Is Maurice Ravels “Bolero” the origin of marching-band music?
If we base it simply off musicians moving around during a piece, we could say it was the “Farewell Symphony” by Haydn. After all, no one said each section had to play whilst they move. One section could play and another could move, such as we do during the woodwind flourishes. However, should we delve into the question about whether or not instrumentation determines whether it is marching band music or not, we have another problem. Sorry, recently took a mini-class on the history of the symphony. We were looking for the origin of the symphony and based on your definition (form, instrumentation, ect) the supposed origin does change or, in some cases, appear!
