Wilhelm Legrand

Wilhelm Legrand (born March 5, 1769 in Zweibrücken , † July 31, 1845 in Munich ) was a musician, composer and organizer of military music in the Kingdom of Bavaria .

Live and act

After the early death of his parents, he came to Munich in 1782 to see his uncle Claudius Legrand , ballet master at the electoral court. His relatives, the brothers Joseph Tausch and Franz Tausch , clarinettists and cellists in the court orchestra, also brought him up there and trained him as a musician. In addition to the violin, Wilhelm Legrand mainly learned to play the oboe , which at that time was still the leading wind instrument in the orchestra and above all in " harmony music " . In 1789, Wilhelm Legrand was appointed oboist in the court orchestra. At the same time he began studying composition and music theory with Joseph Graetz (1760-1826). Autodidactically Legrand learned all the wind instruments of "harmony music" (a wind ensemble with two oboes and / or two flutes, two to four clarinets, two bassoons and two french horns) and soon began to compose pieces for them. Gradually 501 compositions were created, which he later brought to a large audience at concerts in the Munich Odeon . The notes can be found in the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek as "Pieces d´Harmonie" (Mus. Mss. 2316).

In 1789, Elector Carl Theodor (1777–1799) reformed the Bavarian army . Among other things, he ordered that every infantry regiment should have a "band of music" of ten musicians and that every cavalry regiment should have music from five musicians. The regiment rambours were to be the conductor of the "music bands" in the infantry, and the rod trumpeters in the cavalry regiments. In 1795, the elector appointed his court musician Wilhelm Legrand to be a music teacher at the Bavarian Military Academy with the task of giving the officer candidates music lessons in general and instrumental lessons in particular, but above all to introduce them to "the use of military music in war and peace" . Wilhelm Legrand devoted himself to this task with great dedication until his retirement in 1843.

In 1797 the Elector appointed him "Music Director of the Munich Music Choirs" . This was connected with the task of supervising the training of all military musicians and the conductors of the music corps of the five regiments stationed in Munich. If the music corps played together for a "serenade" in the Hofgarten or at a stand concert in the English Garden , Wilhelm Legrand was in charge of overall management and organization. Since there was no printed literature for army orchestras and folk music at the time, Wilhelm Legrand felt compelled to arrange marches and other pieces for use at military festivals or to compose them himself. He not only composed marches, but above all dances. The most popular dance at the time was the allemande . Between 1804 and 1812, Wilhelm Legrand composed a dozen such “German Dances” for the Munich Redoute. As a piano arrangement, the “Redouten Dances” became a bestseller for publishers and are also archived in the Bavarian State Library.

The new ruler, the Elector or King Maximilian Joseph , ordered music bands to be set up for the 12 infantry regiments of his army and commissioned Wilhelm Legrand to train the musicians. At his suggestion, the military bands received a line-up of 12 musicians (one flute, one clarinet in Eb, four clarinets in Bb, two bassoons, two French horns in Eb, one trumpet in Eb, one trombone), plus "Turkish music" (i.e. Mixing drum, bass drum, cymbals and bell tree) led by a music master who played the first part with the Eb clarinet. The king included this proposal in his order of April 29, 1811. Wilhelm Legrand then encouraged the musical instrument makers in Bavaria to develop valve systems for brass instruments.

Under King Ludwig I (1825–1848), Wilhelm Legrand's proposal to introduce trumpets and horns with valves to the Bavarian military bands was implemented. In the meantime the General Staff of the Bavarian Army had the regulations for the “instruction in the weapons exercises of the Kgl. Bayer. Infantry ” , attached to which are the scores of marches that were to be played by the music corps during parades and exercises, Wilhelm Legrand the composer of these pieces.

Among these marches is the Bavarian "Zapfenstreich-March" , which was supposed to replace the earlier "Retrait" . The Bavarian tattoo was a ceremonial in motion. It was performed on the eve of a Bavarian national holiday (such as the king's birthday). It evolved from the daily ceremony. At the appointed hour, the duty officer made his rounds through the garrison town , accompanied by soldiers with rifles and signalists (whistlers and drummers in the infantry or trumpeters in the artillery and cavalry ) to ask the soldiers to return to the barracks. On the first tour the signal "Werbung" (a march) sounded , on the second tour the "Vergatterung" (a march), on the third the retreat march "Retrait" . After that, the department returned to the barracks and the gates were closed. The signal "Betstund" sounded , then a chorale, and finally the signal "Lights off" . The ceremony proposed by Wilhelm Legrand for the Munich garrison was based on the principle of "the troops, our king, our Lord God" and had the following pieces of music: the "Zapfenstreich-March" of the infantry, the "retrait" of the cavalry and the artillery, the " Royal Anthem " with a previous announcement signal, the signal " Betstund ", the " Bavarian Military Prayer "and a final signal , similar to the" Retrait ".

The reports of the regiments of the Bavarian Army from 1824 convey the upturn in military music in Bavaria. According to this, many regiments had up to 50 musicians and up to three different line-ups, with the military musicians mostly being trained volunteers. who were temporarily exempted from armed service, which contravened the regulation. The new regulation of 1826 then set the number of military musicians in the infantry at 18 plus “Turkish music” and a conductor.

Wilhelm Legrand also made great contributions as a music teacher at the Kgl. Bayer. Cadet Corps (1809-1843). As such, he received the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown, the Golden Medal of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown, by order of the army on December 25, 1841 .

Of his numerous military march compositions, the “Parademarsch der Kgl. Bayer. Grenadier-Garde ”(1814), the“ Bavarian Presentation March ”(1822) and the“ Bavarian Zapfenstreich ”(1822) are known and played by the music corps of the Bundeswehr.

In its beginnings, the history of Bavarian brass music is inextricably linked to the development of military music, in fact identical. The brass orchestra, which is so valued today, came about with military music. Wilhelm Legrand played a decisive role in this through his work.

His younger brother Christian Legrand (1775–1793) was a gifted pianist .

literature

• Bayerische Blasmusik 46th vol. (1995), issue 7, p. 4 f.
• Music in Bavaria , 1995, issue 51, p. 87 ff.
• A. u. W. Suppan: The new lexicon of brass music. Blasmusikverlag Schulz, Freiburg-Tiengen 1994, ISBN 3-923058-07-1 , p. 411.
• Wolfgang Kunz: Carl Wilhelm Legrand. Reformer of Bavarian Military Music in the 19th Century, in: Volksmusik in Bayern, 2019, pp. 55 - 65 (Ed. Bayerischer Landesverein für Heimatpflege e.V.)

Web links

• Biographical page of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (taken from: Felix Lipowsky, Baierisches Musik-Lexikon , Munich 1811)
• Wilhelm Legrand in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Claudius Legrand in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
2. ^ Joseph Tausch in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
3. ^ Franz Tausch in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
4. ^ Government Gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria , No. 1, Munich, January 3, 1842
5. ^ Website of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek on Christian Legrand (taken from: Felix Lipowsky, Baierisches Musik-Lexikon , Munich 1811)