Napoléon
Mario Bürki for Brass Band
„In France there is nothing that lasts for eternity. Those words should be erased from the French dictionary.“ Just like the remark of Napoleon III after his attorney informed him that he had been sentenced to „eternal imprisonment“, in music there is also nothing that lasts forever. Following these words I tried to mix old with new in my composition. French musical ideas of the 19th century are constantly alternating with modern ideas. The French Gothic influence becomes apparent through the constant presence of short motives from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 or the “Marseillaise”. The theme from the beginning reappears at the end, showing how the past can not be denied, showing that the past is always is always present. On 20 April 2008 was the 200th anniversary of Prince Louis Napoleon’s birthday. The prince, later known as Napoleon III, is the only honorary citizen of the Swiss Canton of Thurgovia, and for that reason the Youth Brass Band of Eastern Switzerland, with the financial backing of the “Thurgauer Kantonalbank”, commissioned this composition