Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive
Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive
Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive
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COURTNEY’S ‘UNION PIPES’ AND THE TERMINOLOGY OF IRISH BELLOWS-BLOWN BAGPIPES 40<br />
Courtenay. Performer on the <strong>Union</strong> <strong>Pipes</strong>, most respectfully<br />
informs the Nobility and the Gentry, that his engagement with Mr.<br />
Daly is expired; and, for the short time he has to stay in this<br />
kingdom, will thankfully receive commands at No. 15, Trinitystreet.<br />
117<br />
He was probably successful in receiving private engagements: it is<br />
the end of April 1793 before he is back on the Dublin stage, and no<br />
evidence has been found that he performed publicly in Cork,<br />
Limerick or Kilkenny in the interim. In May the Dublin music<br />
publisher Hime is advertising among the ‘New <strong>Music</strong>... Just<br />
published... The fashionable Songs and Airs as played by Mr.<br />
Courtney on the <strong>Union</strong> <strong>Pipes</strong> in Oscar and Malvina’. 118 <strong>Music</strong> from<br />
the show was also published in Dublin by John Lee. 119<br />
Illustration on following page:<br />
As published in Dublin, during Denis Courtney’s visit there, January–July 1793<br />
(courtesy National Library of Ireland)<br />
117<br />
Saunder’s News-Letter, Dublin, 9 Mar. 1793. Trinity Street is in south central<br />
Dublin, close to the then <strong>Irish</strong> parliament buildings and to the Theatre Royal in<br />
Crow St, and would have been a fashionable address. It is noticeable that<br />
Courtney’s stage name and the new term for his instrument is being used here in<br />
an advertisement presumably inserted by himself rather than by Daly.<br />
118<br />
Freeman’s Journal, Dublin, 4 May 1793. Undated copies of the Hime sheet<br />
music are in the NLI: Rondo and Favorite Airs as Performed by Mr Courtney<br />
(JM 2832, JM 2833, Add. Mus. 7027 with a song from Oscar and Malvina on<br />
the reverse of the single sheet). Hime similarly published Three Favorite<br />
Marches in Oscar and Malvina (JM 2832) and various songs from the show,<br />
and included tunes from it in Hime’s Pocket Book for the German Flute or<br />
Violin (JM 5474)<br />
119<br />
An undated single sheet was published by John Lee: The Favourite Airs in<br />
Oscar & Malvina Performed by Mr. Courtney (NLI Additional <strong>Music</strong> 12,401).