Aquila non capit muscas (Epomanduodurum)

Infos :

Commissioned by Orchestre d’Harmonie de Beaulieu-Mandeure for their 130th anniversary 

Fantasy, imagination, around the history of the antique city Epomanduodurum (nowadays the agglomeration of Mandeure-Mathay) and its theater which has been one the largest during the gallo-roman period (from 2nd century BC), and its evolution to the modern city of Mandeure which decreed itself Independant Republic, after the French Revolution, with the motto “Aquila Non Capit Muscas” (the eagle cannot catch the fly). 

The score doesn’t describe any particular event, but tries to create a musical fantasy around the history of the city. 

The archeologists working especially at the antique theater, discovered some musical instruments used by the Gallic, Roman and Celt civilizations, with some variants depending on geography; these kind of trumpets, upright or curved, were used to introduce ceremonies and events, eventually military, 

Here, at Epomanduodurum, we played the Carnyx (as at Tintignac, in the south), upright long trumpets with a boar head shaped pavilion (noble animal then). One of these instruments has a role in this score. As said, depending on the imaginary you create, it is yet possible to use another antique “trumpet” (Roman tuba corvae, etc.) and relocate our musical fantasy to another city history.

Aquila non capit muscas on our YouTube Channel