In 1882 the fanfare of Clarquemont, a village on the Swiss border, split into two rival groups owing to a priest’ban on the playing of the Marseillaise : the (catholic) « Philharmonic » and the (republican) « Democrat ». This event shows the relation of village communities to national politics and economy and the resulting deep changes within the commune and the parish. The split and bipartition of the local public space that persisted for more than a century show the primordial importance of associations, more especially musical ones, in the social structures of these communes.