Hornpipe, name of a wind instrument and of several dances supposedly performed to it. The instrument is a single-reed pipe with a cowhorn bell (sometimes two parallel pipes with a common bell) and is often converted into a bagpipe. Known since antiquity, it is today played in Basque Spain (where it is known as an alboka) and North Africa, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Russia.
Hornpipe refers also to several dances that Renaissance courtiers believed were once performed to the rustic instrument. At times it meant a jig, a reel, or a country dance. As an Irish, Scottish, or English solo dance, the hornpipe is in 4/4 time and is related to the jig and the solo reel. It has intricate steps and often imitates a sailor’s dance. Hornpipes are often danced with clogs, especially in northern England.
In a musical suite the hornpipe is a stylized version of a country dance in 3/2 time. An example occurs in George Frideric Handel’s Water Music suite.