Live: Angela Merkel to be honoured with Grand Tattoo, the highest military ceremony for a civilian
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to be honoured with a Grand Tattoo, the highest military ceremony for a civilian after spending 16 years in office.
Merkel is expected to formally hand over powers to her successor Olaf Scholz next week, with an agreement on the three-party coalition government still in waiting.
Merkel has reportedly chosen three songs to be played at her military tattoo, with 1974 punk hit “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You forgot the colour film)” by Nina Hagen raising some eyebrows.
https://youtu.be/va86rKKEtvM
The Großer Zapfenstreich ("Grand Tattoo") is a military ceremony performed in Germany and Austria. It is similar to the military tattoo ceremony performed in English-speaking countries, and is the most important ceremonial act executed by the German federal armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and by the Austrian federal armed forces Bundesheer. The Zapfenstreich is performed only during national celebrations and solemn public commemorations, to honour distinguished persons present at such special events. Examples are the farewell ceremony for a German federal president, or at the conclusion of large military exercises. It takes place in the evening hours and consists of a military formation of at least one military band, two platoons of armed infantrymen, and two lines of soldiers carrying torches, in total about 400 men.
History
The Zapfenstreich originated in the military as a sign of the end of daily activities in both field and garrison. The term was mentioned for the first time in 1596. The Saxon major Hans von Fleming described this military custom for the first time in detail in his book Der vollkommene deutsche Soldat (The Perfect German Soldier, 1726). The Zapfenstreich was a trumpet signal to end the selling of liquor in the military quarters and to prepare for lights out. To underline that order, the sergeant major walked across the military camp and struck the taps of the casks with a stick. The word Zapfenstreich ("tap strike") is similar to the Dutch "tap toe", from which the English word tattoo comes. Like the tattoo military ceremony, the Zapfenstreich signifies completion of the day's work.
In 1813 the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III witnessed the evening ceremony of the Russian army after the battle of Großgörschen near Berlin. He was deeply impressed by the religious parts of the ceremony, especially a choral version of the Lord's Prayer. The king ordered that a similar ritual be incorporated in the Prussian Zapfenstreich. In 1838, a Zapfenstreich in nearly its present form was prepared by Wilhelm Wieprecht, director of music of the music corps of the Prussian Guard Corps, who arranged a great ("monstre") outdoor concert for the king and his guest, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, in Potsdam. On 12 May over 1,000 musicians performed the Prussian tattoo signals, a newly composed tattoo march, and the choral "Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe" ("I pray to the power of love"), composed by the Russian Royal musician Dmitry Bortniansky with text by Gerhard Tersteegen. After the founding of the German Reich in 1871, the emperor's hymn Heil Dir im Siegerkranz became part of the Zapfenstreich, but only when the emperor was present at the ceremony. Following the German Revolution the new national anthem, the "Deutschlandlied" by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, replaced the old imperial hymn in 1922.
When foreign heads of state or military units are honored, their respective national anthems are played.
The German Democratic Republic reinstated the Großer Zapfenstreich in 1962 in an updated version, supplementing the traditional German ceremony with music based on "elements of the progressive military inheritance" including the song "For the Peace of the World" by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich and a medley of songs and marches drawn from the German and international working-class movements. The hymn was replaced by a Russian funeral march honoring the martyrs of the Russian and German revolutions. The GDR national anthem replaced the Deutschlandlied. Other elements of the traditional Prussian ceremony—especially the torchlight procession, flourishes, and the Zapfenstreich March—were retained. The additions were an opening fanfare, inspection report of the unit commander, with the unit at present arms and eyes right, the presentation of the National People's Army Colors by the unit color guard, two fanfare calls by the fanfare section and kettle drummers, and a parade march past of the unit present in front of the honored guests after the reformation of the torchbearers and of the parade unit. The GDR's version, made official in 1981 and performed on March 1, NVA Day, and October 7, the GDR's National Day, and on several other occasions when needed, was made possible due to the support of longtime Director of Music of the NVA itself, Colonel Gerhard Baumann, who arranged some of the pieces that were used in the ceremony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fer_Zapfenstreich