Bagging.
BAGGING,the name given to the textile stuff used for making bags (see alsoSackingandTarpaulin). The material used was originally Baltic hemp, while in the beginning of the 19th century Sunn hemp or India hemp was also employed. Modern requirements call for so many different types of bagging that it is not surprising to find all kinds of fibres used for this purpose. Most bagging is now made from yarns of the jute fibre. The cloth is, in general, woven with the plain weave, and the warp threads run in pairs, but large quantities of bags are made from cloths with single warp threads. In both cases the weave used for the cloth is that shown at A in the figure, but when double threads of warp are used, the arrangement is equivalent to the weave shown at B. The interlacings of the two sets of warp and weft for single and double warp are shown respectively at C and D, the black marks indicating the warp threads, and the white or blanks showing the weft. The particular style of bagging depends, naturally, upon the kind of material it is intended to hold. The coarsest type of bagging is perhaps that known as "cotton bagging," which derives its name from the fact that it is used in the manufacture of bags for transporting raw cotton from the United States of America. It is a heavy fabric 42 in. wide, and weighs from 2 to 2½ lb per yard. A similar, but rather finer make, is used for Sea Island and other fine cotton, and for any species of fibrous material; but for grain, spices, sugar, flour, coffee, manure, &c., the threads of warp and weft must lie closer, and the warp is usually single. For transporting suchsubstances as sugar, it is not uncommon to line the bag with paper, which excludes foreign matter, and minimizes the loss. Although there are large quantities of seamless bags woven in the loom, the greater part of the cloth is woven in the ordinary way. It is then cut up into the required sizes by hand and by special machines, and afterwards sewn by one of the chain-stitch or straight-stitch bag sewing-machines.
BAGHAL,a small native state in the Punjab, India. It is one of the group known as the Simla Hill states, and has an area of 124 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 25,720, showing an increase of 5% in the decade; a revenue £3300.
BAGHERIA,a town of the province of Palermo, Sicily, 8 m. by rail E. by S. of Palermo. Pop. (1901) 18,218. It contains many villas of the aristocracy of Palermo, the majority of which were erected in the 18th century, but have now fallen into decay.
BAGILLT,a town of Flintshire, North Wales, 14½ m. from Chester, on the London & North Western railway, in the ancient parish of Holywell. Pop. (1901) 2637. Its importance is due to its zinc, lead, iron, alkali and kindred works, and its collieries. Above Bagillt is Bryn Dychwelwch, "Hill of Retreat," so called from the retreat effected by Owen Gwynedd, when pursued by Henry II., with superior numbers. Near is Mostyn Hall, dating from the time of Henry VI., the seat of one of the oldest Welsh families. Here are antiquities and MSS. (old British history and Welsh, brought from Gloddaeth), a harp dated 1568, torques (torchau), &c. Henry VII., then earl of Richmond, is said to have been concealed here in the reign of Richard III., when the lord of Mostyn was Richard ap Howel.
BAGIMOND'S ROLL.In 1274 the council of Lyons imposed a tax of a tenth part of all church revenues during the six following years for the relief of the Holy Land. In Scotland Pope Gregory X. entrusted the collection of this tax to Master Boiamund (better known as Bagimund) de Vitia, a canon of Asti, whose roll of valuation formed the basis of ecclesiastical taxation for some centuries. Boiamund proposed to assess the tax, not according to the old conventional valuation but on the true value of the benefices at the time of assessment. The clergy of Scotland objected to this innovation, and, having held a council at Perth in August 1275, prevailed upon Boiamund to return to Rome for the purpose of persuading the pope to accept the older method of taxation. The pope insisted upon the tax being collected according to the true value, and Boiamund returned to Scotland to superintend its collection. A fragment of Bagimond's Roll in something very like its original form is preserved at Durham, and has been printed by James Raine in hisPriory of Coldingham(Publications of the Surtees Society, vol. xii.). It gives the real values in one column and tenth parts in another column of each of the benefices in the archdeaconry of Lothian. The actual taxation to which this fragment refers was not the tenth collected by Boiamund but the tenth of all ecclesiastical property in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland granted by Pope Nicholas IV. to Edward I. of England in the year 1288. The fragment should therefore be regarded as supplementary to theTaxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliaeprinted by the Record Commissioners in 1802. Although no contemporary copy of Bagimond's Roll is known to exist, at least three documents give particulars of the taxation of the Church of Scotland in the 16th century, which are based upon the original roll.
SeeStatuta Ecclesiae Scoticanae(Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1866).
BAGIRMI,a country of north-central Africa, lying S.E. of Lake Chad and forming part of the Chad circumscription of French Congo. It extends some 240 m. north to south and has a breadth of about 150 m., with an area of 20,000 sq. m. The population in 1903 was estimated at 100,000, having been greatly reduced as the result of wars and slave-raiding. By including districts S. and S.E. occupied by former vassal states, the area and population of Bagirmi would be more than doubled. The surface of the country, which lies about 1000 ft. above sea-level, is almost flat with a very slight inclination N. to Lake Chad. It forms part of what seems to be the basin of an immense lake, of which Chad is the remnant. The soil is clay. The river Shari (q.v.) forms the western boundary. Numerous tributaries of the Shari flow through the country, but much of the water is absorbed by swamps and sand-obstructed channels, and seasons of drought are recurrent. The southern part of the country is the most fertile. Among the trees the acacia and the dum-palm are common. Various kinds of rubber vine are found. The fauna includes the elephant, hippopotamus, lion and several species of antelope. Ants are very numerous. Millet and sesame are the principal grains cultivated. Rice grows wild, and several kinds of Poa grass are used as food by the natives. Cotton and indigo are grown to a considerable extent, especially by Bornu immigrants. The capital is Chekna, on a tributary of the Shari, the former capital, Massenia, having been destroyed in 1898. Fort Lamy at the confluence of the Logone and Shari, and Fort de Cointet on the middle Shari, are French posts round which towns have grown. Trade is chiefly with Yola, a town on the Benue in British Nigeria, and with Khartum via Wadai. There is also an ancient caravan route which runs through Kanem and across the Sahara to Tripoli.
The population of Bagirmi is mixed. Negroid peoples predominate, but there are many pastoral Fula and Arabs. The Bagirmese proper are a vigorous, well-formed race of Negroid-Arab blood, who, according to their own traditions, came from the eastward several centuries ago, a tradition borne out by their language, which resembles those spoken on the White Nile. On their arrival they appear to have taken the place of the Bulala dynasty. They subdued the Fula and Arabs already settled in the district, and after being converted to Islam under Abdullah, their fourth king (about 1600), they extended their authority over a large number of tribes living to the south and east. The most important of these tribes are the Saras, Gaberi, Somrai, Gulla, Nduka, Nuba and Sokoro. These pagan tribes were repeatedly raided by the Bagirmese for slaves. Most of them are of a primitive type and appear to be dying out. The Saras are remarkable for their herculean stature, and are one of the most promising of African races. Tree worship is prevalent among the Somrai and the Gaberi. All the tribes believe in a supreme being whose voice is the thunder. Polygamy is general in upper Bagirmi, where some traces of a matriarchal stage of society linger, one small state being called Beled-el-Mra, "Women's Land," because its ruler is always a queen.
Bagirmi was made known to Europe by the travels of Dixon Denham (1823), Heinrich Barth (1852), who was imprisoned by the Bagirmese for some time, Gustav Nachtigal (1872), and P. Matteucci and A. M. Massari (1881). The country in 1871 had been conquered by the sultan of Wadai, and about 1890 was over-run by Rabah Zobeir (q.v.) who subsequently removed farther west to Bornu. About this time French interest in the countries surrounding Lake Chad was aroused. The first expedition led thither through Bagirmi met with disaster, its leader, Paul Crampel, being killed by order of Rabah. Subsequent missions were more fortunate, and in 1897 Emile Gentil, the French commissioner for the district, concluded a treaty with the sultan of Bagirmi, placing his country under French protection. A resident was left at the capital, Massenia, but on Gentil's withdrawal Rabah descended from Bornu and forced sultan and resident to flee. It was not until after the death of Rabah in battle and the rout of his sons (1901) that French authority was firmly established. Kanem, a country north of Bagirmi and subject in turn to it and to Wadai, was at the same time brought under French control. So far as its European rivals are concerned, the French right to these regions is based on the Franco-German convention of the 15th of March 1894 and the Anglo-French declaration of the 21st of March 1899.
See H. Barth,Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa(London, 1857-1858); G. Nachtigal,Sahara und Sudan(Berlin, 1879-1889); E. Gentil,La Chute de l'Empire de Rabah(Paris, 1902). AlsoFrench Congo.
BAGNACAVALLO, BARTOLOMMEO(1484-1542), Italian painter. His real name wasRamenghi, but he received the cognomen Bagnacavallo from the little village where he was born. He studied first under Francia, and then proceeded toRome, where he became a pupil of Raphael. While studying under him he worked along with many others at the decoration of the gallery in the Vatican, though it is not known what portions are his work. On his return to Bologna he quickly took the leading place as an artist, and to him were due the great improvements in the general style of what has been called the Bolognese school. His works were considered to be inferior in point of design to some other productions of the school of Raphael, but they were distinguished by rich colouring and graceful delineation. They were highly esteemed by Guido Reni and the Carracci, who studied them carefully and in some points imitated them. The best specimens of Bagnacavallo's works, the "Dispute of St Augustine," and a "Madonna and Child," are at Bologna.
BAGNÈRES-DE-BIGORRE,a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées, 13 m. S.S.E. of Tarbes on a branch line of the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 6661. It is beautifully situated on the left bank of the Adour, at the northern end of the valley of Campan, and the vicinity abounds in picturesque mountain scenery. The town is remarkably neat and clean and many of the houses are built or ornamented with marble. It is one of the principal watering-places in France, and has some fifty mineral springs, characterized chiefly by the presence of sulphate of lime or iron. Their temperature ranges approximately from 59° to 122° Fahr., and they are efficacious in cases of rheumatism, nervous affections, indigestion and other maladies. The season begins in May and terminates about the end of October, during which time the population is more than doubled. The Promenade des Coustous is the centre of the life of Bagnères. Close by stands the church of St Vincent of the 14th and 15th centuries. The old quarter of the town, in which there are several old houses, contains a graceful octagonal tower of the 15th century, the remains of a Jacobin monastery. The Néothermes, occupying part of the casino, and the Thermes (dating from 1824), which has a good library, are the principal bathing-establishments; both are town property. The other chief buildings include the Carmelite church, remains of the old church of St Jean, a museum and the town-hall. Bagnères has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a communal college. The manufacture ofbarège, a light fabric of silk and wool, and the weaving and knitting of woollen goods, wood-turning and the working of marble found in the neighbourhood and imported from elsewhere, are among the industries, and there are also slate quarries. Bagnères was much frequented by the Romans, under whom it was known asVicus Aquensis, but afterwards lost its renown. It begins to appear again in history in the 12th century when Centulle III., count of Bigorre, granted it a liberal charter. The baths rose into permanent importance in the 16th century, when they were visited by Jeanne d'Albret, mother of Henry IV., and by many other distinguished persons.
BAGNÈRES-DE-LUCHON,a town of south-western France, in the department of Haute-Garonne, 87 m. S.S.W. of Toulouse, on a branch line of the Southern railway from Montréjeau. Pop. (1906) 3448. The town is situated at the foot of the central Pyrenees in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the One and the Pique. It is celebrated for its thermal springs and as a fashionable resort. Of the promenades the finest and most frequented are the Allées d'Etigny, an avenue planted with lime-trees, at the southern extremity of which is the Thermes, or bathing-establishment, one of the most complete in existence. The springs, which number 48, vary in composition, but are chiefly impregnated with sulphate of sodium, and range in temperature from 62° to 150°. A large casino was opened in the town in 1877. The discovery of numerous Roman remains attests the antiquity of the baths, which are identified with theOnesiorum Thermaeof Strabo. Their revival in modern times dates from the latter half of the 18th century, and was due to Antoine Mégret d'Etigny,intendantof Auch.
BAGOAS,a Persian name (Bagoi), a shortened form of names like Bagadata, "given by God," often used for eunuchs. The best-known of these ("Bagoses" in Josephus) became the confidential minister of Artaxerxes III. He threw in his lot with the Rhodian condottiere Mentor, and with his help succeeded in subjecting Egypt again to the Persian empire (probably 342B.C.). Mentor became general of the maritime provinces, suppressed the rebels, and sent Greek mercenaries to the king, while Bagoas administered the upper satrapies and gained such power that he was the real master of the kingdom (Diod. xvi. 50; cf. Didymus,Comm. in Demosth. Phil.vi. 5). He became very wealthy by confiscating the sacred writings of the Egyptian temples and giving them back to the priests for large bribes (Diod. xvi. 51). When the high priest of Jerusalem, Jesus, murdered his brother Johannes in the temple, Bagoas (who had supported Johannes) put a new tax on the Jews and entered the temple, saying that he was purer than the murderer who performed the priestly office (Joseph.Ant.xi. 7.1). In 338 Bagoas killed the king and all his sons but the youngest, Arses (q.v.), whom he raised to the throne; two years later he murdered Arses and made Darius III. king. When Darius attempted to become independent of the powerful vizier (χιλίαρχος), Bagoas tried to poison him too; but Darius was warned and forced him to drink the poison himself (Diod. xvii. 5; Johann. Antioch, p. 38, 39 ed. Müller; Arrian ii. 14. 5; Curt. vi. 4. 10). A later story, that Bagoas was an Egyptian and killed Artaxerxes III. because he had killed the sacred Apis (Aelian,Var. Hist.vi. 8), is without historical value. Bagoas' house in Susa, with rich treasures, was presented by Alexander to Parmenio (Plut.Alex.39); his gardens in Babylon, with the best species of palms, are mentioned by Theophrastus (Hist. Plant, ii. 6; Plin.Nat. Hist.xiii. 41). Another eunuch, Bagoas, was a favourite of Alexander the Great (Dicaearchus in Athen. xiii. 603b; Plut.Al.67; Aelian,Var. Hist.3. 23; Curt. vi. 5. 23; x. 1. 25 ff.).
(Ed. M.)
BAG-PIPE(Celt.piob-mala,ullan-piob,cuislean,cuislin; Fr.cornemuse,chalemie,musette,sourdeline,chevrette,loure; Ger.Sackpfeife,Dudelsack; M. H. Ger.Suegdbalch[1]; Ital.cornamusa,piva,sampogna,surdelina; Gr.ἄσκαυλος(?); Lat.ascaulus(?),tibia utricularis,utricularium; med. Lat.chorus), a complex reed instrument of great antiquity. The bag-pipe forms the link between the syrinx (q.v.) and the primitive organ, by furnishing the principle of the reservoir for the wind-supply, combined with a simple method of regulating the sound-producing pressure by means of the arm of the performer. The bag-pipes consists of an air-tight leather bag having three to five apertures, each of which contains a fixed stock or short tube. The stocks act as sockets for the reception of the pipes, and as air-chambers for theaccommodationand protection of the reeds. The pipes are of three kinds: (1) a simple valved insufflation tube or "blow-pipe," by means of which the performer fills the bag reservoir; (2) the "chaunter" (chanter) or the melody-pipe, having according to the variety of the bag-pipe a conical or a cylindrical bore, lateral holes, and in some cases keys and a bell; the "chaunter" is invariably made to speak by means of a double-reed; (3) the "drones," jointed pipes with cylindrical bore, generally terminating in a bell, but having no lateral holes and being capable, therefore, of producing but one fixed note.
The main characteristic of the bag-pipe is the drone ground bass which sounds without intermission. Each drone is fitted with a beating-reed resembling the primitive "squeaker" known to all country lads; it is prepared by making a cut partly across a piece of cane or reed, near the open end, and splitting back from this towards a joint or knot, thus raising a tongue or flap. The beating-reed is then fixed in a socket of the drone, which fits into the stock. The sound is produced by the stream of air forced from the bag into the drone-pipe by the pressure of the performer's arm, causing the tongue of reed to vibrate over the aperture, thus setting the whole column of air in vibration. The drone-pipe, like all cylindrical tubes with reed mouthpieces, has the acoustic properties of the closed pipe and produces the note of a pipe twice its length. The drones are tuned by means of sliding-joints.
The blow-pipe and the chaunter occupy positions at opposite extremities of the bag, which rests under the arm of the performer while the drones point over his shoulder. These are the main features in the construction of the bag-pipe, whose numerous varieties fall into two classes according to the method of inflating the bag: (1) by means of the blow-pipe described above; (2) by means of a small bellows connected by a valved feed-pipe with the bag and worked by the other arm or elbow to which it is attached by a ribbon or strap.
Class I. comprises: (a) the Highland bag-pipe; (b) the old Irish bag-pipe; (c) the cornemuse; (d) the bignou or biniou (Breton bag-pipe); (e) the Calabrian bag-pipe; (f) the ascaulus of the Greeks and Romans; (g) the tibia utricularis; (h) the chorus. To Class II. belong: (a) the musette; (b) the Northumbrian or border bag-pipe; (c) the Lowland bag-pipe; (d) the union pipes of Ireland; (e) the surdelina of Naples.
1.The Highland Bag-pipe.—The construction of the Highland pipes is practically that given above. The chaunter consists of a conical wooden tube terminating in a bell and measuring from 14 to 16 in. including the reed. There are seven holes in front and one at the back for the thumb of the left hand, which fingers the upper holes while the right thumb merely supports the instrument. The holes are stopped by the under part of the joints of the fingers. There is in addition a double hole near the bell, which is never covered, and merely serves to regulate the pitch. As the double reed is not manipulated by the lips of the performer, only nine notes are obtained from the chaunter, as shown:—[2][3]
Notation: G4 A4 B4 C5* D5 E5 F5*[3] G5 A5 (B5 C6*)[2].
The notes do not form any known diatonic scale, for in addition to the C and F being too sharp, the notes are not strictly in tune with each other. Donald MacDonald, in his treatise on the bag-pipe[4]states that "the piper is to pay no attention to the flats and sharps marked on the clef, as they are not used in pipe music; yet the pipe imitates several different keys which are real, but ideal on the bag-pipe, as the music cannot be transposed for it into any other key than that in which it is first played or marked." Mr Glen, the great dealer in bag-pipes, gave it as his opinion "that if the chaunter were to be made perfect in any one scale, it would not go well with the drones. Also, there would not be nearly so much music produced (if you take into consideration that it has only nine invariable notes) as at present it adapts itself to the keys of A maj., D maj., B min., G maj., E min. and A min. Of course we do not mean that it has all the intervals necessary to form scales in all those keys, but that we find it playing tunes that are in one or other of them."[5]Mr Ellis considers that the natural scale of the chaunter of the bag-pipe corresponds most nearly with the Arab scale of Zalzal, a celebrated lutist who diedc.A.D.800.
The three drones are usually tuned to A, the two smallest one octave below the A of the chaunter, and the largest two octaves below. The three principal methods of tuning the drones are shown as follows:—[6][7]
Notation: A. J. Ellis. A3 A3 A2. David Glen.[6] A4 A4 A3. Angus Mackay.[7] A3 A3 A2 OR G3 B3 G2.
The excessive use of ornamental notes on the Highland bag-pipe has arisen from a technical peculiarity of the instrument, which makes a repetition of the same note difficult without the interpolation of what is known among pipers as "cuts" or "warblers,"i.e.grace notes fingered with great rapidity (see below for an example). These warblers, which consist not only of single notes but of groups of from three to seven notes, not consecutive but in leaps, assist in relieving the constant discord with the drone bass. Skilful pipers have been known to introduce warblers of as many as eleven notes between two beats in a bar.
War of peace.
The use of musical notation for the Highland pipe tunes is a recent innovation; the pipers used verbal equivalents for the notes; for instance, the piobaireachdCoghiegh nha Shie, "War of peace,"[8]which opens as shown here, was taken down by Capt. Niel MacLeod from the piper John McCrummen of Skye as verbally taught to apprentices as follows:—
"Hodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin,Hodroha, hodroho, hodroho, hachin,Hiodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin," &c.
"Hodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin,Hodroha, hodroho, hodroho, hachin,Hiodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin," &c.
"Hodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin,
Hodroha, hodroho, hodroho, hachin,
Hiodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin," &c.
The conclusion of the tune is thus expressed:
"Hiundratatateriri, hiendatatateriri, hiundratatateriri, hiundratatateriri."[9]
"Hiundratatateriri, hiendatatateriri, hiundratatateriri, hiundratatateriri."[9]
"Hiundratatateriri, hiendatatateriri, hiundratatateriri, hiundratatateriri."[9]
Written down this seems a mere unintelligible jumble, but could we hear it, as sounded by the pipers, with due regard for the rhythmical value of notes, it would be a very different matter. Alexander Campbell[10]relates that a melody had to be taken down or translated "from the syllabic jargon of illiterate pipers into musical characters, which, when correctly done, he found to his astonishment to coincide exactly with musical notation."
Fig. 1. Types of bag-pipe.Fig.1.—(1) Cornemuse. (2) Irish bag-pipe. (3) Musette. (4) Highland bag-pipe,A.D.1409. (5) Border bag-pipe.(From Capt. C. R. Day'sDescriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, by permission of Eyre & Spottiswoode.)
Fig.1.—(1) Cornemuse. (2) Irish bag-pipe. (3) Musette. (4) Highland bag-pipe,A.D.1409. (5) Border bag-pipe.
(From Capt. C. R. Day'sDescriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, by permission of Eyre & Spottiswoode.)
A Highland bag-pipe of the 15th century, dated MCCCCIX., in the possession of Messrs J. & R. Glen of Edinburgh, was exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition in London in 1890[11](see fig. 1 (4)). There were two drones, inserted in a single stock in the form of a wide-spread fork, and tuned to A in unison with the lowest note of the chaunter, which had seven finger-holes in front and a thumb-hole at the back.
The old Irish Bag-pipe.—Very little is known about this instrument. It is mentioned in the ancient Brehon Laws, said to date from the 5th century (they are cited in compilations of the 10th century), in describing the order of precedence of the king's bodyguard and household in theCrith Gabhlach: "Poets, harpers,pipers, horn-blowers and jugglers have their place in the south-east part of the house."[12]The word used for (bag-) pipers isCuislennaïgh, a word associated with reed instruments (cuiscrigh= reeds; O'Reilly'sIrish-English Dictionary, Dublin, 1864). The old Irish bag-pipe, of which we possess an illustration dated 1581,[13]had a long conical chaunter with a bell and apparently seven holes in front and a thumb-hole behind; there were two drones of different lengths—one very long—both set in the same stock. It is exceedingly difficult to procure any accurate information concerning the development of the bag-pipe in Ireland until it assumed the present form, known as the union-pipes, which belong to Class II.
Notation: Gros bourdon C2. Petit bourdon C3.Thecornemuseandchalemiewere the bag-pipes in use in France, Italy and the Netherlands before the advent of themusette, to which they bear the same relation as the old Irish bag-pipe does to the union-pipes, or thecornemusaorpivato thesampognaorsurdelinain Italy. Two kinds of cornemuses were known in France during the 16th and 17th centuries, differing in one important structural detail, which affected the timbre of the instruments. Père Marin Mersenne[14]has given a detailed description of these varieties and of the musette, with very clear illustrations of the instruments and all their parts. The cornemuse or chalemie used by shepherds, and as a solo instrument (see fig. 1 (1)), was similar to the Highland bag-pipe; it consisted of a leather bag, inflated by means of a valved blow-pipe; a large drone (gros bourdon) 2½ ft. long included the beating-reed, which measured 2½ in., and was fixed in the stock; the small drone (petit bourdon), 1 ft. in length including a reed 2 in. long, also had a beating-reed and was fixed in the same stock asNotation: C4 C5 or E5.the chaunter. The two drones were tuned to C. The chaunter had a conical bore and a double reed like an oboe, but hidden within the stock; it could be taken out and played separately, when the compass given by the eight holes (seven in front and a thumb-hole) C to C′ could be increased by a third to E, by overblowing the D and E an octave by pressure of the breath and lips on the reed, now taken directly into the mouth. The second kind of cornemuse was played only in concert with a family of instruments known asHautbois de Poitou, a hautbois having the reed enclosed in an air-chamber, just as is the case with the reeds of the bag-pipe. This cornemuse had but one drone which could, like the others, be lengthened for tuning by drawing out the joint; the reed was not a beating-reed but a double reed like that of the chaunter; this constitutes the main difference between the two cornemuses. The chaunter had eight holes, the lowest of which was covered by a key enclosed in a perforated box.
Notation: Drone G1. Chaunter G2 to G3.Sackpfeife or Dudelsack.
Notation: Drone C2. Chaunter B2-C3 to C4.Bock.
TheSackpfeifeorDudelsackof Germany was an instrument of some importance made in no less than five sizes, all described and illustrated by Michael Praetorius.[15]They consist of theGrosser Bockor double-bass bag-pipe, a formidable-looking instrument with a single cylindrical drone of a great length, terminating, as did the chaunter also, in a curved ram's horn (to which the name was due). The chaunter had seven finger-holes and a vent-hole in front, and a thumb-hole at the back. The drone was tuned to G, an octave below the chaunter.
TheBock, of similar construction, was pitched a fourth higher in C.
Notation: Drones B3b F4. Compass of chaunter F4 to F5.Schäferpfeife.
Notation: Drones F4 C5. Compass of chaunter C5 to C6.Hümmelchen.
TheSchäferpfeifehad two drones in B flat and F. Praetorius explains that the upper notes of the chaunter of this sackpfeife had a faulty intonation which could not be corrected owing to the absence of the thumb-hole, usual in all other varieties of the instrument.
TheHümmelchenhad two drones tuned to F and C.
TheDudeyor treble sackpfeife was the smallest of the family, and had three drones tuned to E flat, B flat and E flat, and a chaunter with a compass ranging from F or E flat to C or D.
Notation: Drones E4b B4b E5b. Compass of chaunter F5 to C6 or E5b to D6.
Praetorius also mentions a different kind of sackpfeife he saw in Magdeburg (seeop. cit. Theatrum, pl. v., No. 4), which was somewhat larger than the schäferpfeife and pitched a third lower. There were two chauntersNotation: Drones G3 D4. Compass of chaunter D4 D5.mounted in one stock, each having three holes in front and one for the thumb at the back. The right-hand chaunter sounded the five notes D, E, F, G, A, and the left-hand chaunter, G, A, B, C, D. The performer was thus able to play simple two-part melodies on the Magdeburg bag-pipe. Praetorius mentions in addition the French bag-pipe (musette), similar in pitch to the hümmelchen, but inflated by means of the bellows.
TheCalabrian bag-pipehas a bag of goatskin with the hair left on, and is inflated by means of a blow-pipe. There are two drones and two chaunters, all fixed in one stock. Each chaunter has three or four finger-holes and the right-hand pipe has the fourth covered by a key enclosed in a perforated box; both drones and chaunter have double reeds.
The ancient Greek bag-pipe (seeAskaules), and the Romantibia utricularis, belonged to this class of instrument, inflated by the mouth, but it is not certain that they had drones (see below,History).
II. The second class of instruments, inflated by means of a small bellows worked by the arm, has as prototype themusette(see fig. 1 (3)), which is said to have been evolved during the 15th century;[16]from the end of the 15th century there were always musette players[17]at the French court, and we find the instrument fully developed at the beginning of the 17th century when Mersenne[18]gives a full description of all its parts. The chief characteristic of the musette was a certain rustic Watteau-like grace. The face of the performer was no longer distorted by inflating the bag; for the long cumbersome drones was substituted a short barrel droner, containing the necessary lengths of tubing for four or five drones, reduced to the smallest and most compact form. The bores were pierced longitudinally through the thickness of the wood in parallel channels, communicating with each other in twos or threes and providing the requisite length for each drone. The reeds were double "hautbois" reeds all set in a wooden stock or box within the bag; by means of regulators or slides, calledlayettes, moving up and down in longitudinal grooves round the circumference of the barrel, the lengthNotation: F4 to C6.of the drone pipes could be so regulated that a simple harmonic bass, consisting mainly of the common chord, could be obtained. The chaunter, of narrow cylindrical bore, was also furnished with a double reed and had eleven holes, four of which had keys, giving a compass of twelve notes from F to C. This number of holes was not invariable. After Mersenne's time, Jean Hotteterre (d. 1678), a court musician, belonging to the band known as theMusique de la Grande Écurie,[19]in which he played thedessus de hautbois, introduced certain improvements in the drones of the musette.[20]His son Martin Hotteterre (d. 1712) added a second chaunter to the musette, shorter than the first, to which it was attached instead of being inserted into the stock. The Hotteterre chaunter, known as lepetit chalumeau, had six keys, whereas thegrand chalumeauhad seven, besides eight finger-holes and a vent-hole in the bell. All these keys were actuated by the little finger of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand, which were not required to stop holes on the large chaunter. Thegrandandpetit chalumeauxare figured in detail with keys and holes in a rare and anonymous work by Borjon (or Bourgeon[21]), who gives much interesting information concerning one of the most popular instruments of his day. The bellows, he states, borrowed from the organ, were added to the musette about forty or fifty years before he wrote his treatise. The compass of the improved musette of Hotteterre was as shown:—
Notation: 0:F4 1:G4 2:A4 3:B4 4:C5 5:D5 6:E5 7:F5 8:G5.
the eight holes of the grand chalumeau.
Notation: G4# B4b C5# E5b F5# G5# A5.
the seven keys of the grand chalumeau.
Notation: G5# A5 A5# B5 C6 D6.
the six keys of the petit chalumeau.
The four or five drones were usually tuned thus:
Notation: C3 G3 C4 G4 C5.
The chaunters and drones were pierced with a very narrow cylindrical bore, and double reeds were used throughout, causing them to speak as closed pipes, which accounts for the deep pitch of these relatively short pipes (seeAulos). Martin Hotteterre was hardly the first to introduce the second chaunter for the bag-pipe, sincePraetorius in 1618 figures and describes the Magdeburgsackpfeifewith two chaunters, but without keys and with a conical bore.
Thesurdelinaorsampognais described and illustrated by Mersenne[22]as themusette de Naples; its construction was very complicated. Mersenne states that the instrument was invented by Jean Baptiste Riva (who was living in Paris in 1620), Dom Julio and Vincenze; but Mersenne seems to have made alterations himself in the original instrument, which are not very clearly explained. There were two chaunters with narrow cylindrical bore and having both finger-holes and keys; and two drones each having ten keys. The four pipes were fixed in the same stock, and double reeds were used throughout; the bag was inflated by means of bellows. Passenti of Venice published a collection of melodies for the zampogna in 1628, under the title ofCanora Zampogna.
The modernLowland bag-pipediffers from the Highland bag-pipe mainly in that it is blown by bellows instead of by the mouth.
TheNorthumbrianorBorder bag-pipe, also blown by means of bellows, is chiefly distinguished by having a chaunter stopped at the lower end so that when all the holes are closed, the pipe is silent. There are seven finger-holes, one for the thumb, and a varying number of keys. The four drones are fixed in one stock and are tuned by means of stoppers, so that, as in the musette, any one of them may be silenced. A fine Northumbrian bag-pipe[23]from the collection of the Rev. F. W. Galpin is illustrated (fig. 1. (5)).
The union pipes of the 18th century, or modernIrish bag-pipe, blown by bellows (see fig. 1. (2)), had one chaunter with seven finger-holes, one thumb-hole and eight keys, which together gave the chromatic scale in two octaves. The drones were tuned to A in different octaves, and three regulators or drones with keys, played by the elbow, produced a kind of harmony; the regulators correspond to the sliders on the drone-barrel of the musette.
History of the Bag-pipe.—There is reason to believe that the origin of the bag-pipe must be sought in remote antiquity. No instrument in any degree similar to it is represented on any of the monuments of Egypt or Assyria known at the present day; we are, nevertheless, able to trace it in ancient Persia and by inference in Egypt, in Chaldaea and in ancient Greece. The most characteristic feature of the bag-pipe is not the obvious bag or air-reservoir from which the instrument derives its name in most languages, but the fixed harmony of the buzzing drones. The principle of the drone,i.e.the beating-reed sunk some three inches down the pipe, was known to the ancient Egyptians. In a pipe discovered in a mummy-case and now in the museum at Turin, was found a straw beating-reed in position. The arghoul (q.v.), a modern Egyptian instrument, possesses the characteristic feature of drone and chaunter without the bag. The same instrument occurs once in the hieroglyphs, being soundedas-it, and once on a mural painting preserved in the Musée Guimet and reproduced by Victor Loret.[24]During Jacques de Morgan's excavations in Persia some terracotta figures of musicians, dating from the 8th centuryB.C., were discovered in atell(mound) at Susa,[25]two of which appear to be playing bag-pipes; the chaunter, curved in the shape of a hook from the stock, is clearly visible, the bag under the arm is indicated, and the lips are pursed as if in the act of blowing, but the insufflation tube is absent; a round hole in one of the figures suggests its presence formerly.
Among the names of musical instruments in Daniel iii. 5 and 15, the sixth, generally but wrongly rendered "dulcimer," is thought by many scholars to signify a kind of bag-pipe (see commentaries onDanieland the theological encyc.). This belief is based on the supposition that the Aramaicsumpōnyāis a loan-word from the Greek, being a mispronunciation ofσυμφονία. The argument is, however, exceedingly weak. In the first place, the date of the book of Daniel is matter of controversy, hingeing partly on precisely such questions as the true significance and derivation ofsumpōnyā. Second, it is possible that the wordsumpōnyāis a late interpolation. Third, its exact form is uncertain; in verse 10,sippōnyāis used of the same instrument, suggesting a derivation from the Gr.σίφον(tube or pipe). Fourth, even ifσυμφονίαis the source of the word, there is very little evidence that it was used for any particular instrument. The original natural sense ofσυμφονίαis "concord of sound," "a concordant interval," and the evidence of its use for a particular instrument is of the 2nd centuryB.C., and, even so, very slight. Only one passage (Polyb. xxvi. 10. 5) really bears on the question, and there the translation of the word depends on a context the reading of which is uncertain (seeSymphonia). It is, however, curious that the bag-pipe was known in Italy and Spain during the middle ages, the two countries through which Eastern culture was introduced into Europe, by the name ofzampognaorsampogna, which strongly recall the Chaldaeansumpōnyā; and further that in the same countries the wordsinfoniashould be coexistent withzampognaand have the original meaning attached to the classicalσυμφονία, "a concord of sound." A single passage only in Dion Chrysostom (seeAskaules) is enough to prove that the instrument was known in Greece inA.D.100.[26]The Greeks had undoubtedly received some kind of bag-pipe from Egypt (in the form of theas-it), or from Chaldaea, but it remained a rustic instrument used only by shepherds and peasants. This conclusion is supported by allusions in Aristophanes and in Plato'sCrito, which undoubtedly refer to the drone: "This, dear Crito, is the voice which I seem to hear murmuring in my ears like the sound of the flute (aulos) in the ears of the mystic; that voice, I say, is humming in my ears."[27]Aristophanes, in his playThe Acharnians, indulges in a flight of satire at the expense of the musical Boeotians, by making a band of Theban pipers play a Boeotian merchant and his slave into town. The musicians are dubbed "bumblebee pipers" (βομβαύλιοι, l. 866) by the exasperated inhabitants. The verb used here for "blowing" isφυσᾶν, the very word applied to blowing or inflating the bellows (φῦσα), and not the usual verbαὐλεῖν, to play the aulos. Another instrument, mentioned by Aristophanes inLysistrata(ll. 1242 and 1245), which was probably a kind of bag-pipe, is also derived fromφῦσα,i.e.physallis, the "concrete,"[28]andphysateria[29]the "collective"[28]form of the instrument. We leave the realm of inference for that of certainty when we reach the reign of Nero, who had a passion for theHydraulus(seeOrgan:History) and thetibia utricularis.[30]That the bag-pipe was introduced by the Romans into the British Isles is a conclusion supported by the discovery in the foundations of the praetorian camp at Richborough of a small bronze figure of a Roman soldier playing the tibia utricularis. The Rev. Stephen Weston, who made a communication on the subject toArchaeologia,[31]points out further the interesting fact in connexion with the instrument, that the Romans had instituted colleges for training pipers on the bag-pipe, a practice followed in the Highlands in the 18th century and notably in Skye. Gruterus[32]mentions among the fraternities aCorpus et Collegium Utriculariorum, and Spon[33]also quotes theCollegio Utricular. The bag-pipe in question appears to have two drones in front pointing towards the right shoulder, and although no chaunter is shown in the design, both hands are held in correct positions over the spot where it ought to be; it may have been broken off. The bronze figure has been reproduced from drawings by Edward King in three positions.[34]The statement made by several writers on music that a bag-pipe is represented on a contorniate of Nero is erroneous, as a verification of certain references will show.[35]The error is due in the first place toMontfaucon, who misunderstood the explanation of Bianchini's drawing which he reproduced. The contorniate referred to is one containing the hydraulic organ, and the legendLaurentinus Aug., but no bag-pipe. Bianchini gives a drawing of a bag-pipe with two long drones, which, he says, was copied from a marble relief over the gateway of the palace of the prince of Santa Croce in Rome, near the church of San Carlo ad Catinarios. If the drawing be accurate and the sculpture of classical Roman period, it would corroborate the details of the instrument held by the little bronze figure of the Roman soldier.
From England the bag-pipe spread to Caledonia and Ireland, where it took root, identifying itself with the life of the people, as a military instrument held in great esteem by the Celtic races. The bag-pipe was used at weddings and funerals, and at all festivals; to lighten labour, during the 18th century, as for instance in Skye, in 1786, when the inhabitants were engaged in roadmaking, and each party of labourers had its bag-piper. It was used in old mysteries at Coventry in 1534. Readers who wish to follow closely the history of the bag-pipe in the British Isles should consult Sir John Graham Dalyell'sMusical Memoirs of Scotland(London, 1849, with illustrative plates).