The Stock-And-Horn. by Lyndesay G. Langwill, C.A
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THE STOCK-AND-HORN. BY LYNDESA . LANGWILLYG , C.A., HoN.F.T.C.L. Read November 13, 1950. The stock-and-horn represent a vanishes d type of eighteenth-century pastoral pipe which appears to have led at most a shadowy existence in the southern half of Scotland, though Burns * mentions a specimen he obtained e Braer nortth frofa f Athole s o ss ha m a t presentI . problea s e th mo t musicologist in that, while it closely resembled the practice-chanter (i.e. the melody pipe of the bagpipe, divested of blowpipe, bag and drones), a surviv- ing specime utmose th f o literaturetd ns i raritan referencet d yar an n i t i o st e equallar y write e rareTh .r e Scottisissueth o dt h pres Juln i s y 1934a short letter describin e instrumength askind informee b an y t o an gt f o d surviving specimens. Althoug lettee accordehs th rwa d fairly wide publicity, no specime reporteds nwa . To understand the instrument, we must first consider its near relative the hornpipe, for the stock-and-horn is a hybrid between the hornpipe and bagpipe-chantere th . The hornpip s representei e e n BritaiWelsi dth y hb n pibgorn a which appear a stained-glas n i s s windo e Beauchamth f wo p Chapel t Mary'sS , , Warwick, temp. ca. 1443,3 and is mentioned at Oxford in 1448,* but became obsolete durin eighteente gth h centur ycylindrica A (fig . .1) l tub elderf eo - wood or bone (e.g. the tibia of a deer) was hollowed and perforated with six 1 Burns' Letters, 19th November 1794. s "Some AccounMusicao Tw f o lt Instruments use Wales, n di Hone th y . b "Dame s Barringtonn i , Archceologia, vol. iii. (London, 1775), pp. 30-34, and pi. vii. 8 "Notes on the Musical Instruments figured in the Windows of the Beauchamp Chapel, St Mary's, Warwick, Williay "b m Bentley Transactionsn i , Birminghame oth f Archceological Society, vol. liii. (1928), pp. 167-72. Anstey'n I ' s Munimenta Academica t Oxford—a " Inventor Symof yo n Beryngton, Scholar, 1448, Item-TJnum Hornpipe." 174 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , 1949-50. thumb-hola finger-holed an p fittes to elowee n wa da o sbelowth d o en r T . '' bell'' consistin pieca f ghorf o eo n with serrate uppee th d o redget endd ,an , servin smala s greservoirr a lai similaa , r piec hornf e o t wit bu , h smooth edge within which the lips were pressed to set in vibration a small cylindrical beating-reed inserted in the upper end of the tube. The total length was abou scal e inches6 th 1 t e d producean , thas ff do wa tmajor . Only three original pibgorns appear to survive, and of these two are preserved in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.1 One bears the date 1701.2 The third Museue th Societe n i th s f mi o Antiquariesf yo , London. Fig. 1. [From Archteologia, I (1775)II , pi. 7 . stock-and-hore Th n retaine reede dtubth e th ,woof ee o boner th d o d an , horn bell-mouth of the pibgorn, but in other respects displayed local vari- ation s; e.g. Burns' specimen from Perthshir mouthpieceo n d eha oatee ,th n reed being held in the lips. When present, the mouthpiece consisted of an elongated wooden capsule fitted to the upper end of the tube into which the single reed was inserted and was consequently covered—as in the modern bagpipe practice-chanter, in which, however, a double reed is now employed. 1 "Welsh Musical Instruments, Peate. C D y . "Man,I rb n i , 1947 wit, 17 ,h illustrations. 2 Unti yeae lth r 180 Wynr 0M Penhesceddf no , Anglesey, gav annuan ea l bese prizth t o eperformet r hornpipee onth . THE STOCK-AND-HORN. 175 r onlSo originafa o ytw l specimen e stock-and-horth f o s n have been traced, and both are the work of skilled craftsmanship. The first belonged to Charles Keene, the Punch artist, and is now preserved in the Library of the Royal College of Music, London. It has a cylindrical tube of wood pierced by seven finger-holes and one thumb-hole. The lower end terminates in a short bel naturaf o l l uppehorne Th .r end, into which woul insertee db da single reed (no a doublt e ree s showa d n here) s coverei , a woode y b d n capsxile like that of the practice-chanter. The total length is 21 inches. The other and probably unique example is that preserved in the National Museu Antiquitief mo narroa Scotlandf so s ha w t I "stock. ebonyf "o a , double bore—eac n diametehi inche. 9 bor f 5d o e^mm san r long—and pierced with seven finger-holes and a thumb-hole so arranged in pairs that eac e thumh th finge d ban ropen r close o sholeo tw st latoncee a s eTh . Canon F. W. Galpin, the noted English musicologist, has observed that the object of the double bore appears to have been the production of a strong beating tone from mistuned consonances , e Egyptiapreciselth n i s nya zummarah or double reed-pipe of to-day in which single-beating reeds are employed. The scale is from f to g", and the total length 22 inches. Both these instrument e decoratear s d with band f ivoro s y betweee th n finger-holes, and might be the work of the same individual. The reed-cap Edinburge oth f h specime inche7 s ni roughls i lond gan y carved witha thistle device and the letters "J.A." The horn "bell" is 6^ inches long and 2-J- inches in diameter at the mouth. Nothing is known of its origin beyond the fact that this stock-and-horn was in the collection of Scottish antiquities presente e Trusteeth y b df Jame o s s Drummond, R.S.A.n i , 1877. Canon Galpin had a facsimile of the Edinburgh specimen made for his private collection, and he exhibited it, with a facsimile pibgorn, at the International Music Exhibition, 1900, and again at the Music Loan Exhibition, 1904. In 1916 the facsimiles, with his collection of 564 instru- ments, passed inte possessiooth e Museuth f o n f Finmo e Arts, Boston, U.S.A.1 stock-and-hore th o t s i t I n that Lady Grizel Baillie (1665-1746) probably pastorar referhe n i s l '' Absence ": 2 "Oh, the ewe-buchtin's bonnie, baith e'ening and morn When our blithe shepherds play on the bog-reed and horn; 3 While we're milking, they're lilting, baith pleasan cleard an t . Heart'y m t sBu lik breao et k whe dear y nI thin m .n ko 1 Ancient Musical Instruments, by N. Bessaraboff, being Catalogue of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A., 1941. The facsimiles are accurately described under Nos. 90 and 89 and depicted in pi. I. 2 Songs of Scotland prior to Burns, edited by R. Chambers (1862), p. 313. 3 Bag-reed occurs as an alternative reading, but, if hyphenated, is meaningless, and bog-reed in association with horn strongly suggest reed-blowe sth n stock-and-horn. 176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1949-50. Ohshepherde th , s take pleasur horne bloo eth t n w,o To raise up their flocks o' sheep soon i' the morn, On the bonnie green banks they feed pleasant and free, But, alas deay m , r sighing'y heartm l thee!al r , sfo " Ritson in his Historical Essay on Scottish Songs (London, 1794) includes several vignettes, and states * that these were executed by David Allan (1744—96). Chambers s editioSongse hi Th n i ,f no of Scotland prior Burnso t (1862), reproduces severa f Allan'o l s vignettes from Ritson's Essayd an remarks tha earle tth y eighteenth centur tima s poeticaf eo y wa l geniud san Pig. 2. Vignett Daviy eb d Alla title-pagn no Ritson'f eo s Essay Scottishn o Songs (1794). of idealisatio hard-workine th lif e f eth o f no g peasantry, portraying thems a "shepherds with damoselspipey crookd co san d san , seated among purling brook d shadan s y groves. e frontispiecTh " 2 o eact e f Ritson'o h o tw s volume vignette th s si e here show foue Th nr line (fig. 2) .s belo froe war m Horace.3 Ritson refer s readere eleganhi sth o t s t e GentleeditioTh f o n Shepherd (1788), in which a stock-and-horn appears under David Allan's engraving of Allan Ramsay (1685-1758) wit hmaska leacrooa a , f d o f kan music similaA .t onlbu r y partially visible representation appears above the poet in the frontispiece to the 1808 edition. The stock-and-horn is thus described in Notes to Dr Pennecuik's Descrip- tion of Tweeddole: 4 1 P. CXTU, footnote 120. a Songs of Scotland prior to Burns, p. 338. 3 Odes, Book IV, No. xii. * It should be noted that although :Dr Pennecuik's work dates from 1715, the Notes are of much later date, being partl Armstrony yb 177 n gpartli d 5an Pindlatey yb 1802n ri . 7 E 17 STOCK-AND-HORNTH .