The grand return of the troops

The aim of this paper is to fill the geographical gap in the literature about the militarization of COVID-19 through a comparative exploration of how the pandemic was handled in militarized ways in Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Drawing from official government and military statements, media articles, and expert interviews with defense intellectuals, we examine two interconnected areas – that of discourse and that of military domestic assistance. By viewing the developments through the lens of militarization and military-society relations scholarship, we argue that rather than serving as a ‘portal’ for civilian resilience, the pandemic constituted an unprecedented ‘return of the troops’ to Visegrad states and societies in terms of its size, scope, and duration, thus strengthening the pressure for re-militarization in the region that has been recorded in the last decade. The paper presents a number of analytical findings: first, it identifies the emerging gap between right-wing populist rhetoric that relied on warspeak and the human-centered communication of the armed forces; second, it reveals that military domestic assistance functioned as a military ‘band aid’ on systemic vulnerabilities, as well as incidentally converged with illiberal patterns of governance; third, it shows how the pandemic aided re-militarizing pressures, resulting in a significant boost to the defense sector, a positive public opinion about the armed forces, and military-society relations.

Aspects of the history of the military band in the cultural area of the Republic of Moldova

The military marching band is an imposing but also prestigious artistic present in the national and international musical landscape. Having a rich and old tradition, it continues to play an important role in the cultural life, asserting itself as a mechanism for promoting national and universal musical heritage and as an effective means of ethical and aesthetic education of the military and the general public. Often, famous works from the universal repertoire are more easily assimilated by the average spectator through fanfares. In this article, we will refer to some aspects of the history of the phenomenon. After 1990, with the postponement of the independence of the Republic of Moldova, military structures, internal affairs bodies, institutions for training specialists in the field, such as the Police Academy, etc. are created. As a result, military band orchestras are established and invigorated. One of them, which enjoys success and shows high professionalism, is the Band Orchestra of the General Inspectorate of Carabineers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Form and Style in Two of Percy Grainger’s Early Works for Military Band

Percy Grainger’s compositions during the early twentieth century represent a unique blend of traditional functional harmony and newer musical techniques. This blending produces a distinct compositional style associated with Grainger, featuring simple forms and textures, melodies inspired by traditional folk songs, extended tertian harmony, and an emphasis on voice leading. Grainger’s works often cross genres and explore various instrumentations and stylistic choices. This paper attempts to further define and explain Grainger’s style by analyzing two of his original works that were arranged for the military band setting, namely Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away and Colonial Song. Examining these two works through the lens of harmony, melody, form, texture, and rhythm reveals key aspects of Grainger’s early compositional style. Several stylistic choices were found to recur, including Grainger’s use of counterpoint, voice leading, descending chromaticism, specific patterns of articulations, and tension created by increased note density.

Musical Cosmopolitanism in Central America: in search of an Obituary of Alejandro Cousin (ca. 1835 - 1910)

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the countries of Central America incorporated European musicians into their state-generated projects. Administrations from Guatemala to Costa Rica appointed composers from Italy, Germany, Belgium, and Spain to help stimulate national musical culture and education, giving them leadership roles in state institutions. Belgian composer and conductor Alejandro Cousin arrived in the late 1850s and spent the rest of his life in El Salvador and Nicaragua where he established the national military band. This article, in the form of an obituary, sheds light on his noteworthy artistic legacy in Central America.

Why do soldiers swap illicit pictures? How a visual discourse analysis illuminates military band of brother culture

Military service members have been taking and circulating illicit images for decades, and soldier-produced illicit images are a regular and coherent category of international images. Focusing on two case studies – Abu Ghraib images and images of hazing – the argument put forward in this article is that soldier-generated illicit images are not simply photographic evidence, or accidental by-products, of exceptional military activities; rather, these images – and the practices associated with these images – are central to, and reinforce aspects of, military band of brother culture. Soldier-produced illicit images establish a visual vernacular that normalizes particular practices within military communities. Moreover, the practices of producing, circulating and consuming these images convey explicit messages to service members about acceptable behaviour and norms around loyalty and secrecy. A method of visual discourse analysis is developed and employed to examine the acts captured in soldier-generated illicit images as well as the practices linked to the production, circulation and consumption of images. Building on existing work on military culture and images and international relations, this article makes a unique contribution by systematically analysing soldier-produced illicit images in order to gain insights about internal military culture and group dynamics.

Music and War

Since the earliest days of troop movements and military maneuvers, music has been an integral part of army and navy life. Drums, fifes, and bugles have marked and measured out parades, mobilizations, battlefield and naval tactics, advances, retreats, bivouacs and encampment life. They have also been employed at military ceremonies and remembrance services. Indeed, it is impossible not to recall military tunes when thinking about war throughout history. Military music has become part of countries’ collective culture commemorations. Army, navy, and air force band music and performance have long generated much public and historical interest. They have become part of national musical discourse and production, especially within Anglophone musical culture. In addition, war and military music has invaded the world of classical tunes, with grand pieces being composed to mark specific battles, victories, and conflicts, most notably Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, written in honor of Russia’s defense against Napoleon’s invasion. However, there is far more to the symbiotic relationship between music and war than just a military band playing on a march or orchestral pieces celebrating martial success. Music and song have also been a fundamental part of military life. Drums, fifes, bugles, and even fiddles and banjos have been played and heard by soldiers, sailors, and aviators across encampments, on bases, and in conflict zones since the dawn of war. Music, alongside its lyrical sister poetry, has often been the predominant cultural product of war and military service. Those fighting, and those wanting to write about those fighting, have employed music and song as a comforting tonic, as a political statement, as a tool for remembrance, and as a general pastime. Wars, the violence of conflicts, the aftermath of fighting domestically and internationally, and the impact of military engagements on veteran and family lives have long been a genre of folk music and popular lyrical culture throughout societies, as observed in many of the scholarly examples in this bibliography. The field of analysis currently centers predominantly on Anglo-American and Western examples, focusing on the appearance of war in British Isles and Irish street ballads, diasporic use of song to emphasize war service, specific conflict studies, and the dominance of American military music. War ballad and musical outputs have generated research in historical, musicological, and cultural studies areas. The study of war and music lends itself to interdisciplinary focus. The works in this bibliographical list reflect this, and the fact that the study of music and war is developing into a full discourse in its own right. It is a rich area of discussion and research, and this bibliography shows the scope and range of music and war studies to date.

Noise and Silence in Rigoletto's Venice

In this article I explore how public acts of defiant silence can work as forms of historical evidence, and how such refusals constitute a distinct mode of audio-visual attention and political resistance. After the Austrians reconquered Venice in August 1849, multiple observers reported that Venetians protested their renewed subjugation via theatre boycotts (both formal and informal) and a refusal to participate in festive occasions. The ostentatious public silences that met the daily Austrian military band concerts in the city's central piazza became a ritual that encouraged foreign observers to empathise with the Venetians’ plight. Whereas the gondolier's song seemed to travel separate from the gondolier himself, the piazza's design instead encouraged a communal listening coloured by the politics of the local cafes. In the central section of the article, I explore the ramifications of silence, resistance and disconnections between sight and sound as they shape Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, which premiered at Venice's Teatro la Fenice in 1851. The scenes in Rigoletto most appreciated by the first Venetian audiences hinge on the power to observe and overhear, suggesting that early spectators experienced the opera through a mode of engagement born of the local material conditions and political circumstances.