Last Post
The
Last Post is a
bugle call used at military funerals and ceremonies commemorating those who have fallen in war.
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First phrase of the Last Post |
The Last Post was originally a bugle call used in
British Army camps to signal the end of the day. The name derives from the practice of inspecting all the sentry posts around such a camp at the end of the day, and playing a bugle call at each of them. The "last post" was thus the last point of this inspection, and the bugle call signalling that this post had been inspected marked the end of the military day. This custom dates from at least the 17th century, and originated with British troops stationed in the
Netherlands, where it drew on an older Dutch custom, called Taptoe. The Taptoe was also used to signal the end of the day, but has more prosaic origin. Taptoe originated signaling the moment that beer barrels had to be shut, hence that the day had ended. It comes from the Dutch phrase
Doe den tap toe, meaning "Turn the tap off".
During the 19th century, the Last Post was also carried to the various countries of the
British Empire. In all these countries it has been incorporated into military funerals, where it is played as a final farewell, symbolising the fact that the duty of the dead soldier is over and that they can rest in peace.
The Last Post is used in public ceremonials commemorating the war dead, particularly on
Remembrance Day in the
Commonwealth of Nations (known as
Veterans Day in the United States). In
Australia and
New Zealand it is also played on
ANZAC Day.
Since 1927 the Last Post has been played every evening by buglers of the local
fire brigade at the war memorial at
Ieper (
Ypres) in
Belgium known as the
Menin Gate, commemorating the Belgian and
British Empire dead at the
Battle of Ypres during the
First World War. The only exception to this was during the four years of the German occupation of Ypres from
20 May 1940 to
6 September 1944, when the ceremony moved to
Brookwood Cemetery in
England. On the evening that
Polish forces liberated Ypres, the ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate, in spite of the heavy fighting still going on in other parts of the town.
The Last Post was used by British forces in
North America in colonial times, but its function was taken over in the
United States by
Taps, which has been used by the
United States Army since 1862.
The Last Post was incorporated into the finale of
Robert Steadman's
In Memoriam - a choral work on the subject of remembrance. The Last Post is also incorporated into
Karl Jenkins's mass
The Armed Man and
Peter Sculthorpe's chamber orchestra work,
Small Town from the
Fifth Continent.
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Reveille*
Taps*
Last Post website relating to the Menin Gate (an
MP3 recording of the Last Post can be heard at this website)
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Sheet music for Last Post (from an Australian site commemorating ANZAC Day)
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Last Post website run by a trumpet player, with music, MIDI files and notes on performance and nomenclature.
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Last Post from official Malaysian Army website - file in wav format
