Military Music And Its Story - online book

The Rise & Development Of Military Music

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	FORTY YEARS' PEACE.	IOI
	instrumental solo (clarinet, horn or flute), whilst the " divertimento " was a kind of " suite." Most of this music, I am inclined 'to think, came from France, as nearly all the specimens I have seen were published by Bisch, Paris, although a few bore the imprint of Bland, London. Beethoven's military band scores, written a little earlier, are valuable for comparison here. I select his smallest and largest combinations:
	These give us an idea of German bands of the period. It appears, however, from a letter of Beethoven's to Peters, the publisher (302 in the Wallace Collection) in 1823, that the composer thought his military band com­positions would very likely be beyond the scope of German regimental bands, and suggests that some bandmaster be employed to arrange them for a smaller number. Looking at the old time wind instruments in our museums, noting the primitive key mechanism of the wood wind, and the imperfect scale of the brass family,