Pastoral Pipes - History

History

This bagpipe was commonly played in the Lowlands of Scotland, the Borders, and Ireland from the mid-18th until the early 20th century. It was a precursor of what are now known as Uilleann pipes, and there were several well-known makers over a large geographic area, including London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Therefore it is difficult to say which country the pastoral pipe and its later adapted Union Pipe specifically come from although the earliest known piping tunebook - "Geoghegan's Compleat Tutor" - refers to a maker in London in 1746. As the pastoral pipe was modified it developed into the Union pipe in the period 1770-1830, makers in all three countries contributed ideas and design improvements. . Both pipes were played by gentlemen pipers of the period in Scotland, England and the Anglo-Irish Protestants in Ireland, people in society who could afford an expensive hand made set of pipes.

The term “New bagpipe” refers to the expanded compass and improvements to the instrument. Although the term Pastoral is not historically found outside Geoghegan's London context, it is evocative of a style of music played at the time. Originally the label “Pastoral” may refer to the “ancient Pastoral airs" played on the instrument composed in a "gentle, very sweet, easy manner in the immolation of those airs which Shepard’s are supposed to play" This style would suit the sweet tone of the Pastoral pipes Union/Uilleann pipes of the late 18th century, when literature, art and music romanticized rural life. In the 19th century oboes were being marketed in London as “Pastoral” to fit the music styles of the times. The pastoral bagpipe may have been the invention of an expert instrument maker who was aiming at the Romantic market. The Pastoral pipes and later Union pipes were certainly a favourite of the upper classes in Scotland, Ireland and the North-East of England and were fashionable for a time in formal social settings, where the term Union pipes may originate.

The first reference to a Pastoral pipe comes from popular and fashionable pastoral dramas of the time with music such as the Gentle Shepherd in (1725) by the writer and poet Allan Ramsay and the English Ballad The Beggar’s Opera in 1728, as a counter-measure against the influx of Pastoral Italian music. The Opera featured an “en masse” dance led by a Pastoral pipe and the scene was engraved by William Hogarth (1697–1764) who clearly shows a bellows blown bagpipe similar to the one later depicted in the Geoghegan tutor. The Geoghegan repertoire draws on contemporary compositions namely the London organist John Ravenwood (1745), composer John Grey (1745) the musical collection of William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius in (1733) as well as operatic arrangements for the Ossian Cycle. The pastoral pipes were regarded in a classical or neo-baroque setting, played by gentlemen pipers and spread across the upper circles of polite society as the instrument of choice. An established bellows pipes with an extended range is noted to be played across Scotland no later than 1760 in the “Complete Theory of the Great Highland bagpipe” by Joseph MacDonald.

The first reference to the instrument in Ireland is provided by John O'Keefe in (1760) as an instrument of polite society and the emerging 'Pastoral' and prototype Union pipe influenced the folk tradition of the 18th and 19th century in Scotland and Ireland. This can be thought of as a shared tradition which served a Neo-baroque orchestral and concert fashion but also drew strongly on the ‘native traditions’ of both Scotland and Ireland and the music styles of the times. The pastoral pipes can be played either standing or in a seated position using a set of bellows, and the chanter is similar to the later Union pipes, but it had an added foot joint that extended its range one tone lower. This added foot joint had holes in its sides in addition to the hole at the bottom of the bore. The pastoral pipes are like the Highland pipes in that the sound is continuous; notes are articulated by finger techniques such as gracenotes. The Union pipes, which evolved from the pastoral pipes, enable the player to interrupt the flow of air by stopping the end of the chanter on his knee; this doesn't work for the Pastoral instrument because of the side tone holes. Many later Pastoral sets, though, have a dismountable foot joint; when this is removed they can be played as union pipes. The surviving instruments indicate that the Pastoral pipes had two or three drones and generally one regulator.