The First Foot Guards
We are a Revolutionary War
reenactment group based in Boston MA,
accurately portraying the royal household regiment that is now known as
The Grenadier Guards
Scipio
The regimental slow march
of The First Foot Guards
The music "Scipio"
that will play in the background is played by a brass band.
This might take a while to download!
The First Foot Guards "Music"
The Regiment bearing the proud title "First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards" was first raised in Flanders in 1656. The first mention of music in the Regiment is a Royal Warrant issued by King Charles II in 1685, the year of the birth of Handel and Bach, authorizing the maintenance of 12 Hautbois in the King's Regiment of Foot Guards in London. He also instructed that a fictitious name should be borne on the strength of each of the other companies in the country so that these musicians might be granted higher pay! Mr. Handel, (later to become the Master of the King's Musick in 1757), was an admirer of the band and presented the march from "Scipio" to the Regiment in 1726.
The Regiment's music was then gradually expanded by the addition of other instrumentalists; 3 Hautbois were added in 1699 and 2 French Horns in 1725, according to the St James's Evening Post of that time. Keyed Bugle Horns, costing £27 were added in 1772. By 1783 the Band was composed of 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons, but the strength of the Band increased rapidly in the latter part of the 18th Century so that in 1794 it is recorded as comprising: 1 flute; 6 clarinets; 3 bassoons, 3 horns; 1 trumpet; 2 serpents and "Turkish Music" (this being the Negro Time-beaters who played bass drum, cymbals and tambourine).
This slow march is taken from the opera, "The Mercy Of Scipio", written in 1725 by Sir George Frederic Handel. The Iyrics, titled "Toll For The Brave", were written by William Cowper in 1782.