Primeras manifestaciones bandísticas en la Milicia Nacional de Requena (1828-1844)

Abstract

The first third of the 19th century saw the birth of the first spanish music bands in imitation of those that accompanied the french regiments during the War of Independence. The creation of the National Militia endowed the towns with their own town council with a pseudo military establishment that defended, in the first instance, the local grouping, independently of the regular troops. Therefore, the formation of these Militias needed a musical backing in the way that the professional army already did.
The lack of local press and even the few references that can be found in the national press, make it difficult to study the band music manifestations of the period studied. However, this scarce news, along with the documentat ion preserved in some archives, as is the case of Requena, allow us to glimpse, with a high degree of plausibility, an outline of the history of the wind bands.