First I need to say that my conclusion here is mostly conjecture.
Years ago I was organiste-titulaire at Notre Dame des Victoires (the French Church) in San Francisco. I asked the pastor, a French priest from Paris, why it is that such a very small amount of organ music remains from the Napoleonic era. His reply was that Napoleon raided the churchs and seized all the metal to make munitions, particularly cannon balls. There were few if any operable pipe organs around and no players! The wooden pipes remained but all the metal alloys (and there are many) used for organ pipes were melted down.
My guess is that Napoleon's armies marched to drum cadences and perhap musettes or wooden fifes but trumpets and horns may have become gun fodder.
Guy Hayden
----- Original Message -----
Giovanni Andreani wrote:
This is surely off topic, but I've the feeling that someone in this list
may have an answer.
I'm looking for the music played by the Napoleonic military forces
especially between 1804 and 1815. Any help would be enourmosly appreciated.
Thank you in advance
Giovanni Andreani
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