Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive

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27 eSTABlIShMenT OF ‘UnIOn PIPeS’ howard was for a time a close companion of ‘Prinny’, the dissolute Prince of Wales and Prince regent who would become King george IV. Courtney also was a favourite of the prince, and of his father george III. In 1792 at a meeting and dinner of some five hundred of the Free and Accepted Masons in their hall at lincoln’s Inn Fields the Prince of Wales, the grand Master, was in the chair, and afterwards ‘Courtney, on the Union Pipes, and Wiepert, on the harp, added to the entertainment of the day...’. 69 In 1793 it was claimed that ‘his royal highness the Prince of Wales has often commanded him to attend his parties’. 70 In a 1794 royal Command performance of a show in which he played, it was reported that ‘Courtenay, with the charming music of the Union Pipes, seemed to afford uncommon satisfaction to the royal Box’. 71 Courtney did not however spend all his time in aristocratic service: ‘Courtenay, the celebrated Union Piper... was a choice spirit, and would sooner play on his pipes to amuse his poor countrymen, than gratify the wishes of noblemen, although handsomely paid for it’. 72 Courtney’s establishing of the bagpipes as an instrument acceptable to fashionable london audiences may have contributed to the first stage appearance of a Scottish highland piper there later in 1788. The highland Society of london, as well as having the Scottish mouth-blown highland bagpipes played privately at its own london functions, had 69 The Diary or Woodfall’s Register, london, 4 May 1792. 70 Hibernian Journal, Dublin, 4 Jan. 1793. 71 The World, london, 11 Feb. 1794. 72 egan 1820: 142–3. The implication that Courtney would have had a familiar Irish traditional repertory for this audience is borne out by his later introduction of such music into his stage performances as below. It is likely that Courtney also played for dancers on these occasions, that being then a primary function of an Irish piper. This and other references give the impression that Courtney was himself of humble birth.
COUrTney’S ‘UnIOn PIPeS’ AnD The TerMInOlOgy OF IrISh BellOWS-BlOWn BAgPIPeS 28 been supporting the highland pipes since 1781 by organising annual piping competitions and offering prizes. These had been held to date in Falkirk and edinburgh, 73 but now Mr. neal M’lean, piper to the Society in london and a prizewinner in their 1783 competitions, 74 was advertised to appear for one night only at Sadler’s Wells theatre on 10 September 1788. he would take part in an Ossian-inspired pantomime entertainment entitled The Witch of the Lakes; or, Harlequin in the Hebrides. There would be introduced ‘A new Scotch reel; accompanied on the Bagpipes, in character’, and M’lean would ‘entertain the Audience with a Pibroch on the Prize Pipes, descriptive of a highland Battle’. 75 In time Denis Courtney would have an outstanding success in a similar london- Scottish Ossianic pantomime entertainment. Courtney next appears in print – ‘Concerto Union Pipes, Mr. Courtney’ – at a benefit in March 1789 in the Free Masons’ hall for the singer Miss leary, who had featured in his own initial benefit almost a year earlier. 76 Thereafter he again disappears from view until he has three engagements as ‘Courtney piper’ with the highland Society of london in March, April and May 1790. 77 his relationship with the Society continued: he played for them again in January 1791 as ‘D. Courtney Irish Piper’, and in February of the same year as ‘Dennis Courtney’ in company with a ‘Jms Macdonald’, 78 who was doubtless James McDonnell, an Irish professional bellows piper famous in Cork since the 1770s, and also later active in Scotland and london. 79 In April 1791 Courtney publishes a preliminary notice of a concert and ball to be given for his benefit: 73 Manson 1901: 389. 74 Manson 1901: 388. 75 Gazeteer and New Daily Advertiser, london, 8 Sept. 1788. 76 Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, london, 25 Mar. 1789. 77 nlS MS highland Society of london Dep. 268/34. 78 Ibid. 79 See below.
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Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive

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