the Pipe and Tabor compendium

the Pipe and Tabor compendium

essays on the three-hole pipe

England: Over one century of the panpipes and tabor

Pandean pipes history - Regency (1790 - 1829)

All these images are copyright.
The majority are extracts from larger pictures and prints. Links to originals are given, where possible. If you have any more information on any of these images, or you are the copyright holder and I have not managed to get in touch with you, please do let me know.

 
Pandean Pipes gallery - Regency
Both women and men are shown in contemporary illustrations playing the pan-pipes; the drum is played either horizontally or vertically. Pan-pipes were known as pandean pipes or mouth-organ
at this time.
   
1791 Vauxhall at Harrogate newspaper advertisement [detail] 1791
John Durang (1768–1822) USA multi-talented performer.
   

1801 Royalty Theatre, Wells Street, Goodman’s Fields
‘In the course of the Pasticcio, and for the first time in this kingdom,
Signor Allegretti will have the honour to play on the Pandean Pipes.’

Morning Chronicle - Monday 16 March 1801

   
A set of pan pipes dated to the late 18th century is in the Science Museum.    
Pandean band    

Panpipe and drum were often part of a small band. Whole pandean bands were soon all the rage at fashionable places of entertainment in which every band member played the panpipes and a percussion instrument.

The vogue for pandean bands spread from the military to civilian life from the late eighteenth-century to the end of Regency times. The percussion instruments played in these bands were thought of as giving a fashionable 'Turkish' flavour to the music. The Ottoman Empire had invaded Europe and the military leaders (the princes) were very impressed by the clamour of the loud percussion instruments that led Turkish armies into battle. They had trumpets, drums, cymbals and loud bells and triangles. When the Sultan of Turkey was defeated in battle he made a present of a band of military musicians to the winner, the King of Poland. So of course, every war-like monarch with an eye to his military reputation had to have a loud band too. 'Turkish' instruments quickly became standard for military bands across Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

Tom and Jerry

 
1813 The Prince Regent’s Gala1813Anti-Gallican Monitor - Sunday 11 July 1813
band  

James Saggiani's household accounts, Gloucestershire, include "pan pipes for the regiment" (Gloucestershire Archives item D2700/RA2/1/21 1798-1801). A one-man band wearing military uniform includes the pandean pipes (illustrated online Bridgeman Art Library, item no. 249560).

   

1802 Vauxhall Magnificent Gala1802London Courier and Evening Gazette - Wednesday 23 June 1802

[There are many more mentions of Vauxhall's Pandean Minstrels than listed here - see British Newspaper Archive]  

The pandean band at Vauxhall Gardens, London, is recorded as playing all over the country, Scotland and Ireland until 1825. The ensemble's repertoire included marches, quick-steps, minuets, waltzes, and airs.

1802 Advertisement: 1802Morning Post - Monday 09 August 1802

   
18021802Salisbury and Winchester Journal - Monday 25 October 1802    
1803 Advertisement for Royalty Theatre, Wells Street, Goodman’s Fields1803Morning Post - Monday 26 December 1803    
1803 Newspaper report: 1803Oracle and the Daily Advertiser - Friday 22 July 1803    
1803 Newspaper advertisement: 1803Hull Advertiser - Saturday 09 July 1803    
1804 The Countess of Carhampton’s Ball, Bruton Street 1804Morning Post - Saturday 05 May 1804    
1804 Newspaper report:1804Morning Post - Monday 18 June 1804    
1804 Newspaper advertisement 1804Northampton Mercury - Saturday 08 September 1804    
1804 Newspaper report: 1804General Evening Post - Saturday 23 June 1804    
1804 Newspaper report: 1804Caledonian Mercury - Saturday 15 December 1804    
18041804Caledonian Mercury - Thursday 27 December 1804    
1805 1805Caledonian Mercury - Monday 01 April 1805
'
 
1807 1807Caledonian Mercury - Saturday 18 April 1807 As pandean pipes became more fashionable in the middle and upper classes, music books with arrangements especially for the pandean pipes were printed, such as 1810
'Third Book of Pandean Music
.
 
1808 Dances and dance tunes were named after them: 1791 'Vauxhall Saloon. A Pandean Dance' 'The Pandean Dance or Lord Wellington' published in 'Hime's Dances for 1812'. New tunes had 'pandean' in the title, such as in 'The Joseph Kershaw Manuscript; the music of a 19th century Saddleworth Fiddle Player' (begun in 1820).  

1812 Northampton: ‘To be Sold by Auction ... a Variety of Musical Instruments, viz. Violins, Clarionets, Hautboys, Pandean Pipes, Flutes, etc. etc. and a select Assortment of new Music.’
Northampton Mercury - Saturday 08 August 1812

   

1814 Mr Cole a music-seller, a bankrupt, to be sold by auction.  The sale included 34 Pandean Pipes.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 30 June 1814

   
18051805Morning Post - Wednesday 01 May 1805    

1805 Mrs Lambert’s Fete at Harrow
‘This elegant and lively Lady gave on Thursday at her Villa, Kenton Green, an entertainment has not been surpassed for the season.... the Pandean Minstrels entertained the company at intervals during diner and supper.’

Oracle and the Daily Advertiser - Thursday 30 May 1805

   
1805 advertisement: 1805Morning Post - Monday 03 June 1805    

1805 At Vauxhall a Fete in honour of His Majesty's Birthday1805London Courier and Evening Gazette - Friday 07 June 1805

   
1805 Mrs Coke’s Masquerade
‘None of the company appeared more happy than a Royal groupe, consisting of Her Royal Highness the DUT'CHESS of YORK, and the Dukes of CUMBERLAND arid CAMBRIDGE. Their Royal 'Highnesses wore dominos ; that. of Her Royal Highness was blue.  As they entered the house the Pandean Band played God Save the King.'

Sun (London) - Friday 14 June 1805

   
18051805Oracle and the Daily Advertiser - Thursday 06 June 1805    

1805 Lady Louise Manner’s Grand Masquerade1805Oracle and the Daily Advertiser - Friday 19 July 1805

   
1805 ‘Mrs. Forsyth's second Concert and Supper took place at Pyrmont-House,
near Broadstairs,’ Kent
1805Morning Post - Wednesday 02 October 1805
   
1805 ‘The Infant Mania’ 1805General Evening Post - Saturday 14 December 1805    
Pandean Minstrels at Vauxhall Gardens 1806 (The Encyclopaedia of Musical Instruments, ed. R Dearling, 1996)
(in colour here)
   
1806 1806    
1806 1806York Herald - Saturday 28 June 1806    
1806 New Royal Circus, St. George’s Fields1806Morning Advertiser - Monday 21 July 1806    
18061806Morning Herald (London) - Thursday 19 June 1806    

"The Marchioness of Lansdowne grand Masquerade. ...
one of the most splendid entertainments ever given,
..
.The Pandean Band playing God Save the King
"

Chester Chronicle - Friday 18 July 1806

   
1806 ‘Miscellaneous Intelligence Domestic’1806Aberdeen Press and Journal - Wednesday 19 November 1806    
1807 at the Royal Amphitheatre, Westminster1807Morning Advertiser - Monday 30 March 1807    
1807 at Astley’s Olympic Pavilion, Newcastle Street, Strand, London1807Morning Chronicle - Tuesday 10 March 1807    
1807 Grand Masquerade at the Pantheon 1807Morning Herald (London) - Wednesday 29 April 1807    
1813 at the Olympic Circus: 1813advertised in the Liverpool Mercury - Friday 01 January 1813    
1807 Grand Masquerade at the Pantheon 1807Morning Herald (London) - Wednesday 29 April 1807    
1807 newspaper advertisement: 1807Morning Post - Tuesday 26 May 1807    
18071807Morning Advertiser - Monday 29 June 1807    
1807 at Drury Lane Theatre: 1807British Press - Monday 01 June 1807    
1807 The Countess Spencer’s Fete Champetre, Wimbledon1807Morning Post - Monday 06 July 1807    
1807 Mrs Coke, Hanover Square, opened her house to her friends.1807British Press - Wednesday 08 July 1807    
1807 Ball 1807Morning Post - Monday 13 July 1807    
1807 Rout 1807Morning Post - Thursday 16 July 1807    

1807 Fete1807Morning Post - Friday 31 July 1807

   
[Similar entries can be found in the British Newspaper Archives]
Towns other than London boasted similar events with Pandean Bands and individuals playing at private and public functions such as in Lancaster, Hereford, Dublin, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham and Liverpool
   
Pandean Musicians    
1812 Police Report, London 1812Saint James's Chronicle - Saturday 14 November 1812
outside show musicians 1812  

The panpipe and drum player was loud, which was useful at outdoor events such as fairs, races, street processions and celebrations.

1810 ‘Croydon Fair,  I paid a visit to that scene of jollity induced by the fineness of the weather, and :that natural desire -which I possess - to see the humbler classes of society happy, ... I would have proceeded, notwithstanding the sneers of my auditors, if an accursed Pandean Minstrel had not struck up the famous Paphian melody of “Stoney Batter.”
General Evening Post - Saturday 06 October 1810

   

A couple dance to a band that includes a pan-pipes and drum player in 1814 at the Thames Frost Fair:1814Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Friday 04 February 1814

1814The Frost Fair of 1814
by Luke Clenell (detail)
 

In 1819 a man was beaten up and robbed at a fair in Hampstead, London.
Henry Lovell, one of the fair workers, was blamed. His written defence was:

 

"the prosecutor came into the booth, and said I had robbed him, which I deny. There were hundreds of people there, some of whom got me into a crowd, and stole my mouth-organ and drum."
source

   
1814 A concert: 1814Chester Courant - Tuesday 01 November 1814
   

1816 Middlesex Sessions report: 1816Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Thursday 31 October 1816

   
1817 Mrs Cooper’s list of instruments sold includes Pandean Pipes 1817Cheltenham Chronicle - Thursday 19 June 1817
   
1819 A meeting was held in the Finsbury market-place and the people processed down the street. 1819Hampshire Chronicle - Monday 08 November 1819
   
Another report of the same meeting states:

“the gentleman who had spoken from the window made his appearance with a mouth-organ. (vulgo° a pandean piper) stuck beneath his chin, and a middling sized drum, covered with a piece of old green baize, hung horizontally across his stomach.”
Anti-Gallican Monitor - Sunday 07 November 1819

   

1819
" having inherited the musical taste and talents of his father, he has bitten the whole school with the mania. He is a great hand at beating a drum, which is often heard rumbling from the rear of the school-house. He is teaching half the boys of the village, also, to play the fife, and the pandean pipes; and they weary the whole neighbourhood with their vague piping, as they sit perched on stiles, or loitering about the barn-doors in the evenings."

'Bracebridge Hall or The Humorists' by Washington Irving [pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon] (1783-1859), American essayist, historian, and author who spent some years doing the Grand Tour in Europe.

   

In 1820 at the Peale Museum in Philadelphia, USA, when 'Signor Helene and his Pandean Band' performed he did play on his 5 different instruments at the same time. These included the Italian viola, Pandean pipes, Chinese bells, Turkish cymbals, and tenor drum; during performances he also imitated a mockingbird and a canary with his voice.
'Building Little Italy, Philadelphia's Italians before Mass Migration' by Richard N. page 70, Juliani Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN: 9780271017327

1821 This Musical Instrument Warehouse sold pandean pipes:1821Saunders's News-Letter - Saturday 15 December 1821
1822 Advertisement: H Mortlock sells, among a great number of goods:1822Stamford Mercury - Friday 25 October 1822

1822 Newspaper report:

"Yesterday a company of blind itinerant Musicians, consisting of a clarionet, two violins, and bass viol, were performing in Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, some of the choicest pieces of modern music, in a style which drew together a very numerous audience. In the midst of this delightful harmony an evil genius suddenly appeared in the person of another member of the profession ; who, jealous of the applause his brethren bad obtained, or envious of the harvest they were reaping from their exertions, exerted himself so successfully with a drum and pandean pipes as to stifle in the birth the soul-enlivening notes from the silver toned cremonas. The little band for a short time endured the discord the vile pandean occasioned with the most philosophic forbearance; but finding all their endeavours to be heard completely ineffectual were compelled to desist ,expecting their opponent would immediately discontinue his annoyance. But in this they were disappointed ; the fellow still kept up the most astounding noise with his drum, to the infinite amusement of the bystanders and chagrin of the little band who manifested their displeasure in rather uncourtly terms. Still the provoking pandean was not to be silenced. He continued blowing and thumping, till he was black in the face, without once deigning to notice his enraged brethren. The little band apparently unwilling to yield, and puzzled how to proceed, held a council of war, in which it was resolved to ascertain, who could play longest. The clarionet immediately struck hp, followed by the violins and grumbling bass viol. The full blown cheeks of the former presented an amusing contrast with the lank visage of the Pandean, and the contest was for some time severe and doubtful. The latter, however, who from the commencement had allowed himself but little or no breathing time, began to exhibit evident symptoms of 'exhaustion and ultimately was compelled to cease. The triumph of the little party was, however, but of short duration foe the fellow who appeared to recollect that though short of breath, he had not lost the use of his arms, commenced a solo on the drum which he belaboured so unmercifully as to compel the luckless fiddlers to put up their fiddle-sticks in despair.. A short pause ensued, which was but the prelude to a storm. — The little party, enraged beyond measure at the opposition they had experienced sent forth a volley of abuse which quite overwhelmed their opponent. Four to one, he observed, with the most provoking sang froid, was a fearful odds, and again had recourse to his drum, with which he kept up such a clatter, as completely silenced, and ultimately drove his antagonists from the field.  We understand the poor fiddlers, in the course of their peregrinations, had entered the street in question, and had been pretty successful in drawing the loose pence from the pockets of their hearers. The Pandean, who had for some time enjoyed the exclusive right of playing in this street, viewed this unconscious invasion of the blind men as a direct attack on his privilege, and formed the resolution on which he ultimately succeeded to drum ',em out."

Constitution (London) - Sunday 20 January 1822

1823 Coroner’s Inquest1823Morning Advertiser - Friday 03 October 1823
1823 Advertisement 1823Morning Advertiser - Tuesday 11 February 1823
1823 New Music at Mitchell’s Music Shop1823Morning Post - Thursday 22 May 1823
1823 ‘from Mr. NATHAN'S entertaining and ingenious Essay on the History and Theory of Music.’1823New Times (London) - Thursday 23 October 1823
 
Puppet Booths

Some London street entertainers earned their living playing in the streets in conjunction with puppet booths or Punch and Judy shows. Henry Mayhew interviewed many street entertainers including a 'street musicianer', a performer on 'drum and pipes', who recounted what he did some 30 years before.

"I have played the pandean pipes and the drum for thirty years to street exhibitions of all kinds. I married a young woman that I fell in love with, in the music line. She played a hurdy-gurdy in the streets, so I bought pandean pipes,
as I was always fond of practising music, and I joined her. Times for street-musicianers were good then, but I was foolish. I 'm aware of that now;
but I wasn't particularly partial to hard work; besides, I could make more as a street-musicianer.
When I first started, my wife and I joined a fantoccini. [puppet theatre] It did well. My wife and I made from 9s. to 10s. a-day.
source

1824 Greenwich Park1824Sussex & Surrey Chronicle - Wednesday 16 June 1824

A street puppet theatre came along the road in 1825:

"Its coming was announced by a man playing the Pan-pipes, or "mouth-organ," which he accompanied by beating the long drum;
after him followed the theatre, consisting of a square frame-work about ten feet high, ...
The band of two instruments was set in motion by its performer, who took his station on one side, and the carrier of the theatre assuming the important office of money collector....
Boys came running in from the fields, women with children got "good places," windows were thrown up and well filled, the drummer beat and blew away lustily, the audience increased every minute, .......
In about a minute the tune altered, and the show began".

This description is accompanied by a drawing of a puppet booth.

1826 Law report: 1826Fleming's Weekly Express - Sunday 12 March 1826
1826 ‘Commitments to Gloucester County Goal:
Davis, charged with stealing one pandean pipe or mouth organ.’
Bristol Mercury - Monday 04 September 1826
1827 Michaelmas Fair ‘The attractions prepared for the rustics, were of no ordinary description,...music of most every description, from the bag-pipe and hurdy gurdy to the box-organ and pandean pipes.’Berkshire Chronicle - Saturday 22 September 1827
1827 James Cowlan Music Establishment, 39 Whitechapel: A Wonderful Reduction in the Prices of Music and Musical Instruments
His long list of goods advertised includes Pandean Pipes : Pipes and Tabour
s
Monday 08 October 1827

In New Zealand in 1827 at the crowded Sandy Bay races on New Year's Day
"the notes of the rustic Pandean pipe and drum mixed with those of the more jocund fiddle"
Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, Friday 5th January 1827

An 1828 sketch shows the characters in Punch and Judy, together with the
pandean pipes and drum player 'bottler' standing outside the booth.
(source: frontispiece in 'The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Punch and Judy' by George Cruickshank)

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry Mayhew (1812 - 1887)was a social researcher, journalist, playwright and advocate of reform published 'London Labour and the London Poor' in 1851. This was a groundbreaking and influential survey of the poor of London.

 

 

 

 

 

1825 Hone1825 puppet booth

1829 The Big Fight 1829Morning Advertiser - Thursday 26 March 1829    

‘The Winters Wreath for 1830’ contained written work and engravings. 
One of the engravings was called ‘The Solace of Pandean Pipes by A Mosses’
Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Wednesday 14 October 1829

1829Kilkenny Moderator - Wednesday 09 December 1829

1829 Brighton Gazette - Thursday 22 October 1829

   
quote[1828 source]    
A painting entitled 'Sweeps Day in Upper Lisson Street, Paddington' painted in the late 1830's shows a 'Jack-in-the-Green' with other historically-based characters dancing to the pan-pipes and tabor in the street. (Museum of London Collection). So there is the possibility that the piper 'who also played the drum' as remembered by an elderly gentleman in 1860 recalling a "Jack in Green" procession of his childhood may have played the panpipes too. source
   
one-man-band fashion plate 1815 in a band for dancing 1814 in street band 1820-30  
street entertainer 1820-30 for Jack in the Green 1820-30
tavern entertainment 1821  

with fantoccini 1825
for Jack in the Green 1825 with Punch and Judy no date
 
for Jack in the Green 1826 with marionettes 1827 original with marionettes 1829-31 engraving  
with marionettes 1830 with Punch and Judy 1830
10207159
at a fair 1830  
with Jack in the Green 1831 at a fair 1832  
     

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