Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-16
BRASS BANDS IN BATTLE,

Pail Mall Gazette: In battle pictures
painted prior to the war Of 1870 artists
were fond of introducing military bands,
which they depicted as picking their way
over the bodies of dead n wounded in
the very thick of the fight. the instru-
mentalists blowing away to drown the
cries of anguish, and the drummers-
particularly the bass drummer-pounding
the parchment as If to vie with the roar.
Of the artillery Inc the crash Of the ex-
ploding shells. Such incidents were
sometimes real, but more often imagin-
ary. For example, the famous tableau
p0rtraying the meeting between yelling
ton n Butcher contains a mounted hus-
sar band, who are represented as blair
ing forth a triumphal march in honor of
the occasion, whereas the Introduction of
this highly effective group is proved to
a been an artistic liberty pure and
simple. That there was, however, one
British cavalry band present at the battle
OF Waterloo may be deduced from the
fact that a bass drum, emblazoned with
the royal arms and bearing the inscrip-
ton Wi Queens Own Hussars,' was
found by a Belgian on the field and taken
away by him as a mementO of the day.
After his death it was given by his son
to the local and at Boondael, where it
probably played a conspicuous part in
many a village fete, from whose possess
sion it.passed into the hands of Mahillon
& Co.. who sent it to the Royal Military
Exhibition of 1890. However, in furnish
ing a brief connected narrative dealing
with the presence of bands in battles it
will first of all be necessary to explain
how comparatively modern a thing mill
crash and the rousing suggestiveness AS
ISOLATED with martial Instrumentation
were quite unknown to Western Europe
before the beginning of the eighteenth
century. at which period Frederick II of
Prussia received as a present from the
Sultan of Turkey a complete Janissary
band. The characteristic instruments of
those semi-barbarous troops were GYM
balls. %triangles and bells, besides a fine
variety of drums. The procedure of the
performers themselves was as follows:
AS near to the fighting line as possible
the bandmaster would plant a pole sur
mounted by a crescent and decorated with
one or more horse tails, according to his
pasha's AMI Around this standard the
instrumentalists would gather, and then
h melody Instruments, consisting OF
zarnas-hard reed instruments with cup
shaped mouthpieces-would start off with
a sustained penetrating squeal, the ac-
q compartment being supplied by the. re-
mainder of the band shaking and clash
Ing the percussion, while the kettle drums
Wv ~SA~ $3.50 ~S~ SA@
time.
AS the Asiatic performers in Frederick
It's imported contingent died Off their
places were taken by Prussian reed n
brass instrumentalists. with the result
that it was then for the first time discOv.
cred how well the latter blended with the
percussion. This accordingly was the
genesis of the modern military band. Fol
many years, however, Prussia was thu
only nation that conducted it's MARTA
music on these lines. for in other armie.
the few bands which existed were com
posed of oboes. clarinets, horns and has
4oons. without any percussion accompan'
tment.
In the British army the Guards bands
1rst introduced in 1856. were constituted
or the non-percussion model down to 81
late a period as 1900. in which year. OWN,
to a question Of discipline. the Duke O
York sent over from Germany a full ban
OF twenty-four Observation-Disclosures, equip
ped with clarinets. oboes, trumpets, from
bones and serpents. together with a stat
of colored men to play the cymbals, tam
bours de basque and to carry a crescent
or as it "a vulgarly termed, a "Jinglin.
Johnny" as the standard of the band
Hitherto, it should he added, the thre
regiments of Foot Guards had been tn
only corps permitted to own bands, ku
shortly after his important innovation
the war Office granted permission to regi
,msnts of. the line to raise bands. provid
ed that the pay of a professional instruct
or and the cost of the instruments shoul
~ borne by the officers Of each corps