Miniature Zampogna

The zampogna is a bagpipe found in mountainous regions across Central and Southern Italy, including Sicily. It varies in size, tuning style, and local repertoire but always features two unequal divergent melodic pipes (Baines 1963:95) tuned in either octaves or thirds, and depending on region, anywhere from zero to three drones, most commonly having two drones playing octaves of the dominant (fifth) note of the scale. Melodic pipes are conical and drones consist of two cylindrical parts, the lower of which is wider than the higher section. The melodic pipes and drones are traditionally fitted with double reeds. The surdulina, found in northern Calabria and southern Basilicata, has a slightly different sent up with cylindrical bores and the use of single reeds. Each chanter is played by one hand, with the bass chanter creating a rhythmic/bass accompaniment to the more melodic fingering of the melody chanter. The name ‘zampogna’ most likely derives from the Latin ‘symphonia’ and became a standard name for the bagpipes in Italy from the 15th century onward (Vereno 2022:74).



The zampogna was traditionally played by shepherds and is still used for a variety of cultural practices, devotional and secular. In the Lucania region and parts of Calabria and the Abbruzzi they are often played in a duo formation with a ciaramella/piffero, a double reeded shawm. This duo has become emblematic of the Christmas season, where traditionally dressed pipers walk from village to village playing the ‘novena’, a form of devotional music (Scaldaferri 2022). Zampogna players have secular and religious repertoires. The former is used for the novena and devotional processions, while the latter are used to accompany dancing and singing.



This miniature zampogna would most likely have been part of a crèche, a large nativity scene that was installed in churches and in private homes during the Christmas Period. The practice reached a peak in eighteenth-century Naples, and the Metropolitan Museum owns one of largest and most complete forms of this art. This zampogna would probably have been associated with a shepherd and other peasant musicians. The bagpipe is representative of the large zampogne that were played in the Lazio and Campania regions at the time, and is a relatively accurate reproduction of the instrument, right down to a miniature leather bag.

This instrument is understood to have come from Eugène de Bricqueville’s collection in Versailles, France, although no direct evidence allows us to confirm this provenance. However, its passage through France is plausible, as Southern Italian zampogna players were often found busking on the streets of nineteenth century Paris (Matthews 2011), bringing their music and traditions with them.



(Cassandre Balosso-Bardin and David Marker, 2023)





Technical description

2 conical melodic pipes of wood, R. 55 mm, 3/0 holes; L 176 mm, 3/0 holes;

2 drones both in 1 section, 70 mm, 93 mm;

No blowpipe;

Very thin leather bag;

Single wooden cylindrical stock for all 4 pipes, the pipes and stock with turned grooving.

References

Baines, Anthony, 1960. Bagpipes. Oxford: Oxford University Press



Matthews, Clive, 2011. ‘The invasion of the zampognari’. In Chanter, Winter.


Scaldaferri, Nicola, 2022. ‘The Bagpipes in the Mount Pollino Area (Southern Italy): Morphology and Musical Repertoires.’ In　Playing Multipart Music: Solo and Ensemble Traditions in Europe: European Voices IV. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag. pp. 71-93

Vereno, Michael Peter, 2021. The Voice of the Wind: A Linguistic History of Bagpipes. Lincoln: International Bagpipe Ogranisation