BAG-PIPE, a complex reed instrument of great antiquity. The bag-pipe forms the link between the syrinx (q.v.) and the primitive organ, by furnishing the principle of a reservoir for the wind-supply, combined with a simple method of regulating this air pressure by means of the arm of the performer. The instru ment consists of an air-tight leather bag having three to five apertures, each of which contains a fixed stock or short tube. The stocks act as sockets for the reception of the pipes, and as air chambers for the accommodation and protection of the reeds. The pipes are of three kinds: (1) a simple valved insufflation tube or "blow-pipe," by means of which the performer fills the bag reservoir; (2) the "chaunter" (chanter) or the melody-pipe, having according to the variety of the bag-pipe a conical or a cylindrical bore, lateral holes, in some cases keys and a bell, and a double-reed; (3) the "drones," jointed pipes with cylindrical bore, generally terminating in a bell, but having no lateral holes and being capable, therefore, of producing but one fixed note.
The drone ground bass which sounds without intermission is the main characteristic of the bag-pipe whose numerous varieties fall into two classes according to the method of inflating the bag : (I) by the breath of the performer using the blow-pipe described above; (2) by means of a small bellows connected by a valved feed-pipe with the bag and worked by the other arm or elbow to which it is attached by a ribbon or strap. Class I comprises the Highland bagpipe; the old Irish bagpipe; the cornemuse; the Sackpfeife or Dudelsack; the bignou or biniou (Breton bag pipe) ; the Calabrian bag-pipe; the ascaulus of the Greeks and Romans ; the tibia utricularis; and the chorus. To class II. be long the musette; the Northum brian or border bag-pipe; the Lowland bag-pipe; the union pipes of Ireland ; and the surde lina of Naples.
The origin of the bag-pipe must be sought in remote antiquity. It is true that no instrument in any degree similar to it is repre sented on any of the monuments of Egypt or Assyria known at the present day ; but we are able nevertheless to trace it in ancient Persia and by inference in Egypt, in Chaldaea and in ancient Greece. The principle of the drone, i.e., the beating-reed sunk some three inches down the pipe, was known to the ancient Egyp tians, and the instrument was known in Greece in A.D. Ioo. The latter fact is supported by allusions in Aristophanes and in Plato's Crito.
We leave the realm of inference for that of certainty when we reach the reign of Nero, who had a passion for the Hydraulus (see ORGAN : History) and the tibia utricularis. That the bag pipe was introduced by the Romans into the British Isles is a conclusion supported by the discovery in the foundations of the praetorian camp at Richborough of a small bronze figure of a Roman soldier playing the tibia utricularis.
From England the bag-pipe spread to Caledonia and Ireland, where it took root, identifying itself with the life of the people, and becoming a military instrument held in great esteem by the Celtic races. On the downfall of the Roman empire, the bag-pipe, sharing the fate of other instruments, probably lingered for a time among itinerant musicians, actors, jugglers, etc., reappearing later in primitive guise with the stamp of naivete which characterizes the productions of the early middle ages, and with a new name, chorus (q.v.). From the 13th century, however, the bag-pipe became a court instrument played by minnesingers and troubadours as seen in literature and in the mss. and monuments.
As regards the musette it originated in France, among the courtiers and elegant world, turning from the pomps and luxuries of court life to an artificial admiration and cult of nature, ideal ized to harmonize with silks and satins. The cornemuse of shepherds and rustic swains became the fashionable instrument, but as inflating the bag by the breath was an ungraceful procedure the bellows were substituted, and the whole instrument was refined in appearance and tone-quality to fit it for its more exalted posi tion. Lully introduced the musette into his operas, and in 1758 the list of instruments forming the orchestra at the Opera included one.