave greater weight to fundamentals. In spite of the various forms of administration which succeeded each other in the unsettled final decade of the 18th century in France – the National Assembly, National Convention, Committee of Public Safety, Directory and Consulate -military music never flagged and the emergence of Napoleon Bonaparte was to ensure even greater vigor.  Much had been owed to such composers as Gossec and Nehul. The latter, in collaboration with the poet Marie-Joseph Chenier, had written the famous Chant du De-part to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille.  It rivaled La Marseillaise in popularity.

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