A Quadrille from Waterloo’s battlefield,1815

Biographer Kate Kennedy unearths five forgotten objects from the Museum of Music History that provide a key to recreating the lives of their owners and sounds of their past. In this episode, a fragment of military music depicts sound from the Battle of Waterloo.

The scrap of music that was picked up from the Waterloo battlefield in 1815 is a Quadrille, and is likely to have been played by a member of one of the French cavalry bands - a musician mounted on horseback, before he was either killed or forced to retreat.

Military music was an integral part of the soundscape of the fighting at Waterloo. It signalled both to the men on horseback in huge formations what manoeuvres were required. Kate Kennedy meets with Alessandra Palidda, an expert in music of the Napoleonic age, to see what clues she can discern from it.

The music’s incompleteness is an invitation to imagine and to re-create the sounds of the fighting at one of the most critical moments in modern European history. Kate imagines a version of this Quadrille, taking the only surviving lines of music we have as a cue. It’s as historically accurate as it can be, as she enlists the help of talented young brass and percussion players from the Chiltern Music Academy.

Presented by Dr Kate Kennedy
Produced by Adrian Washbourne
Mixed by Julian Mayers
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
A YadaYada Production for BBC Radio 3