More than two centuries ago, in parallel with the affirmation of liberalism and, later, the republican movement, Europe was the birthplace of “musical bands”, which revolutionised the art of music-making by taking it out of the private salons of the elite and into the public space.
In the 19th-century context, music and the activity of these bands became one of the main ways for people of different social classes to socialise, and civil wind bands proliferated at this time, reflecting the importance of amateur cultural and artistic activity among the less privileged classes, and their unique contribution to cultural development and democratisation. The aesthetic and organisational model of the bands, as well as their repertoire, stemmed from a combination of French, Austrian and German (Prussian) influences that took music into large public spaces, in military parades and popular celebrations, through patriotic marches as well as concerts in parks and other public locations, where opera themes, waltzes, polkas and other genres, previously known only to the elite, were enjoyed by all social classes.
Dances and concerts, accompanied by civil wind bands, became a new musical activity, an alternative to the opera or theatre, and, in this way, the habits of the aristocracy andbourgeoisie came to influence the emergence of recreational societies among the working classes, who much preferred the vibrant wind and percussion instruments for their greater sonority compared to those of string and piano orchestras, which were ill-suited to open air performances as part of popular festivals.
In addition to marches (“quick march”, processional and funeral marches) and the various dance genres (polkas, waltzes, mazurkas, etc.), the bands started to incorporate a concert repertoire, accompanying the romantic or nationalist movements that marked the culture of the newly liberal society. The concert repertoire was based on the most popular opera themes (overtures, arias and cavatine), operettas and zarzuelas, as well as including rhapsodies and fantasias, which were highly characteristic of the nationalist trend and marked the music of the late-19th century, before moving on to more erudite works, such as symphonies and suites, revealing a certain musical idealism which could also be heard in the civil band repertoire in the early-20th century.
In the second half of the 19th century, Portugal was strongly influenced by French culture in various domains, from literature to music, and “Gallicism” added to the influence of “romanticism”, which characterised the attitudes of the new liberal bourgeoisie, glorifying the values of liberty, identity and nationalism, and extolled the traditions of the people and their history.
As these bands evolved, from the military aesthetic, passing through the most popular and charming musical styles, and culminating in the symphonic repertoire, great transformations were also seen in musical instruments. It was exactly two centuries ago (between 1815 and 1825) that the first chromatic instruments made from metal appeared, with the innovation of pistons, later refined with the saxhorn models created by Adolph Saz, who was also the creator of saxophones, in the mid-19th century. There were also significant developments among woodwind instruments (clarinets, flutes/piccolos, oboes and bassoons), with new key systems that improved the chromaticism and sound. Profound changes were seen again around a hundred years ago, in the 1920s and 30s: trumpets started to replace cornets, mellophones replaced saxhorns, and slide trombones reappeared, which replaced the valve trombone. Later, the introduction of French horns gradually led to the abandonment of mellophones. During the 20th century, the percussion section of civil wind bands was enhanced by the presence of instruments from classical orchestras (timpani, bells, etc.), light music and jazz (jazz drums) and other martial instruments (lyre) and electronic accessories.
Pedro Marquês de Sousa
Lieutenant Colonel
Doctor in Musical Sciences
(Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
