Cornemuse

This bagpipe is from the Centre of France. The parallel melodic pipe and tenor drone, inserted in a common rectangular stock, and the additional bass drone, are typical of bagpipes found in the Bourbonnais and Basse-Auvergne regions. These instruments were commonly played in the nineteenth century and are still played today in France thanks to a revival movement in the 1970s and 1980s.


Interestingly, this bagpipe has two mute drones: the lower sections of the bass drone are unbored and the lower section of the tenor drone is plugged. However, the lower left hole for the pinky finger is blocked with wax, leaving the right hole open, indicating that the player would have played with the right hand at the bottom of the instrument. In addition, the insufflation pipe is fitted with a leather flapper valve, which suggests that this instrument was played. Playing with muted drones was common in 19th century France and would not have been an unusual occurrence. This instrument is missing a bag, and is only fitted with a red velvet bag cover, trimmed with golden galloon, and adorned with a large green ribbon. The absence of a leather bag suggests that the cover might have been added later in order to sell the instrument.


Bernard Blanc suggested that this instrument may have been made by Dechaud (1987). Indeed, instruments by Dechaud sometimes had muted bass drones, that were not bored along their full length (Chassaing 1982:98). The muted bass drone, however, follows the shape of a normally bored drone and is decorated with the same care. The external shape of this bass drone is strikingly similar to an identified Dechaud bagpipe (Chassaing 2015:27), and the insufflation pipe is also of a similar shape. As such, it is possible to tentatively identify the maker of this bagpipe as Jean Dechaud from Commentry, in the Allier, France. Dechaud (1829-1904) made bagpipes that were used in the Bourbonnais area as well as near Montluçon and in the Creuse (Chassaing 2015:26).


(Cassandre Balosso-Bardin, 2023)


Technical Description
Conical single chanter of ebony (?) 446 mm including tenon, 7/1 holes, lowest fingerhole doubled, 2 ventholes, reed missing (probably double cane reed on metal staple);

Bass drone in 3 sections 713 mm, tenor drone in 2 sections 332 mm, both drones unworkable, the upper and lower sections of bass unbored, the lower section of tenor plugged, reeds missing;

Ebony (?) insufflation pipe 169 mm with ivory mouthpiece and mount, leather flapper valve;

Fake bag of burlap with red velvet, gold-trimmed cover, green satin ribbon near chanter stock both drones mounted with ivory and ebony, stocks mounted with horn, chanter mounted with ivory;

Drone sections of unmatched wood.


References

Bernard Blanc, 1987. Notes in instrument file #89.4.856, September 24, 1987. Musical Instrument Department Archive, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.


Chassaing, Jean-François, 2015. Béchonnet et les cornemuses en France. Jenzat　: Centre de Recherche sur les musiques traditionnelles


Chassaing, Jean-François, 1982. La tradition de cornemuse en Basse-Auvergne et sud-Bourbonnais. Moulins: Ipomée.