The ''piffero'' () or ''piffaro'' is a

double-reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece and c ...

musical instrument of the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

family with a conical bore ( Sachs-Hornbostel category 422.112). It is used to play music in the tradition of the ', an area of mountains and valleys in the north-west

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

which includes parts of the four provinces of Alessandria,

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

and

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

. It is also played throughout Southern Italy with different fingering styles dictated by local tradition. The instrument is a descendant of the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

shawm The shawm () is a Bore_(wind_instruments)#Conical_bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after ...

and belongs to the family of the bombarde. Piffero Doppelrohrblatt 20090427214452

The reed used by the ''piffero'' is inserted in a conical

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

tube, which is itself inserted in a ''pirouette''. This peculiarity, which is shared with oriental and ancient oboes, is unique in Italy. The ''piffero'' has eight tone holes, one of which, on the back of the instrument, is usually covered by the left-hand thumb, and ends with a bell, where a cock tail feather (used to clean the reed) typically rests during execution. Traditionally in Northern Italy it was accompanied by an Apennine

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...

known as the ''

müsa The müsa, or müsa appenninica, is a bagpipe from the Apennines of north-west Italy which was commonly used to accompany the piffero in the folk music of the Quattro Province: the ‘Four Provinces’ of (Pavia, Alessandria, Genoa and Piacenza). ...

''. In the early-20th century the ''müsa'' was largely displaced by the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, which musicians found in some ways more versatile. However, towards the end of the twentieth century the bagpipes made a comeback, and today the piffero is commonly accompanied by either of these instruments, or by both. Other regional names for the piffero in Southern Italy are "ciaramella" or "pipita". It is still commonly played in accompaniment with the Southern Italian

Zampogna Zampogna (, , ) is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered bagpipe that can be found as far north as the southern part of the Marche, throughout areas in Abruzzo, Latium, Molise, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Apulia and Sicily. Th ...

, an instrument which itself is essentially a series of pifferos stuck into a common stock and supplied with air through the use of a goat-skin bag. Related to the piffero is a larger Sicilian instrument known as the ''

bifora The bifora or ''pifara'' was a Sicilian double reed instrument of the oboe family, related to the ancient shawm and particularly to the piffero of the northern Italian Apennines. Much larger than the piffero, and made in one piece, it was employed ...

'', or ''pifara''. Italian-speakers refer to the player of a piffero as a ''pifferaio'' or as a ''pifferaro''.

Other uses of the term ''piffero''

Piffero is sometimes used as the name of an

organ stop An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as ''wind'') to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; each can be "on" (admitting the passage of air ...

which emulates the sound of members of the shawm family; while ''Piffaro'' (or: ''Fiffaro'') is the name of an organ stop, also known as ''Voce Umana'', whose sound resembles a

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

transverse

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

. The Italian word ''piffero'' can also refer to the

fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, as in

Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. ...

's Symphony in C major, Perger 10 (Sherman, MH 188, Symphony No. 18), which calls for pifferi. '' Piffaro'' is also the name of a performing group in the US specializing in Renaissance music.Piffaro's web site
/ref>

Notes

External links

* ttp://www.appennino4p.it/bani/ Homepage of Ettore Losini
Playing a ''Piffero'' (video)

Playing a ''Piffero'' (video)
{{Double reed Italian musical instruments Single oboes with conical bore