Forgotten Force: The Military and Nineteenth-Century Musical Globalization

Martin Rempe (Universität Konstanz, Schwabe Verlag)

Gaining ground in the nineteenth century, musical globalization relied on various infrastructures. Next to general drivers such as innovations in transport and communication that helped build an increasingly worldwide network of commercial touring and music supply trade, the military, alongside missionary work, became a crucial yet largely forgotten infrastructure of musical connectivity. Drawing on recent debates within global history and infrastructure studies, I will argue that the military was a particularly sustainable infrastructure for the expansion of Western musical idioms and cross-cultural musical fertilization. By elaborating on various settings of this military-musical infrastructure, such as military musical reforms through expertise, war, colonial occupation and the touring of military bands, I will discuss some of the local repercussions. Overall, the advantages of an infrastructural approach to the history of musical globalization will be exemplified.

This lecture is the keynote lecture of the conference Musical Infrastructures in Times of Globalization. Pasts, Presents, and Futures, held at the Institute of Musicology in Bern from November 5 to November 7, 2026. Everybody’s welcome to join! Please find more details on the Institute’s website: musik.unibe.ch.

Über die SMG Bern