TRADITIONS AND USAGE
The custom of honoring the dead at burials and memorial services with trumpet and bugle calls dates back to Biblical times. Ancient trumpets were used at religious ceremonies and were associated with magical rites. Burials, circumcisions, and sunset rites (to ensure the sun would return) were a few of the early rituals in which the trumpet was used. The tradition of playing at sunrise (Reveille), sunset (Retreat), and at burials (Taps) may have evolved from these ancient services. The Ram’s Horn (Shofar), which is sounded on the occasion of the Jewish New Year, is a rite that continues to this day. The Shofar, made from the horn of a ritually killed sheep or goat, is played in the same manner as it was in the time of King David, using the same rhythms as ancient times. The instrumental range is usually limited to two notes about a fifth apart. According to Curt Sachs in his book The History of Musical Instruments, long wooden trumpets are blown at Rumanian funerals; the Babwende of the Congo carve their funeral trumpets in the magic shape of a phallos (or phallus); and in Switzerland, the Alphorn sounds the same time at sunset that the evening prayer is sung into a megaphone. In Scotland and England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, trumpeters accompanied funeral processions. The musicians were dressed in black and also carried drums draped in black cloth. These funerals were for those who held high rank or were of nobility.
Countries around the world have developed funeral ceremonies in which music is performed. In the militaries of many nations it is customary that a bugle sound the last call. I have checked with a few military bands and have received the following information on funeral practices.
ENGLAND
In England and in all countries that have been under her rule, the bugle call used for funerals and solemn occasions is “Last Post.” At funerals, “Last Post” is followed by the call “Reveille” (“The Rouse”). The idea of having a “wake up” call following a somber sounding dates back many years. Stephen Graham wrote two centuries ago, “The Last Post is the Nunc Dimittis [the promise of salvation as found in Luke 2: 29-32] of the dead soldier. It is the last bugle call…but it gives promise of reveille…”
Last Post on ANZAC Day in Washington DC
FRANCE
In France, at military funerals the bugle call “Aux Morts” is sounded. This call is interesting because it was composed for use by the French after World War I, making it it a relatively new call. During W.W. I Taps was heard in camps and at funeral ceremonies in France. It was reported that the French adopted Taps for their own use in the 1930s. This occurred through the endorsement of French General Henri Gouraud, whose support of it came after a visit to the United States in connection with the Yorktown Sesquicentennial in the fall of 1931. I believe that there is a mistaken thought that confuses Taps with “Aux Morts.” Both calls are twenty-four notes in length, both are sounded slowly, both soar to a high G in its musical climax, and both are played at funerals.
ITALY
In Italy, the call for lights out is called “Il Silenzio” (The Silence) and there are two versions. Silenzio d’Ordinanza (The Ordinance) is sounded at night when soldiers have to gone to sleep and also used at military funeral services. The other version, Silenzio Fuori Ordinanza (Out of Ordinance), is three minutes long and is played to celebrate the last night of military service. In Italy, military service is mandatory and lasts twelve months. This version played on a trumpet was a big hit on the Italian pop list in the 1960s made popular by the trumpeter Nina Rossi.
“Silenzio Fuori Ordinanza” is an extension of the “Silenzio d’Ordinanza”
Here it is played in the ordinance. Note that it uses the overtone series of the bugle.
Recently a young girl played Il Silenzio with the Andre Rieu Orchestra and it became an internet sensation. After hearing this recording many people have assumed that the piece she was playing (Il Silenzio) was derived from or was, in fact, the American Taps. Il Silenzio is NOT our Taps nor is it a longer version of our call. It does not (to my knowledge) have its origin in the Taps bugle call unless the composer of the Il Silenzio heard our Taps and incorporated it into their version. I do not know when Il Silenzio dates from but I know that Taps has its origin in an 1835 manual in the call Tattoo (I call it the Scott Tattoo) and then rearranged into Taps by Daniel Butterfield and Oliver Willcox Norton in 1862. More on that story and the progression of Taps can be found at www.tapsbugler.com
The only things in common Il Silenzio has with Taps has are:
1. It uses the same three notes at the beginning
2. It is used for the same purpose (to tell soldiers to go to sleep)
Unfortunately, too many all bugle calls sound alike…..
GERMANY
In Germany, no bugle calls are sounded at funerals. Musical support can consist of a band or three drummers and one trumpet player. Funeral ceremonies take place at regular cemeteries, as there are no national or military cemeteries. At the end of the ceremony, the band plays the chorale “Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden” (The Good Comrade). If there is no full band available, this hymn is played by one trumpeter only.
Here is a video of “Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden”
DENMARK
In Denmark, a military signal is performed at funerals–it’s the same signal sounded at the end of the day–the “Retraite.” Since W.W. II, from time to time the British “Last Post” is used in Denmark. But the correct one is the “Retraite.”
PHILIPPINES
In The Philippines, a military signal called Pahingalay is used for Taps
