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84 MILITARY MUSIC AND ITS STORY. |
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Middlesex Militia quartered upon us for three days, consisting of three officers and forty-nine men, who had the best band I ever heard—'tis worth mentioning for those who are lovers of superior music. It consisted "of five clarinets, two French horns, one bugle horn, one trumpet, two bassoons, one bass drum, two triangles (the latter played by boys about nine years old); and the clash-pans by a real blackamoor, a very active man, who walked between the two mulattos, which had a very grand appearance indeed."
Whatever was the state of music in England at the close of the eighteenth century, the military bands, at any rate, compared favourably with those on the Continent We have already seen that Burney had passed a similar opinion in 1777, and from a glance at the following tables it will be evident that the same excellence was maintained : |
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1 This, according to Kastner. Fetis gives the following as the composition of French regimental bands under the Revolution : One piccolo, two horns, four clarinets, two hautbois, two bassoons, three drums, etc. |
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