Bands of the Nineteenth Century

by

Matt Curry
Rob Cocks

14 November 1996

The nineteenth century was an important time for the development of wind instruments in general and subsequently the rise of the military (or wind) band throughout western Europe as exemplified by the bands of Britain. At the same time these developments began to give composers a new medium for large ensemble composition.

Works by Traditional Romantic Composers

1815 Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859): Nocturne in C, Op. 34

1816 Beethoven: Military Marche

1820 Johann Nepomuck Hummel (1775-1837): Three Grand Military Marches

1824 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholody (1809-1847): Military Overture in C, Op. 24

1836 Mendelssohn: Funeral March, Op. 103

1840 Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827): Ecossaise and Polonaise

1840 Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Grande Symphonic Funèbre et Triomphale, Op. 15

1844 Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Trauersymphonie

1846 Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864): Torch Dance (No. 1)

1860 Edvard Grieg (1843-1907): Trauermarsch

1865 Anton Bruckner (1824-1896): Apollo March March in Eb

1869 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Orient et Occident

1892 Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Marche Militaire

Works

Spohr: Noctorno This piece was written for the wind band of Prince Günter Friedrich of Schwarsburg. It is in 6 movements: Turkish March, Menuetto, Andante con variazioni, Polacca, Adagio and Finale. According to Richard Goldman in his book "The Wind Band", the Spohr piece, "is the first interesting nineteenth century work...

composed for Wind Band and Turkish Music (i.e. percussion)." Spohr scored this work for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, post horn, trombone, bass horn, bass drum, cymbal, triangle.

Hummel: The Three Grand Military Marches: This work is scored for a slightly larger band than the Spohr.

The original scoring calls for 4 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, piccolo clarinet in F, clarinets in C, bass horn, bassoon,

horn in C, trombone in C, bass trombone, percussion.

Mendelssohn: Military Overture: Mendelssohn composed this work for the band at the Dobberan resort on

the Baltic Sea. He wrote it at the age of fifteen.

Berlioz: Grande Symphonie Funèbre Triomphale: The French Government commissioned this work as a part of a celebration to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the French Revolution. According to Berlioz,

"It seemed to me that for such a work the simpler the plan the better, and that only a large body of wind

instruments would be suitable for a symphony which was to be heard - the first time at any rate - in the open air."

Berlioz scored this piece for 208 players with the option of adding a chorus in the third and last movement.

At a later date, Berlioz also added optional strings. Berlioz describes the first performance,

"Habeneck would have again liked to conduct, but I prudently reserved that function for myself I had not

forgotten the episode of the snuff box." He continues, "Despite the volume of sound produced by a wind band

of this size, very little was heard during the procession. The only exception was the music played as we went

along the Boulevard Poissonniere, where the big trees-still standing to this date - acted as reflectors.

The rest was lost."

Wagner Trauersymphonie: Wagner composed this work for the transfer of the remains of Carl Maria von Weber

to Germany. Wagner based the symphony on two themes from von Weber's Euryanthe. The piece is scored

for a band of seventy five pieces plus muffled side drums.

Grieg Trauermarsch: Grieg composed this work on the occasion of the death of his friend Richard Nordaak.

Grieg originally composed this piece for piano in the key of A minor. He later scored it for band and transposed

it to G minor.

The British Band

1799 Grand Military Piece is composed by J. R. Hoberecht for the Harmoniemusik ensembles that had been popular

and standard, in Britain and the rest of Europe. Harmoniemusik was a chamber wind ensemble famous in the court of Louis XIII of France in the seventeenth century which became the basis for instrumentation of military bands across Europe: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons. Flutes, English bass horns, serpents, ophicleides, trumpets, trombones, and percussion were occasionally added to the Harmoniemusik combination during the early years of the nineteenth century.

1800 Numerous Military Bands arose across the country of various instrumentation, size and repertoire.

1820 The Royal Artillery Band, a British military band established in 1762, serves as a good historical reference due to Henry George Farmer's 'History of the Royal Artillery Band".

1839 Instrumentation of the Royal Artillery Band.

1845 Wessel and Stapleton's Military Journals are published, each subscription including music of a light character and some contributions of British composers. Other journals follow, but the variety of instrumentation between bands is only somewhat simplified.

1846-49 Royal Artillery Band's Concert Program Most likely involved string instruments or was shared with an "orchestral band."

1850 Concert Program and Instrumentation of the Royal Artillery Band.

1854 Scutari fiasco embarrasses British Military Band system. At Scutari, in 1854, the British troops, comprising the army of the east destined for the Crimea, held a grand review on the birthday of Queen Victoria. There were some 16,000 men on parade, and while their appearance and marching were perfect, and the cheering deafening, our band struck up "God Save the Queen", not only from different arrangements, but in different keys. (This event lead to re-evaluation of the British military band system and the formation of the Royal Military School of Music).

1855 Concert Program of the Royal Artillery Military Band.

1857 Royal Military School of Music is founded in the model of the French Ecole Militaire.

1863 Catalog of the Royal Artillery Band's music library and instrumentation of the military band.

1865 Government takes over the Royal Military School of Music. Founded in 1857, the Royal Military School of Music served to provide uniform instruction for musicians in the service, while eventually ridding the British military of foreign band masters. Its influence resulted in the standardization of band instrumentation and repertoire. It commissioned most of the significant compositions for band at the turn of the twentieth century.

1881Examination requirement added for admission to Royal Military School of Music.

1890 A commissioned officer is placed in charge of the Royal Military School of Music.

1901 The Spirit of Pageantry, a grand march by Percy Fletcher (1879-1932) was published.

1902 The Worshipful Committee of Musicians sponsors a contest for the best march written for the coronation of Edward VII.

Concert Program of the Royal Artillery Band on March 22nd 1902.

1904 Lads of Wamphray' March, was composed by Percy Granger (I882-1961).

1909 First Suite in Eb. [for Military Band] Op. 28 No. 1 by Gustav Holst begins a series of important commissions by the Royal Military School of Music. These commissions include: Gustav Holst, "Second Suite in F for Military Band," and "Festival Choruses;" Dame Ethel Smith, "The Wreckers Overture;" Bertram Walter O'Donnell, "Three Humoresques"; Ralph Vaughan Williams, "English Folk Song Suite" and "Toccata Marziale." Cecil Forsyth, Frank Bridge, Edward German, and Haydn Wood also contributed compositions. Most of these works were commissioned by either Hugh Somerville or J. A. C. Somerville, commandants of the Royal Military School of Music.

Historical Contents