The Degüello (Spanish: ''El toque a degüello'') is a

bugle call A bugle call is a short tune, originating as a military signal announcing scheduled and certain non-scheduled events on a military installation, battlefield, or ship. Historically, bugles, drums, and other loud musical instruments were used fo ...

, notable in the United States for its use as a

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National De ...

buglers during the 1836

Siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

and

Battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Ant ...

to signal that the defenders of the garrison would receive no quarter by the attacking Mexican Army under General

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...

. The Degüello was introduced to the Americas by the Spanish armies and was later adopted by the patriot armies fighting against them during the

Spanish American wars of independence The Spanish American wars of independence (25 September 1808 – 29 September 1833; es, Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas) were numerous wars in Spanish America with the aim of political independence from Spanish rule during the early ...

. It was also widely used by

Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

's armies, notably during the

Battle of Junin A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and the

Battle of Ayacucho The Battle of Ayacucho ( es, Batalla de Ayacucho, ) was a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. This battle secured the independence of Peru and ensured independence for the rest of South America. In Peru it is co ...

. "Degüello" is a Spanish noun from the verb " degollar", to describe the action of

throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separating the esophagus from the trachea (windpipe ...

-cutting. More figuratively, it means "give

no quarter The phrase no quarter was generally used during military conflict to imply combatants would not be taken prisoner, but killed. According to some modern American dictionaries, a person who is given no quarter is "not treated kindly" or "treated ...

." It "signifies the act of beheading or throat-cutting and in Spanish history became associated with the battle music, which, in different versions, meant complete destruction of the enemy without mercy." It is similar to the

war cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious ...

"¡A degüello!" used by Cuban rebels in the 19th century to launch mounted charges against the Spanish infantry.

Musical compositions

Martha Keller's ''The Alamo'' in ''Brady's Bend and Other Ballads'', published in 1946, became popularized through

Juanita Coulson Juanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) (born February 12, 1933) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her ''Children of the Stars'' books, published from 1981 to 1989. She was a longtime editor of the science fiction ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

, "No Quarter, No Quarter." In it, Keller wrote, "When they sound the 'No Quarter', they'll rise to the slaughter, when they play 'The Deguello', the wail of despair." K. R. Wood's 1997 compilation album ''Fathers of Texas'' explains the bugle call and what it meant at the Alamo through song and narration.

Depiction in films

In films, ''El Degüello'' varies, sometimes markedly. It is an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

in the two John Wayne films '' Rio Bravo'' (1959) and '' The Alamo'' (1960), and was also used in '' The Alamo'' (2004). In the first two films mentioned, the same music is used: not the actual Deguello, but music written by film composer

Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...

. In the third film, it is in the form of a military

dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegies ...

. It is depicted as a bugle call in Disney's ''

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier ''Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier'' is a 1955 American Western film produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is an edited and recut compilation of the first three episodes of the '' Davy Crockett'' television miniseries. The episodes us ...

'' (1955), in '' The Last Command'' (1955), in ''

Viva Max! ''Viva Max!'' is a 1969 comedy film directed by Jerry Paris and starring Peter Ustinov, Jonathan Winters and John Astin. The film was written by Elliott Baker and based on the 1966 novel of the same name by James Lehrer. Plot Riding a white h ...

'' (1969), and in the made-for-television movie '' The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory'' (1987). Degüello is the title of an episode of '' Endeavour'', in Series 6, Episode 4 (2019).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deguello, El Military music Bugle calls Military history of Mexico Spanish words and phrases Death music

Musical compositions

Depiction in films

See also

References