Buccina

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Buccina
Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus: Detail roman wearing mail, and above him a cornicen, a junior officer who communicated signals with the military horn or buccina

A buccina (

Roman army,[1] similar to the cornu. An aeneator
who blew a buccina was called a "buccinator" or "bucinator" (Latin: buccinātor, būcinātor).

Design

It was originally designed as a tube made of either bronze or shells.

bell in the shape of a broad C and is strengthened by means of a bar across the curve, which the performer grasps while playing to steady the instrument; the bell curves over his head or shoulder.[3]

Usage

The buccina was used for the announcement of night watches, to summon soldiers by means of the special signal known as classicum, and to give orders.[4] Frontinus relates that a Roman general, who had been surrounded by the enemy, escaped during the night by means of the stratagem of leaving behind him a buccinator (trumpeter), who sounded the watches throughout the night.[3][5]

In the final section of his orchestral work

Feste romane (Roman Festivals), but again notes that they may be replaced by trumpets.[6]

History

The instrument is the ancestor of both the

François Joseph Gossec composed for the translation of the remains of Voltaire to the Pantheon on 11 July 1791.[7]

References

  1. ^ .
  2. .
  3. ^ a b c d  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Buccina". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 711–712.
  4. Vegetius, De re militari, ii. 22, iii. 5; Polybius
    vi. 365, xiv. 3, 7.
  5. ^ Stratagematicon, i. 5, § 17.
  6. Kennedy Center
    .
  7. ^ Constant Pierre, Les Hymnes et Chansons de la Révolution française, aperçu général et catalogue, avec notices historiques, analytiques et bibliographiques, 1904, pages 210–213.

External links