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The ''piffero'' () or ''piffaro'' is a double-reed musical instrument of the 
The reed used by the ''piffero'' is inserted in a conical
Piffero is sometimes used as the name of an Piffaro's web site
/ref>
* 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
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 type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...
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, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...
which includes parts of the four provinces of
Alessandria, Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, Piacenza
Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...
and Pavia
Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086.
The city was a major polit ...
. 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
shawm
The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...
and belongs to the family of the bombarde.
The reed used by the ''piffero'' is inserted in a conical brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
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, No ...
known as the '' müsa''. In the early-20th century the ''müsa'' was largely displaced by the accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"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 (mou ...
, 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 bagpipes that can be found throughout areas in Latium. The tradition is now mostly associated with Christmas, and the most famous Italian carol, " Tu scendi dalle stelle" ( ...
, 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 employ ...
'', 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 a ...
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 member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
.
The Italian word ''piffero'' can also refer to the fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
, as in Michael Haydn
Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 1737 – 10 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.
Life
Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohra ...
'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./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