A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tattoo

TATTOO^[1] (Rappel; Zapfenstreich), the signal in the British army by which soldiers are brought to their quarters at night. The infantry signal begins at 20 minutes before the hour appointed for the men to be in barracks, by the bugles in the barrack-yard sounding the 'First Post' or 'Setting of the Watch.' This is a long passage of 29 bars, beginning as follows—

and ending with this impressive phrase:—

This is succeeded by the 'Rolls,'^[2] consisting of three strokes by the big drum, each stroke followed by a roll on the side-drums:—

The drums and fifes then march up and down the, barrack-yard playing a succession of Quick marches at choice, till the hour is reached. Then 'God save the Queen' is played, and the Tattoo concludes by the 'Second Post' or 'Last Post,' which begins as follows—

and ends like the 'First Post.' The other branches of the service have their tattoos, which it is not necessary to quote.

Since the time of Wallenstein the Zapfenstreich in Germany has had a wider meaning, and is a sort of short spirited march played not only by drums and fifes or trumpets but by the whole band of the regiment. It is in this sense that Beethoven uses the word in a letter to Peters (1823?):—'There left here last Saturday three airs, six bagatelles, and a tattoo, instead of a march … and to-day I send the two tattoos that were still wanting … the latter will do for marches.' [See Zapfenstreich.]

[ G. ]

1. The word is derived by Johnson from the French tapotez tout; and its original form seems to have been 'tap-to' (see Count Mansfield's 'Directions of Warre,' 1624), as if it were the signal for the tap-rooms or bars of the canteen to put-to or close. Curiously enough, however, 'tap' seems to be an acknowledged term for the drum—'tap of drum.' Tapoter is probably allied to the German zapfen, the tap of a cask, and zapfenstreich, the German term for tattoo; this also may mean the striking or driving home of the taps of the beer-barrels. The proverbial expression 'the devil's tattoo'—meaning the noise made by a person absorbed in thought drumming with foot or fingers, seems to show that the drum and not the trumpet was the original instrument for sounding the tattoo.
2. For details see Potter's 'Instructions for the Side Drum.'