Wikipedia talk:WikiProject PipeOrgan/Sandbox2

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by admitting pressurized air through a series of pipes. Sizes range from portable instruments with only a few dozen pipes to very large organs with tens of thousands of pipes, prompting Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to name it the "king of instruments".

The basic components of a pipe organ are pipes placed on a windchest that stores air under mechanically-produced pressure (referred to as wind), where access of the air to the pipes is controlled by a keyboard. Modern organs usually include more than one keyboard playable by the hands, a manual, and a large keyboard playable by the feet, a pedalboard. Large organs have four or five manuals, although there has been a couple with six or seven. Because the instrument has a constant wind supply, the organ is capable of sustaining sound for as long as the key is depressed, in contrast to other keyboard instruments, such as the piano and harpsichord, whose sound decays immediately.

The pipe organ has been described as one of the oldest musical instruments; its origins can be traced back to Ancient Greece in the third century BC. It developed from the water organ into an instrument in which the wind was supplied by bellows. Early portable organs were used to accompany both sacred and secular music. During the Renaissance period, the organ developed from these simple instruments toward one where the player had full control over the sound produced; by the Baroque era at the end of the seventeenth century, the organ had developed into much the same instrument as we see today.

Pipe organs are commonly found in Christian churches and some Jewish synagogues, as well as in town halls and arts centres where they are intended for the performance of classical music, especially for orchestral transcriptions. The organ boasts a substantial repertoire of both sacred and secular music spanning a period of over 400 years.

Pipes


Organ pipes are the sound-producing elements of the pipe organ. These pipes are made from either wood or metal and produce sound when pressurized air (referred to as wind) is allowed to pass through. Because each pipe can only produce one pitch, many individual pipes are necessary in order to create a musical scale. The pipes are arranged by timbre and pitch into ranks. These ranks are mounted vertically onto a windchest that supplies wind to the pipes; several ranks of pipes can be supplied by a single windchest. There are two main types of organ pipes: flue pipes, which are actuated by a fipple similar to a recorder, and reed pipes, which contain a beating reed in the manner of a clarinet.

It is the action of the organ that admits the wind into each pipe when a key is depressed by the organist. There are many varieties of action; however, they fall into two principal groups: mechanical action and electro-pneumatic action. Mechanical key action (also called tracker action) refers to a direct connection between the keys and the windchests achieved through a series of wooden or metal rods called trackers. When the organist depresses a key, the trackers move, allowing wind to enter individual pipes. In organs with a mechanical stop action, draw knobs (also called stop knobs), visible on either side of the console, are physically connected to each rank of pipes on the windchests. When the organist pulls (or "draws") a stop knob towards himself, the stop action conveys the motion of the stop knob to the windchest, actuating the mechanism at the windchest that allows wind to flow into the selected rank of pipes.

Electro-pneumatic actions control the mechanisms at the windchest through the use of pneumatic air pressure and an electric current to open and close the valves within the windchest, allowing the pipes to speak. Because contact, other than electrical wiring, between the keys and stops and the windchest is not required, this system allows the organ console to be separate from the rest of the instrument. Some organs with electro-pneumatic action use rocker-tab switches, which activate the pneumatic system through electrical contacts, to select the stops instead of draw knobs. Because the key action and the stop action are separate systems, organs can feature a mechanical key action along with an electric stop action.

Wind system
''N.B. The pressure of wind supplied to a pipe organ is measured by a manometer. In the US and UK this takes the units "inches of water" (in other countries this is often in the metric "millimetres of water"). Although strictly unscientific, pipe organs are said to be "on x inches (of wind)''". ''

An organ's wind supply is stored in one or more reservoirs, which maintain a constant wind pressure. This pressure differs depending on the design of the organ and the division the wind supplies. An Italian or Iberian organ from the Renaissance era may feature a wind pressure of only 2.2 inches (56 mm), while an orchestral organ from the early twentieth century may have wind pressures as high as 25 inches in some divisions. The wind flows from the bellows through one or more large tubes known as wind trunks to the separate divisions of the organ. There, the wind is fed into smaller chambers called windchests, on which the pipes are seated. Then, as the organist depresses a key, the key action allows the wind to flow into the pipes, causing them to sound.

The original form of wind production was mechanical. When signalled by the organist (often by a small bell), a calcant (the bellows operator) pumped the bellows of the organ, supplying them with air. Playing the organ before electricity required at least one person to operate the bellows. Because it was expensive to pay calcants, organists would usually practice on smaller instruments such as the clavichord or harpsichord. A few organs that can be mechanically pumped still exist, and modern instruments have been built with this capability.

Motorized wind production became common after the use of electricity became widespread. Before electricity, some organs may have been fitted with motors (often water turbines) that manipulated the bellows through the use of a crankshaft. Electric motors called blowers were used to fill the bellows with air. Suddenly, it became possible for organists to practice regularly on the organ. The majority of all organs, new and historic, now make use of this modern technology.

Stops
Each rank of pipes in an organ is called a stop. Because each pipe can produce only one pitch, there is usually one pipe per note for every stop. Some stops, known as mixtures, allow several ranks to be controlled by one stop, eliminating the need for several individual stop controls. The name of a stop refers to the sound it produces, although stop names are not always consistent. Indeed, many stops that produce identical sounds will vary in name from organ to organ. The choice of the name reflects not only the timbre and construction of the stop, but also the style of the organ in which the stop resides. For example, the stop names on a German Baroque organ will generally be derived from the German nomenclature, while the names of similar stops on a French Romantic organ will come from the French tradition. Most countries tend to use only their own languages for stop nomenclature. English-speaking nations are more receptive to foreign nomenclature, as is Japan (necessarily, for it historically had no indigenous organ-building culture).

A stop that sounds at unison pitch (the written pitch, the same pitch as a piano) is referred to as being at 8&prime; (pronounced "eight-foot") pitch. This is because the length of the longest (and lowest-sounding) pipe in that stop is eight feet. A stop that sounds an octave higher is at 4&prime; pitch, one that sounds two octaves higher is at 2&prime; pitch; a stop that sounds an octave lower than unison pitch is at 16&prime; pitch, and one that sounds two octaves lower is at 32&prime; pitch.



A traditional stop label on a draw knob or rocker-tab includes two parts:


 * the name of the stop (Diapason, Rohrflöte, Cornet, Trompette, etc.)
 * the pitch level (8&prime;, 4&prime;, etc.) or a Roman numeral indicating the number of ranks controlled by the stop (III, IV–VI, etc.)

Thus, a stop labelled "8&prime; Chimney flute" is a single-rank flute stop sounding at 8&prime; pitch. A stop labelled "Mixture V" is a five-rank mixture.

When a rank of pipes is available as part of more than one stop, the rank is said to be unified, (or borrowed). Ranks can be borrowed within a single division or between divisions. For example, an "8&prime; Diapason" rank may also be made available as a "4&prime; Octave". When both of these stops are selected and a key (for example, c′) is pressed, two pipes of the same rank will sound: the pipe normally corresponding to the key played (c′), and the pipe one octave above that (c′′).

When a rank is borrowed, the organist may run out of pipes at one end of the keyboard or the other. In the above example, there are no pipes in the original rank to sound the top octave of the keyboard at 4&prime;. The neatest and most common solution to this is to provide an extra octave of pipes used only for the borrowed 4&prime; stop. The full rank of pipes is now an octave longer than the keyboard and is called an extended rank. An organ that relies heavily on extension is called an extension organ.

Some organs feature various percussion stops and effects that have no pipes at all, such as the "Zimbelstern" (a revolving, star-shaped wheel of bells), the "Nightingale" (a stop that blows wind through a whistle submerged in a small pool of water, creating the sound of a bird warbling), and the "Éffet d'orage", a thunder effect, common on French organs of the nineteenth century), involving many of the large bass pipes of the organ sounding together. Other orchestral percussion-type stops include the "Drum", "Chimes", "Celesta", and "Harp".

Organ stops are the origin of the phrase "to pull out all the stops", meaning to make every effort or "to give it all you've got".

Console


All the controls available to the organist are collected together in an area called the console. This includes the manuals and pedals, the expression pedals, the stop controls and associated registration aids, and the couplers. If the console is attached to the organ case (as is the situation with many mechanical-action organs), it may also be called the keydesk.

Keyboards
The console features at least one keyboard. A keyboard played by the hands is called a manual (from the Latin manus, meaning "hand") and a keyboard played by the feet is called a pedalboard. Most organs have at least one manual keyboard and one pedalboard. The collection of stops controlled by a particular keyboard is called a division. In the cases in which an organ contains more divisions than it does keyboards, the extra divisions are referred to as floating and are played by "coupling" them to another manual.

Enclosure and expression pedals
Enclosure is the term for a system that allows for the control of volume (crescendo and diminuendo) without requiring the addition or subtraction of stops. All the pipes of an enclosed division are surrounded by a box-like structure generally called the "swell box." At least one side of the box, usually that facing the console or the listener, will be constructed from horizontal palettes known as swell shades, which can be opened or closed from the console. This works in a similar fashion to a Venetian blind. When the box is "open," it allows more sound to be heard than when it is "closed." In many organs, at least one division will be enclosed. In a two-manual organ with Great and Swell divisions, the Swell division will be enclosed (which is why the division is named Swell). In larger organs, often part or all of the Choir and Solo divisions will be enclosed as well.

The most common form of controlling the level of sound released from the enclosed box is by the use of a balanced expression pedal. This is usually placed above the centre of the pedalboard, rotating away from the organist from a near horizontal ("open") to a near vertical position ("shut").

In addition to an expression pedal, an organ may have a similar-looking crescendo pedal, which would be found to the right of any expression pedals. Applying the crescendo pedal incrementally activates all the stops in the organ, starting with the softest stops and ending with the loudest.

Combination action
Different combinations of stops produce different sounds. A specific combination of stops is called a registration. On modern organs, a large change of registration involving many stops can be effected instantaneously with the aid of a combination action. The most common combination action features pistons, which are buttons that can be pressed by the organist to change registrations. Pistons are generally found in the space between the manuals ("thumb pistons") or above the pedalboard ("toe studs/pistons"). Most large organs have pistons whose combinations are pre-set and ones that can be programmed by the organist, with some of the couplers repeated for convenience as pistons and toe studs. These registration aids require an electro-pneumatic action, although a rudimentary system is available with a mechanical action.

Couplers
A coupler allows the pipes of one division to be played by another keyboard. For example, a coupler labelled "Swell to Great" allows the stops drawn in the Swell division to be played by the Great manual. By using couplers, all of the resources of an organ can be played simultaneously from one manual or pedalboard. On a mechanical-action organ, a coupler may physically connect one manual to the other, so that the keys on all the coupled manuals are depressed, even though the organist is only in contact with one of them.

The Swell to Great coupler described above is a unison coupler, one which causes the pipes of the Swell division to sound at the same pitch as the keys played on the Great manual. Some organs also feature octave couplers, which add the pipes an octave above ("super octave" or sometimes just "octave") or below ("sub octave") to that which is being played by the fingers. Octave couplers may operate on one division only (for example, the "Swell octave," which adds the octave above what is being played on the Swell to itself), or they may act as a coupler (for example, the "Swell octave to Great," which adds to the Great the ranks of the Swell division an octave above what is being played on the Great manual). Octave couplers may also be used in conjunction with the standard unison coupler.

In addition, some organs feature "unison off" couplers, which prevent the stops pulled in a particular division from sounding at their normal pitch. While this feature is seemingly counter-intuitive, unison off couplers can be used in combination with octave couplers to create innovative aural effects. In addition, they can be used to effectively rearrange the order of the manuals, in order to make specific literature easier to play.

Casing


The pipes, action, and wind system of a pipe organ are contained in an organ case. The organ case may be either freestanding or integrated with the fabric of the building that houses the organ. The case is often designed to complement the architectural style of the building and may contain ornamental features such as wooden carvings and decorative pipework. The visible, "front" portion of the organ's case is called the façade, which often includes either playable or decorative pipes. If the façade pipes are playable, they are usually part of the main Principal rank of the organ. The metal may be plain, burnished, or highly coloured and gilded.

Some organs, generally those that are larger, feature a few ranks of pipes protruding horizontally from the case in the manner of a row of trumpets. These are referred to as pipes en chamade and are particularly common in organs of the Iberian peninsula.

The arrangement of pipes in the façade traditionally takes one of three forms: parallel movement, contrary movement, and pedal note. Parallel movement describes a façade in which the pipe bodies and mouths are arranged in an inverted V-shape, with the tallest pipe in the middle. Organs with parallel movement façades have minimal casework, as the pipes hide the action and the windchests. This arrangement is rarely used in the decorative style of French, German and Dutch organ builders, who prefer contrary movement, which is typified by rising pipe mouths and falling pipe tops across the horizontal axis of the façade. In the pedal note arrangement, the pipe mouths are aligned horizontally, giving a clear linear look to the organ. Since the mid-twentieth century, some organ builders and architects have experimented with alternative layouts to create particular visual effects. A recent example is the Gehry Organ in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Many organs, particularly those built in the early twentieth century, are held in an organ chamber instead of a case. An organ chamber is a room that contains one or more divisions of a pipe organ. Because the chamber design does not allow for projection of sound into the room as easily as does the freestanding organ case, enchambered organs may sound muffled and distant. In the 1940s and 1950s, E. Power Biggs was one of a number of organists requesting a return to the freestanding mechanical actions of the Baroque and Classical eras.

Antiquity
The organ is one of the oldest instruments still used in European classical music. Its earliest predecessors date to the third century BC. The word organ originates from the Latin word "organum", the instrument used in ancient Roman circus games and similar to a modern portative.

The inventor most often credited is the Greek engineer Ctesibius of Alexandria, who created a hydraulic (water-powered) instrument called the hydraulis in the third century BC. The hydraulis was common in the Roman Empire, where its incredibly loud tone was heard during games and circuses in amphitheatres, as well as in processions. Characteristics of this instrument have been inferred from mosaics, paintings, literary references, and partial remains; a working, reconstructed instrument is owned by Aquincum Museum in Budapest. The exact mechanism of wind production is still debated, but the tone of the original pipes can be studied. Almost nothing is known of the actual music it played. The pumps and water regulators of the hydraulis were replaced by bellows in the second century AD.

Organs were also known to exist in the Byzantine Empire as well as in Islamic Spain. In medieval times, portable organs (the portative organ or portatif and the positive organ) were invented. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, the portatives represented in the miniatures of illuminated manuscripts first show signs of a real keyboard with balanced keys, as in the thirteenth-century Spanish manuscript known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Because of their portability, the portative was used for the accompaniment of both sacred and secular music in a variety of settings.

As pipe organs became larger, they were installed permanently in a fashion similar to the church organs of today. At this time, organs did not have sophisticated stop controls; the organist would usually have the choice of playing on a single 8&prime; Principal stop or on the "Blockwerk", the entire tonal resources of the organ. In some cases, this meant a very large number of ranks ranging from 16&prime; pitch all the way through 1′ pitch and higher.

Eventually, controls were designed to allow the organist to control whether or not each rank in the Blockwerk would sound, effectively dividing the Blockwerk into separate stops. Some of the higher-pitched ranks were still grouped together under a single stop control; these stops were the forerunner of mixtures that would be found in later organs.

Renaissance and Baroque eras


During the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the organ became an instrument capable of creating numerous tonal colours, both unique and imitative. The development of pipe organs varied considerably across Europe, partly related to changing political climates. In northern Europe, the organ developed into a large instrument with several divisions. Independent pedal divisions were increasingly common and string pipes were featured in German organs typified by the Silbermann family. The divisions of the organ were readily discernible by the case design, as they were clearly grouped into sections. This style was labelled the Werkprinzip by twentieth-century musicologists. In France, the French Classical organ came into fashion, a style of building articulated most completely by Dom Bédos de Celles in his treatise, L'art du facteur d'orgues (The Art of Organ Building). In England, there was little development of the pipe organ during the Commonwealth period, and many organs were destroyed. During The Restoration, many organ builders (Renatus Harris and "Father" Bernard Smith in particular) returned from mainland Europe, bringing with them new ideas concerning organ design. English organs evolved from small one- or two-manual instruments to organs with three or more divisions disposed in the French manner and including grander reeds and mixtures. The echo division began to be enclosed in the early eighteenth century, and it was in 1712 that Abraham Jordan claimed his "swelling organ" at St Magnus-the-Martyr was a new invention. This invention typified the English organs during the century, but peculiarly did not spread to the continent.

Romantic era


In the Romantic era, the organ transitioned from a polyphonic to a symphonic instrument, capable of creating a gradual crescendo from the softest stops alone to full organ (the state in which all the stops are engaged). Through the developments of the organ builders Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and Henry Willis, the size of the Romantic organ inevitably grew as new technologies developed alongside them. The number of stops increased, containing greater variations in sound and texture, disposed over more divisions.

The desire for louder, grander organs meant that some stops, most notably the reeds, were voiced on a higher wind pressure than in earlier times. This necessitated a change in the action mechanism, as the physical force to overcome the wind pressure and depress the keys became too great. Cavaillé-Coll adapted the English "Barker lever" to work in the organ by configuring it to use the organ's own wind supply to assist in operating the action.

Various combination actions were invented to assist the organist with the multitude of registration changes that were necessary to play romantic music, and the physical position of the draw stops was set at an angle relative to the organist in order to make them easier to manipulate. Organs were also built in concert halls (such as the organ at the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris), and composers such as Camille Saint-Saëns and Gustav Mahler used the organ in their large orchestral works.

Modern development
A major revolution in pipe organ design took place in the late nineteenth century when the development of pneumatic, electric, and electro-pneumatic key actions made it technically feasible to locate the console independently of the pipes. At this time, electrically-controlled stop actions were developed that allowed for the development of sophisticated combination actions. Around the middle of the twentieth century, many organ builders began to build historically-inspired instruments. At this time, they returned to mechanical key action in order to regain the subtle, nuanced control it gives the performer. This was referred to as the Orgelbewegung, the "organ reform movement."



In the mid-twentieth century, pipeless electronic organs were developed. Many true pipe organs were replaced due to the cheaper initial cost and smaller size of pipeless organs. Although the entire sound of a pipe organ cannot yet be digitally replicated, pipeless instruments are still a viable alternative to a true pipe organ for many churches and other organizations due to the lower costs involved, the lack of maintenance required, and the smaller amount of space necessary. It is increasingly common for builders of new pipe organs to utilize digital stops in place of pipes for the very lowest pedal notes, owing to the economy of space and resulting lower cost.

Nevertheless, pipe organs have benefited from the techniques developed for pipeless organs, as some components of pipeless organs are being incorporated as "digital" components into true pipe organs. This allows for simpler actions and more reliable combination action systems. Another modern development is the MIDI recording system, which can record and play back an organist's performance, and can even download files of these recordings onto a computer.

Overview
The development of organ repertoire has progressed hand in hand with the development of the organ itself, leading to distinctive national styles of composition. "But even taking into account stylistic differences between cultures and eras over the centuries, there remain common design threads. Tonal ideas were shared by likely influences (France and England) as well as more distant ones (Spain and The Netherlands) due to the historical circumstances of political and military history." The repertoire of the French and German schools is therefore heard more frequently, because the tonal styles of the instrument are more compatible.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was common for organ music to be written in any of several tablature systems, though since then staff notation has become the norm. Organ music is generally written on three staves (two for the manuals and one for the pedals), but up to five staves have been utilized in more complicated music. Some organ music, especially music from before the nineteenth century, is written on only two staves, with the pedal notes written on the bottom staff as a divisi part.

There is a large repertoire of sacred music for the pipe organ. This reflects the fact that organs are commonly found in Christian churches, as well as in some Reform and Conservative synagogues. Organs in these venues are used to accompany the musical portions of the service, such as choral anthems and congregational hymns as well as parts of the liturgy. Solo organ music is usually played before and after the service. These pieces are generally called voluntaries.

Pipe organs were not found in non-sacred venues such as in town halls and arts centres until the "age of transcription" in the nineteenth-century. Dubbed "concert-hall" organs by George Ashdown Audsley; secular music has been written for these instruments, with a lot of the repertoire based on the Romantic orchestral symphony: "The popularity of the orchestra and the thirst for favorites of the orchestral repertoire were in no small measure responsible for this trend. When an orchestra was not available, the organ was the best substitute." In the era of silent films, large theatre organs were installed in many theatres.

Solo music


Although most countries whose music falls into the Western tradition have contributed works to the organ's repertoire, France and Germany are particularly notable for having produced many exceptional composers for the instrument. There is also extensive repertoire from the Netherlands, England, and the United States. The majority of the organ repertoire comes from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic periods. The most famous composer of organ music is Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed substantial solo music for the organ and arranged music by other composers for the organ. The Baroque period is well represented by other German composers such as Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Johann Pachelbel. French organ music developed at this time under the so-called "French Classical" period through the music of Jean Titelouze, François Couperin, and Nicolas de Grigny.

In the Romantic period, many French organist-composers such as César Franck, Charles-Marie Widor, Louis Vierne, and Charles Tournemire pushed the genre of organ music into the symphonic realm as did German composers like Felix Mendelssohn, Josef Rheinberger, and Max Reger.

A great amount of organ literature was also written in the twentieth century. Olivier Messiaen re-defined many of the traditional notions of organ registration and technique in order to realize his musical concepts: "This innovative composer...drew upon the elements of nature and the world around him and the ever-important ideas of religion. Like many composers before him Messiaen sees musical sounds (registration), as actual colours such as a painter would work with." In addition to Messiaen, composers such as Marcel Dupré, Jean Langlais, Maurice Duruflé, Herbert Howells, and Petr Eben have made significant contributions to the organ literature.

Orchestral music
The organ has been integrated into many orchestral works, perhaps most famously in Camille Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony, Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante for Organ & Orchestra, and Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani. The earliest organ concerti were written by George Frideric Handel. Some of the composers who used the organ prominently in their orchestral music are Gustav Holst, Richard Strauss, Ottorino Respighi, Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Databases

 * Organ Historical Society Pipe Organ Database
 * The Top 20 - The World's Largest Pipe Organs
 * United States Pipe Organ Directory
 * National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR) - Database and specification of every pipe organ in the United Kingdom
 * The world's largest organs with photos and stoplists