Introduction | Brass Bands in the 1850s | English Influence |
German, Irish, and Italian Influences Band Instruments | Band
Music | The Civil War Bands | Post-Civil War Bands | Essay Notes
Colored lithograph [Detail] from "Zouave Grand Parade March,"
Duett for Four Hands, composed by S.D.S. (Philadelphia: Lee &
Walker, 1861). Music If ever there was a hope or danger of the
demise of brass bands, the outbreak of war decisively cancelled
or at least postponed the possibility. Throughout the long
period of hostilities--both musical and otherwise--Dwight, our
well-bred Yankee critic, maintained an attitude of gentlemanly
stoicism. And so, for further news of development in the brass
band world we must turn to accounts, usually fleeting
references, in regimental histories. Many are anecdotal and
told, often for mere comic relief, years after the event. Those
drawn from letters and diaries have the better claim to
reliability as well as to that spontaneity that brings us closer
to the participants in the events rec