Platerspiel
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The Platerspiel (German for "bladder play") or Blaterpfeife ("bladder pipe") is a medieval simplified bagpipe, consisting of an insufflation tube (blow pipe), a bladder and a chanter; sounded by a double reed, which is fitted into a reed seat at the top of the chanter. The chanter has an outside tenon, at the top, near the reed, which fits into a socket or stock, which is "tied-in" to the bladder.
In the platerspiel we recognize the early medieval chorus, a word which in medieval Latin was frequently used also for the bagpipe. In the earlier forms of platerspiels of which we possess illustrations, such as the well-known example of the 13th century reproduced by Martin Gerbert from a manuscript at St. Blasius, the bladder is unusually large, and the chanter (or melody pipe) has, instead of a bell, the grotesque head of an animal with gaping jaws. At first the chanter was a straight conical tube terminating in a bell, as in the bagpipe. The later instruments have a pipe of larger calibre more or less curved and bent back as in the letter "J" see: crumhorn tournebout cromorne. One famous illustration of these bladder pipes, appears in the 13th-century Spanish manuscript, known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria in the library of El Escorial in Madrid, together with a platerspiel having two pipes, a chanter and a drone side by side. Another Platerspiel, is illustrated by Sebastian Virdung (1511).
There was practically no technical difference between the bent chanter of the platerspiel and the cromorne, the only distinction being the form and size of the air-chamber, either the bladder or the wind-cap, in which the reed was set in vibration. The player blows air into the bladder through the insufflation tube, or through the raised, slit-shaped opening of the wind-cap, placed against the player's lips. The earlier form of platerspiel is found at the end of the 15th century, in the magnificent Book of Hours, known as the Sforza Book (British Museum). An interesting allusion to the platerspiel occurs in an old English ballad:
- Eight shepherds were playing on various instruments: "The fyrst hed ane drone bagpipe, the next bed ane pipe maid of ane bleddir and of ane reid, the third playit on ane trump." From this excerpt, it is evident that the platerspiel retained its individuality, and did not become merged with the bagpipe.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
