Blas- und Bläsermusik. Musik zwischen Volksmusik, volkstümlicher Musik, Militärmusik und Kunstmusik (review)

The increasing but still too modest number of doctoral dissertations about wind music is a clear indication of the importance of a field of scholarship encompassing disciplines such as musicology, ethnomusicology, history, sociology, and educational sciences. Research in wind music is increasing but still not firmly anchored in European universities. Elmar Walter's dissertation provides detailed insights into four aspects of wind music in German-speaking countries. While the most important historical part covers the first 250 pages of the large thesis, the second part deals with analyses of compositions from polkas to symphonic works for wind band. The book ends with some shorter digressions and comprehensive indexes.

The introduction is devoted to an indispensable definition of the terms appearing in the title. It is based on a review of numerous antecedent studies on wind music, including such basic works as Achim Hofer's Blasmusikforschung. Eine kritische Einführung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1992) and Werner Bodendorff's Historie der geblasenen Musik (Obermayer: Buchloe, 2002). Defining terms within and across languages can be a difficult task. It seems that some terms cannot be assigned uniformly, as for example "genre," which is partially due to the complex relationship in German between "Gattung" (type, species, genre) and "Genre" (genre). This also includes the distinction between "Blasmusik" and "Bläser musik." The English translation would be wind music in both cases, respectively "musique à vent" in French. But the nuances between these two terms would neither be comprehensible in English, nor in French and, in most cases, do not apply to wind music in the English and North American tradition. While "Blasmusik" suggests a folkloristic approach of making wind music in the German-speaking Alpine region, the term "Bläsermusik" could be understood as more closely related to the term "wind music." It encompasses both meanings: wind music in classical and in chamber music, and symphonic wind music in large wind orchestras. Walter proposes the combination of both terms as a solution, thus "Blas- und Bläsermusik."

Two further terms cause similar problems: "Volksmusik" can be appropriately rendered with the English term "folk music"; the former describes "authentic" music of the German-speaking countries, whereas "folk music" does the same for "authentic" music in the English-speaking sphere. Often the German term is augmented with adjectives such as "echt," "unverfälscht," and "original" (pure, unadulterated, original). "Volkstümliche Musik" is harder to render in English; a matching translation could be "folksy music." This music arose from folk music, and it is associated with German tradition in a sound-shape recognized worldwide. Here Walter quite rightly detects an etymological relationship with the term "popular music" by comparing "folk" and "popular," the latter originating from the Latin term "populus." The determining factor seems to be mass media distribution. Both folk music and folksy music often are performed on wind instruments; popular music, however, is not. Furthermore, wind music is barely imaginable without military music ("Militärmusik"). Military music is mainly functional music, and at its core is a body of wind music. Finally Walter defines art music ("Kunstmusik") as music for its own sake with compositional complexity and aesthetic requirements. This remark is also valid for the first wind-music oeuvres by mainly English composers. Walter enumerates Holst, Vaughan Williams and Grainger among those composing art music for wind band often based on folksongs.

Walter's book has an intelligible structure with an emphasis on these four aspects: folk music, folksy music, military music, and art music, all in relation to wind music, which it discusses from different points of view. The author goes far back into antiquity to describe the evolution of wind instruments and music, respectively sounds or noise by wind instruments. The latter have always been influenced by cultural, anthropological, and sociological aspects. In contrast to art music (with some exceptions, such as church and dance music), wind music is often...