A forgotten classic of music history, La Musique Militaire/The Military Band (1917) is Marie Bobillier’s sweeping survey of military music from antiquity to the 19th century. Writing under the pseudonym Michel Brenet, Bobillier explores how armies used music not just to command troops but to shape national identity, inspire patriotism, and elevate public ceremony. With vivid detail and rare insight, she traces the evolution of instruments, ensembles, and the composers who served them. This first English translation brings new life to a work that helped define the field—and finally restores credit to one of its earliest and most eloquent scholars.
Marie Bobillier (1858–1918) was a French musicologist and historian. At a time when women were largely excluded from academic recognition, her meticulous research and elegant prose contributed to modern music history, even as her true identity remained hidden behind a male pseudonym.
