early history of the pipe organ essay

Early History of the Pipe Organ
The “king of instruments” has a long history, one which can
arguably be traced
to the concept of a collection of “fixed-pitched pipes blown by a
single player
(such as the panpipes)” (Randel 583). The first examples of pipe
organs with
the basic features of today can be traced to the third century
B.C.E. in the
Greco-Roman arena; it is said to have been invented by Ktesibios
of Alexander
and contained “a mechanism to supply air under pressure, a
wind-chest to store
and distribute it, keys and valves to admit wind to the pipes,
and one or more
graded sets of fixed-pitch pipes.” (Randel 583) These early
organs used water
as a means to supply air-pressure, hence the use of the terms
hydraulic and
hydraulis.
Hydraulic organs were in use for several hundred years before the
concept of
bellows, similar in concept and style to those of a blacksmith,
came into use
with the organ. Numerous bellows were used to supply air to the
wind-chest,
often being pumped in pairs by men. The disadvantages of this
method of air
supply include the lack of consistent pressure, which leads to
inconsistent
pitch and tuning; also, many people were required to operate the

bellows since
there were upwards of twenty-four bellows per organ (Hopkins &
Rimbault 35).
Also, with organs of this size, the bellows took up large amounts
of space, thus
forcing the organ to be located in a fixed place, such as a
church.
Up until the eleventh century (approximately), pitch and range of
organs were
extremely limited, mainly in part to the lack of a any style of
keyboard. Keys
of a sort were introduced around this time, though not in the
manner we are
accustomed to. “The earliest keyboards were sets of levers
played by the hands
rather than the fingers.” (Randel 428) They looked similar to
large rectangles “
an ell long and three inches wide” (Hopkins & Rimbault 33) and
were played by
pushing on them with a hand, although some were large enough that
one might need
to step on them. While allowing no real technical dexterity,
they were
sufficient to play plain-song and chant melodies, particularly
with the use of
more than one player. As time progressed, the keys became
smaller and more
numerous until they began to resemble the modern keyboard (except
for range) in
appearance ca. 1400.

While these large early organs were used in limited fashion in
churches, many of
the organs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were known as
portatives or
regals. Portatives were small enough to be carried and played by
a single
person, one hand playing the keys and the other operating a
single bellow. Due
to the size limitations of portative organs, their range did not
usually exceed
two octaves; their use was to play plain-song and chant melodies,
usually in
processions. Similar to a portative, but larger, was the
positive organ. “
Positives were larger, standing on a table or the floor. They
were played with
both hands, had a larger compass, and required a second person to
operate the
bellows, of which there were usually two.” (Randel 485) The
positive was
sometimes added to a larger, stationary organ and joined to the
larger's
keyboard (two manuals), with the positive being located in front
of the larger
organ with the organist located between them. (Hopkins & Rimbault
42-3)
Up until this time, organs did not possess pedals. The pedal is
generally
attributed to a German named Bernard, organist to the Doge of
Venice. It is

thought that while he did not actually create the pedal board, he
improved upon
it to the point of being able to assign its creation to him,
making it similar
in concept to modern pedal boards only with a smaller range.
(Hopkins & Rimbault
45-46)
With the addition of the positive to the large organ, one began
to have two sets
of pipes associated with an organ. These two sets of pipes
allowed there to be
two distinct tones, similar to stops, to be produced from one
organ, though they
could not be played simultaneously. German organ builders in the
early
sixteenth century made possible the addition of ranks other than
the principle,
each new rank being called a stop. By “adding” a stop to a
manual, one could
then play, in unison, two or more sets of ranks simultaneously.
These stops
included new types of pipes created by the Germans which provided
varying sounds,
including those that mimicked the viol family, reed stops
(trumpet, posaune,
shalm, vox-humana, etc.), closed pipes adding a much softer and
deeper sound and
smaller pipes which produced more penetrating sounds. There was
also the
mixture stop, which originated (we think) in the twelfth century

when one or two
pipes were added to a key, usually tuned to a fifth and octave or
third and
tenth; it is also speculated that this practice helped spark
harmony in music
composition. (Hopkins & Rimbault 36-8) During this time the
pedal began
receiving its own set of stops separate from those of the other
manuals.
At this point in the organ's history, development was fairly
uniform throughout
Europe due mainly to the unrestricted travel of organ builders
and musicians
whose input would influence foreign builders. The uniformity of
the Catholic
church also helped perpetuate the use of similar organs
throughout Europe. This
trend of consistent organ building began to decline during the
Reformation and
Counter-Reformation, both leading toward more political and
national boundaries
being enforced, which increased the difficulty of unrestricted
travel. Now we
begin to see trends and different regional styles of
construction, some more
lasting and effective than others. (Randel 585)
The first area to look at are the Flemish countries of France,
Spain, Italy,
Austria and England. These areas contained many organs of
similar designs until

the Calvinist Reformation in 1560, the northern portion (Holland)
becoming
Protestant and its organs being used mainly for church services,
and the
southern portion (Belgium) remaining Catholic, whose influence
resulted in the
organ becoming a strong liturgical instrument of great influence
to the later
French organs. Secular organ playing developed in Holland; while
the organs
were housed in churches, many of them were also played as concert
instruments
for market days and special occasions. (Randel 585)
North German builders were the real masters of organ building,
creating
instruments known for their size and complexity. Building upon
their knowledge
from the Middle Ages, sixteenth century builders added numerous
stops, some
ranging in size from 32´ to 1´, including “foundations, mixtures,
mutations,
flutes and reeds” and a complete pedal division. These large,
multi-faceted
organs would be the precursors to the influential Baroque organs
of J.S. Bach,
Buxtehude, Scheidemann and others; these organs also influenced
builders in
northern Holland. (Randel 585-586)
While initially Flemish in design and influence, a new school of
organ design

and playing began to develop in France during the sixteenth
century. While
these organs usually were not as grand in scale compared with the
north German
organs, they are known particularly for their ornate casework and
later
influence on typical French-style registration and compositional
techniques.
The organs of the Alsace region of France, which were influence
by the German
builders, would become the inspiration for composers such as
Widor, Franck,
Guilmant and Saint-Saëns. (Randel 586)
English organs of this time period suffered greatly. While in
proliferation in
many churches throughout the country, the Commonwealth period led
to the
destruction of most organs. Those which were left were small in
scale and
similar to the French organs in technical design, having only two
manuals and
often incomplete or nonexistent pedal boards. These small organs
were used by
composers such as Byrd, Redford, Tomkins, Lugge and Gibbons.
(Randel 586)
Italian organs were even more limited in design, having only one
manual (two
were rare) and limited ranks of pipes, although some contained
inventive
mixtures of pipes in 1/2´ and 1/3´ sizes. Reed stops were

generally not used,
and when they were, they were of limited size and number.
Spanish and
Portuguese organs where similar in design and limitations, though
the number of
stops were generally larger, and a Flemish influence remained
fairly strong even
after the regional Iberian style took grasp. These Spanish
organs were also
imported to the Americas in the early seventeenth century, thus
beginning the
American tradition of organ building which would commence much
later and be of a
more unique style. (Randel 587)
While many do not consider the organ to have had such a colorful
history, its
history has been one of constant change and refinement.
Beginning with the
hydraulic organs of the ancient realm, through the portative and
positive organs,
continuing to evolve into large instruments effected as much my
the church needs
as those of composers, the organ has survived every attempt to
thwart its
development and demise into that of something relegated to old
churches. The
organ will continue to survive through the ages and retain its
colorfulness and
ingenuity.
Bibliography

Hopkins, E. J. And E. F. Rimbault L.L.D., The Organ, Its History
and
Construction. 3rd ed. London: Robert Cocks & Co., 1887.
Grout, Donald Jay and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western
Music. 5th ed.
New York, London: W.W. Norton, 1996.
Fesperman, John T. and Barbara Owen. “Organ.” In The New
Harvard Dictionary of
Music. Ed. Don Michael Randel: 578–89. Cambridge, London: The
Belknap Press
of Harvard University
Schott, Howard. “Keyboard.” In The New Harvard Dictionary of
Music. Ed. Don
Michael Randel: 427–8. Cambridge, London: The Belknap Press of
Harvard
University