Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive

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37 COURTNEY’S ‘UNION PIPES’ AND THE TERMINOLOGY OF IRISH BELLOWS-BLOWN BAGPIPES The country in which Courtney had arrived was in a state of increasing political and sectarian tension which would result before the end of the decade in armed rebellion and parliamentary union with Britain. Its Protestant ascendancy parliament was continuing its efforts to become a sovereign assembly free from Westminster control, at the same time as a Catholic Committee was in London suing for relief from legislative disabilities suffered by Catholics. Animated by the example of the French Revolution, radicals were secretly contemplating violent separation from Britain; Courtney’s six months in Ireland would see a government crackdown on the United Irishmen movement in Dublin and Belfast. But native instrumental music and song had been providing one of several temporary cultural bridges between Protestants and Catholics since the 1780s; just six months earlier, in July 1792 (to coincide with the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille) the Belfast Harp Festival had been held in an effort to preserve the threatened harp tradition. As one classical instrument of Irish traditional music was slowly disappearing after being in use for the best part of a thousand years, another was finally coming into its own in the capital city with maximum publicity after a hundred years of obscure development. A fanfare notice for Courtney’s Dublin debut on 4 January, headed ‘National Music’, seems to imply that Irish rather than Scottish music will be heard, but without actually saying so: National Music. The celebrated Courtney, whose superior character, unrivalled abilities, and uncommon execution on the Union Pipes are so well known to every person of taste in the three kingdoms, makes his first appearance this evening in the dramatic Pantomime of Oscar and Malvina... 106 Owenson, an Irish-speaking singer from Mayo and father of the future novelist and harpist Sidney Owenson, Lady Morgan. 106 Saunder’s News-Letter, Dublin, 4 Jan. 1793.
COURTNEY’S ‘UNION PIPES’ AND THE TERMINOLOGY OF IRISH BELLOWS-BLOWN BAGPIPES 38 Another notice of the same date was even more effusive and emphasised the national angle more strongly, while touching on the contemporary antiquarian interest in older music: The musical amateur, the man of refined taste, and the admirer of ancient music, will this evening gratify their feelings beyond their most sanguine expectations by the unrivalled performance of the celebrated Courtney on our favourite national instrument, the Union Pipes... 107 A management advertisement speaks of ‘The Bagpipes by Mr. Courtney from the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, his first Appointment’. 108 It is noticeable that his Irish management, unlike his London promoters, frequently advertise him as playing ‘bagpipes’. Since it was, as said, ‘our favourite national instrument’, there was no need to camouflage it in Dublin as there had been in London, but rather it was a good business move to draw attention to its national familiarity. On the other hand the new and fashionable London term for the pipes is also employed, although not the piper’s London stage name. Courtney was once again an undoubted hit: a review speaks of ‘the engaging novel[t]y of C’s superior performance on the union pipes, a novelty sufficient of itself to fill a house, for he has to boast the admiration of all the best judges in London for his masterly execution, his delicacy yet power of tone, and for his affecting manner on that instrument.’ 109 Another states that ‘Courtney, the celebrate[d] performer on the Bagpipes... has brought full houses... nothing can exceed the fineness of his tones, and the extent and variety of them could not be surpassed... on any instrument’. 110 Yet another says 107 Hibernian Journal, Dublin, 4 Jan. 1793. 108 Hibernian Journal, Dublin, 7 Jan. 1793. 109 Hibernian Journal, Dublin, 7 Jan. 1793. 110 Dublin Evening Post, Dublin, 8 Jan. 1793.
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Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive

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