Before Another Library Burns: how luck shapes music history
Every so often one encounters a story that reveals how terrifyingly fragile our musical inheritance really is.
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Author: Craig Dabelstein
Craig Dabelstein is the founder of Maxime’s Music, a publisher dedicated to reviving the forgotten world of 19th-century music through recordings, editions, and translations. An instrumental music teacher and conductor, he spends his time unearthing lost repertoire, translating historic texts, and arguing—sometimes loudly—that music should move people before it impresses them.
Festival and Competition of Bands, Paris 1867
Held during the Exposition Universelle in Paris 1867, the Festival was a performance of 1400 musicians under the dome of the Palace of Industry.
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The King Kong of Band Music
A monumental, 2-hour programmatic work for band portraying the entire life of Napoleon Bonaparte.
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The Retour des Cendres
The Retour des Cendres (“Return of the Ashes”) was the repatriation of the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte from the island of Saint Helena to Paris in 1840.
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The Military Band — and the Woman Who Wasn’t Supposed to Write It
If we care about the future of the military band then we owe it to ourselves to listen carefully to its early critics and historians.
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Comettant: Francis Planté
Francis Planté (1839–1934) was a celebrated French pianist renowned for his technical prowess and deeply expressive style.
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Berr: The need to reconstitute the School of Military Music
Originally published in 1838, Frédéric Berr’s The Need to Reconstitute the School of Military Music on a New Basis to Improve Regimental Music is a treatise on the structure and administration of military bands in 19th-century France.
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Wieprecht: The military band and the musical organization of an army
Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802–1872) was a visionary German bandmaster, composer, and conductor who revolutionized military and brass band music.
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Eichborn: Militarism and Music
First published in 1909, Militarism and Music is a thoughtful exploration of the historical relationship between military organisation and musical culture.
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Eichborn: On the History of Instrumental Music
On the History of Instrumental Music is a critical re-examination of how instrumental music emerged, developed, and came to be judged.
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