The Organ
The organ is a keyboard instrument, operated not only by the player's hands, but also their feet. Pressurised air produces notes through a series of pipes. The term organ encompasses reed organs and electronic organs but, unless otherwise specified, is usually understood to refer to pipe organs. Although it is one of the most complex of all musical instruments, the organ has the longest history and the largest and oldest extant repertoire of any instrument in Western music. In spite of substantial technical developments, the organ's basic principles of operation remain relatively unaltered from when they were discovered more than 2,000 years ago.
Organs usually possess several sets of pipes (also known as stops or register), playable from several keyboards and a pedal board (operated by the feet).
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| Image Source |
The pipes are arranged over a wind chest that is connected to the keys via a set of pallets (or valves) and fed with a supply of air by electrically or mechanically activated bellows. To bring a pipe "into speech", the player must first draw a stop to bring the holes in the slider into alignment with the foot of the pipes on the toe board. Pressing a key causes the pallet under that pipe to open, allowing air to travel along a narrow channel, through the slider hole, and into the pipe.
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| Explanation of the inner workings of a pipe organ, John Grimwade Image Source |
A characteristic of the organ is the variety of sounds it possesses as a single instrument and the freedom it allows the player to build up the volume and timbre by adding to the fundamental tone using stops. This is where the expression "to pull out all the stops" comes from - the more stops added, the bigger the volume and richer the timbre.
The earliest known organ was the hydraulis of the 3rd century BCE, a greek invention, with the wind regulated by water pressure.
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| Depiction of a hydraulis or water organ Image source |
The first recorded appearance of an exclusively bellow-fed organ, however, was not until almost 400 years later.
- By the 8th century organs were being built in Europe.
- From the 10th century their association with the church had been established.
- The 15th and 16th centuries witnessed significant tonal and mechanical advances and national schools of organ building were emerging.
- By the early 17th century all the essential elements of the instrument had been developed.
- It was during the height of the Baroque period that the organ reached its greatest popularity and found its most important composer in Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), who not only contributed a great deal to the organ repertoire, but was also highly familiar with the inner workings and building of organs.
George Frideric Handel (born in the same year as Bach) was well-known for his organ concertos. Watch this introduction to the organ in the Baroque era:
After the death of Bach, organ building entered into a gradual decline, most particularly in Germany and England, where organs built after 1800 were of increasingly poor tonal quality. The 20th century, however witnessed both the revival of classical ideals in organ construction and the reemergence of the organ as an independent instrument with its own idiomatic literature.
Listen to Marcel Dupré's epic Prelude and Fugue in B major played by Yves Castagnet on the organ of Notre Dame, Paris:
With the score: DHM YouTube Playlist
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| The organ of Notre Dame Cathedral Image Source |
Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré
Dupré was a famous french organ virtuoso, notorious for his extraordinary ability to improvise and well-known as an influential teacher. He was an organist of Notre Dame, Paris, and gave a series of 10 recitals where he played, from memory, the complete organ works of J.S. Bach. He toured as a virtuoso, frequently improvising fugues and symphonies from themes suggested by audience members. His Symphonie-Passion and Le Chemin de la croix (The Way of the Cross) were, at first, improvisations in performance and later written down.
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| Marcel Dupré at the Saint-Sulpice organ (May 3 1886 Rouen, France - May 30 1971, Paris) Image source |
This blog is intended to be educational and to share knowledge about music. Daily Hit of Music does not claim to own anything contained in this post and declares its sources openly.
The following sources were used for this blog post: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Image sources can be found in the image captions.
Recordings can be found on YouTube by clicking the 'DHM YouTube Playlist' links.
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