Page 54 - La Musica e l'Arma

54 La Musica e L'arMa La Musica a cavaLLo

1868, Squadrone Carabinieri Guardie del Re,
trombettiere in uniforme di gran gala, tempera di Alessandro Degai

Musicians

on horseback

ince the establishment of the Royal Carabinieri Corps on
13 July 1814 there have been both Carabinieri foot units
s and horse-mounted units in order to ensure the control of
the territory by integrating the two distinct components. Consider
that on 26 March 1816, in Cuneo, the Royal Carabiniere horseman
Giovanni Giacomo Costamagna lost his life during a patrol as a
result of multiple stab wounds. He was the first fallen serviceman
killed in the line of duty: a Carabinieri on horseback.
Therefore, the Cavalry had to reflect the image of those mounted
Carabinieri who had charged the opposing army at the Battle of Grenoble
in 1815 in the French region of Dauphiné, thus playing the role of a fighting
armed force since the establishment of the corps.
Carabinieri musicians on horseback, initially sounding signals and simple
refrains and then, gradually, forming small musical ensembles, have been
able to offer qualified musical performances.