The history of bugle calls is very fascinating as well as the misconceptions. This article may help to uncover some of the background on two of the most well known calls that are heard regularly in the USA, Canada and Britain.
MILITARY BUGLE CALLS
The number of opinions and false information regarding the American trumpet/bugle call ‘TAPS’ and the British ‘LAST POST’ influenced our decision to publish this short track, we feel this is a plausible explanation . One of the reasons we have tried to shy away from producing a paper on this subject is that much of the historical material is questionable . However we have made an effort to piece together from several sources what we believe is a plausible account .The article below appeared in a British military publication.
“Last post is sounded for Remembrance Day error”
By Tim Butcher, Defense Correspondent dated NOV27 1997
The flourish of trumpets played at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day since 1920, known as Reveille, has turned out be called Rouse. The order of service was corrected in time for last month’s ceremony after a musicologist informed authorities of the error. Dr David Rycroft, a trumpeter, musician and specialist on Africa, who wrote the national anthem of Swaziland,died before this year’s service but his widow, Jacqueline, said he would have been delighted to know the mistake had been rectified. Lt Col David Price, senior director of music of the Guards Division, said: “For some reason the name Reveille stuck but when we checked it turned out it was in fact the Rouse.
“I remember as a young musician playing at funerals in Singapore and the piece of music we used was always called the Reveille. It seems that the same music incorrectly called the Reveille has been played all these years. I do not know how the misnomer arose but I imagine it was because ‘the reveille’ and ‘the rouse’ mean similar things.”
This year’s order of service referred correctly to the playing of Rouse after the Blessing and before the National Anthem. It was played by the Trumpeters of the Royal Air Force. Col Price said it was part of military tradition to play Last Post and Reveille but henceforth it would be known as Last Post and Rouse. After Dr Rycroft made his inquiry the notes played were checked in the Trumpet and Bugle Calls of the Army, a book published in 1966, and found to be those of Rouse and not Reveille.
“Tragically Dr Rycroft died this August before we put things right at this year’s ceremony,” Col Price said.
“The Reveille is the trumpet music that is used to wake the troops up and the Rouse is the piece of music used to stir them from their beds.”
Origins
The Greeks and Romans were known to have employed crude trumpets for military and ceremonial purposes and the blowing of the Shofar by the ancient Hebrews is also well documented. We have little evidence of any such usage in the European middle ages but it appears that with the Crusades military calls and military music changed. The Saracen influence had a great bearing on the changes which took place in this medium. Their instruments lent themselves to the conduct of battles. Drums and the clanking of cymbals often were employed in both defense and in the attack. It is however that in the 12th century that we first read of a trumpet signal being used by the Crusaders for a charge at Arsufin Syria (1191).Later in the 15th century the side drum became the instrument of war and the writing of Machiavelli clearly state that the “drum commands all things in battle”.
He also mentions in passages from his Art of War that signals for Infantry be different than those used by cavalry. In all probability the earliest trumpet signals emanated from Italy and spread across Europe. The first notation of the trumpet and drum calls appears in the composition, ‘La Bataille’ which is a description of the battle of Marignano (1515). The notation indicates a group of unnamed instruments. No doubt a high and low pitched trumpets and a set of drums also high and low pitched. The call is fully harmonized and is in the key of F major. In the numerous military manuals published during the 17th century we find many illustrations and descriptions of calls in use. The signals describe the activity to be undertaken by troops during different periods of the day:
‘First in the morning the discharge or the breaking up of the Watc then a preparation or Summons to make them repaire to their colors’
Therefore it can be established that both notation and the instruments which were used to signal military calls were in daily use by as early as 1635 in much of Europe. In addition, calls were developed for both infantry and cavalry with specific calls for various functions. The Italian military trumpet call “Prima Chiamata di Guerra” or First Call to battle is a good example of a cavalry call. The following provides a cursory historical review of military calls and signals for various countries including an excellent article taken from the pages of the IMMS dated 1993.
GERMANY
Many of the German military signals and calls were derived from folk songs. The calls which we normally associate with those in advance of charges into battle and nightfall were often very brief and played not on trumpets but on fifes. Many of the calls date back to the 16th century. Most of the trumpeters and drummers were members of the guild which was formed in the 12th century. Not much of early notation exists and it is presumed that there was an element of secrecy which may have been present because of the Guild.
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).
FRANCE
From the time of Louis XIV a considerable number of government orders regulated the trumpet and drum . Many of them were printed in notation form and added to the Kastner manual of battle calls. In 1705 we see the first of the many autograph collections of trumpet and drum calls in the “batteries et sonneries” collection by Phildor and Lully.
This was followed by a number of diverse calls and an ordinance for ‘trompette’ in 1803 by David Buhl. This volume also contained various drum and fife calls. Many of the calls still remain in the catalogue of trumpet calls we hear today including those employed for heads of state. The best known call is ‘La Retraite’ the first part of which is arranged for three trumpets and is in 3/8 time. Several calls used by American troops are adapted from the French calls through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin who admired the French Army.
BRITAIN
During the great continental wars of the 18th century the British Army underwent many changes as they were influenced by their foreign allies. The fife had fallen into disuse at the close of the 17th century but was reintroduced in Flanders in 1745-47. At this period, regiments of Horse used trumpets while Horse Grenadiers, Dragoon Guards, Dragoons and Foot regiments used side drums, but with the resurrection of fifes the calls were played on fifes with drum added. These calls may be found in the manuals of the last half of 18th century notably; ‘The Compleat Tutor for the Fife’
There were two distinct systems English Duty and Scots Duty and they were followed through manuals called ‘The Art of Beating the Drum’ and ‘The Art of Playing the Fife’. In 1816 Scots Duty was abolished (much to the dismay of Scottish troops). Meanwhile, instruments known as post horns were introduced for the playing of calls, these were the instruments used to herald the arrival of stage coaches carrying mail and the the first units of the British Army to adopt their use were the Light Dragoons. The custom soon spread and the horn which was circular in shape became associated with military calls throughout the army. As the bugle and trumpet became more widely used by composers of both the symphonic and military spheres the entire nature of the calls changed. The early instruments were based on the notes of the harmonic scale gave way to instruments with both keys and valves enabling the performers to play notes of the chromatic scale. In 1835 the bugle and trumpet and bugle parted company with various components of the army selecting regimental calls to be played on pitched trumpets and other units selecting their calls to be played on bugles. The Trumpet and Bugle calls for the Army dated 1902 assimilated all of the calls into one manual and this practice continues to this day. The Last Post and Reveille or Rouse were included in the 1902 manual of Trumpet and Bugle calls as well as several other calls such as Stables, School, and Mess Calls. There is Band Calls as well as the cavalry calls such as charge and retreat. any calls have even had lyrics added some rather spicy others quite humorous such as the the gibe at the officer mess call :- Oh, Officer’s wives have puddings and pies and soldiers wives have skilly (a dreadful form of porridge).
The last post and lights out (original names came from Epistles of War and were called ‘Auquet’) are credited of both the French and Dutch circa 1625. The Last Post is derived from the music used by the Dutch when their town gates were closed for night as a signal to the town’s inhabitants or referred to as Setting the Watch. The Second Post which we know as the Last Post usually was played at 10:00 pm. The Army adopted the calls for soldiers billeted in towns to sound the time for retiring to Camp. At the same time the Beating of Retreat was developed through an Army order in 1694. This was where the Drum Major and Drummers would march through towns announcing the return of soldiers to camp. The insertion of Trumpet or Bugle calls into this format is unclear however later the entire ceremony became known as a Tattoo. The early calls were played on fifes but as the bugle was adopted for infantry calls at the beginning of the 18th century it was selected for the purpose of watch setting. The calls were first notated in 1798 and the using the interval of a perfect 5th (C to G) the music for the watch setting commenced. The Last post post is heard today in conjunction with the sad farewell known as ‘Lights Out’. Again employing notes of the harmonic scale the opening is the interval of a perfect 5th and the closing is an interval of a major 3rd (C to E) upward and it is this two note phrase which sounds the final farewell dying away utilizing a ‘fermata’ (hold).
CANADA
The listings of calls first appeared in the manual for drill by General Order circa 1913. The calls were previously employed at a regimental level. Many of the calls that were used were based on fragments of the regimental march. Otherwise the cavalry calls were a mixture and jumble of both the American and British influences. Surprisingly there is absolutely no evidence that the calls which first appeared in Otters manual of drill emanated from France. Similar calls used by Canadian infantry and armored units are observed in American publications including the John Philip Sousa “Trumpet and Drum Book” dated at Washington 1886. As well other military calls for mess and the daily activities of all soldiers were adopted from the British manual Trumpet and Bugle Sounds for the Army dated London 1927. The Last Post and Reveille which are in use today were first introduced into Queens Regulations and later into Canadian Forces Order 32-3. The musical notation is also shown in the order. It should be noted that the call ‘Reveille’ has a totally different tune in the USA and is the morning wake up call well known with the lyrics beginning “you gotta get up etc”.
UNITED STATES
According to Jari Villaneuva, historians have traced the true origin of taps to a Union officer, Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield, who was unhappy with the lights-out call used at the time during the Civil War, feeling it was too formal for day’s end.
He turned to a brigade bugler, Oliver Willcox Norton, to play an improvised arrangement of an official bugle call known as Scott Tattoo. That music had been set down in Silas Casey’s “Infantry Tactics,” which notes various music used to direct troops, and had, in turn, been borrowed from the French.
Villanueva also discusses the topic in an NPR interview that is part of a YouTube post that includes a snippet of the original tune that Butterfield revised.
The revised tune, according to historians, was first played at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, following the Seven Days’ Battles in 1862. The fighting was part of the Peninsular Campaign.
TAPS
The resources for this article were taken from:
Songs and Music of the Red Coats 1642 1902, Lewis Winstock,
The Groves Encyclopedia of Music 1954-1984 editions,
The British Journal of Military music 1961-6,
Jari Villanueva Bugle Calls 2020.