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.