Union Pipes - Irish Traditional Music Archive

29
eSTABlIShMenT OF ‘UnIOn PIPeS’
Mr. Courtenay, Performer on the Union Pipes, begs leave to inform his
Friends and the Public, that his Benefit is fixed for Thursday, the 12th
of May, at the great room, the Crown and Anchor, in the Strand; where
will be a grand concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music. After the
concert will be a Ball. 80
The Crown and Anchor was a popular london meeting and dining
venue with one of the largest rooms in the city, capable of seating
2,000. 81 It was not as prestigious as the Free Mason’s hall of his
debut, and the tickets were cheaper, but longman and Broderip are
still in support and he is still living at 1 york Street. 82 A report of a
masquerade held the following month in the london pleasure gardens
at ranelagh suggests something of Courtney’s current lifestyle. One
of the masqueraders appears in the character of ‘Courtnay and his
bag-pipes, as tipsey as any piper need be’. 83 Another report of the
same occasion however simply lists the character as ‘Mr. Courtenay,
the performer on the Union Pipes’. 84 Both reports furnish evidence
that he had become a noted figure on the fashionable london scene. 85
By this time Courtney had begun to make guest appearances in the
intervals of theatrical presentations at leading london venues: at, for
instance, a performance of Love in a Village starring the well known
actor and singer Mr. Incledon at the Theatre royal, Covent garden:
80
The World, london, 27 Apr. 1791.
81
See Parolin 2010: 112–3.
82
The World, london, 27 Apr. 1791.
83
The World, london, 4 May 1791.
84
Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, london, 4 May 1791.
85
It would seem that the character of Courtney became a standard feature of
masquerades: ‘Courtenay, with his bag-pipes, attracted as usual much notice.’
(London Chronicle, 14–16 Feb. 1792). From another report of this occasion, it
seems that he was represented in his stage persona as a ‘highland piper’
(Morning Herald, london, 16 Feb. 1792).