Music & the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century

The book is the first to examine the relationship between the British military as a sponsor of music and musicians within wider aspects of music history during the long nineteenth century. While the focus is on Britain, it also deals directly or by implication with other European countries and the USA. Throughout the period the military was by far the largest employer of musicians and generator of the most widely dispersed musical networks. Consequently it was essential to the commerical infrastructures of music. For most of this period the army was a conglomerate of individual regiments and militia units led by an officer class drawn largely from the aristocracy and gentry. Military musicians functioned as the private bands of this class and were essential components in its social milieu. The book tells a remarkable and previously untold story of a massive and influential sector of the music profession. It deals with musicians in times of peace and in the terrible theatres of nineteenth-century warfare. It also reveals important musical legacies.