Organ- unique musical instrument, which has a long history. One can only speak about the organ in superlatives: the largest in size, the most powerful in sound intensity, with the widest sound range and a huge richness of timbres. That is why he is called the “king of musical instruments.”

The ancestor of the modern organ is considered to be the Pan flute, which first appeared in Ancient Greece. There is a legend that the god of wild nature, shepherding and cattle breeding, Pan, invented a new musical instrument for himself, connecting several reed tubes of different sizes in order to produce wonderful music while having fun with cheerful nymphs in luxurious valleys and groves. To successfully play such an instrument, great physical effort and good respiratory system. Therefore, to facilitate the work of musicians in the 2nd century BC, the Greek Ctesibius invented a water organ or hydraulic organ, which is considered the prototype of the modern organ.

Organ development

The organ was constantly improved and in the 11th century it began to be built throughout Europe. Organ building reached its greatest flourishing in the 17th-18th centuries in Germany, where musical works for the organ were created by such great composers as Johann Sebastian Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude, consummate masters organ music.

The organs differed not only in beauty and variety of sound, but also in architecture and decor - each of the musical instruments had individuality, was created under specific tasks, fit harmoniously into internal environment premises.
Only a room that has excellent acoustics is suitable for an organ. Unlike other musical instruments, the peculiarity of the sound of an organ depends not on the body, but on the space in which it is located.

The sounds of the organ cannot leave anyone indifferent; they penetrate deep into the heart, evoke a wide variety of feelings, make you think about the frailty of existence and direct your thoughts to God. Therefore, in Catholic churches and in cathedrals there were organs everywhere, best composers wrote sacred music and played the organ with their own hands, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach.

In Russia, the organ was classified as a secular instrument, since traditionally the sound of music during worship was prohibited in Orthodox churches.

Today's organ is a complex system. It is both a wind and keyboard musical instrument, having a pedal keyboard, several manual keyboards, hundreds of registers and from hundreds to more than thirty thousand pipes. Pipes come in a variety of lengths, diameters, type of structure and materials of manufacture. They can be copper, lead, tin or from various alloys, for example, lead-tin. The complex structure allows the organ to have a huge range of sound in height and timbre and have a wealth of sound effects. The organ can imitate the playing of other instruments, which is why it is often equated to a symphony orchestra. The largest organ is located in the USA in concert hall Atlantic City Boardwalk. It has 7 manual keyboards, 33112 pipes and 455 registers.

The sound of an organ cannot be compared with any other musical instrument, or even a symphony orchestra. Its powerful, solemn, unearthly sounds act on the human soul instantly, deeply and stunningly, it seems that the heart is about to burst from divine beauty music, the sky will open up and the mysteries of existence, until this moment incomprehensible, will be revealed.

ORGAN, keyboard-wind musical instrument, the largest and most complex of existing tools. A huge modern organ consists of three or more organs, and the performer can control all of them simultaneously. Each of the organs that make up such a “large organ” has its own registers (sets of pipes) and its own keyboard (manual). Pipes lined up in rows are located in the internal rooms (chambers) of the organ; Some of the pipes may be visible, but in principle all the pipes are hidden behind a façade (avenue) consisting partly of decorative pipes. The organist sits at the so-called spiltish (cathedra), in front of it are the keyboards (manuals) of the organ, located in terraces one above the other, and under the feet is a pedal keyboard.

Each of the organs included in the “large organ” has its own purpose and name; Among the most common are the “main” (German: Hauptwerk), “upper” or “oberwerk” (German: Oberwerk), “ruckpositiv” (Rückpositiv), as well as a set of pedal registers. The “main” organ is the largest and contains the main registers of the instrument. The Ryukpositif is similar to the Main, but is smaller and softer sounding, and also contains some special lead registers. The “upper” organ adds new solo and onomatopoeic timbres to the ensemble; Pipes are connected to the pedal, producing low sounds to enhance the bass lines.

The pipes of some of the named organs, especially the “upper” and “rukpositive”, are placed inside semi-closed louvers-chambers, which can be closed or opened using the so-called. channel, resulting in the creation of crescendo and diminuendo effects that are not available on an organ without this mechanism.

In modern organs, air is forced into the pipes using an electric motor; Through wooden air ducts, air from the bellows enters the vinladas - a system of wooden boxes with holes in the top lid. Organ pipes are reinforced with their “legs” in these holes. From the windlade, air under pressure enters one or another pipe.

Since each trumpet is capable of producing the same pitch and timbre, a standard five-octave manual requires a set of at least 61 trumpets. In general, an organ can have from several hundred to many thousands of pipes. A group of pipes producing sounds of the same timbre is called a register. When the organist turns on the register on the pin (using a button or lever located on the side of the manuals or above them), air access to all pipes of this register is opened. Thus, the performer can select any register he needs or any combination of registers.

Exist Various types pipes that create a variety of sound effects. Pipes are made of tin, lead, copper and various alloys (mainly lead and tin), in some cases wood is also used. The length of the pipes can be from 9.8 m to 2.54 cm or less; The diameter varies depending on the pitch and timbre of the sound. Organ pipes are divided into two groups according to the method of sound production (labial and reed) and into four groups according to timbre. In labial pipes, sound is generated as a result of the impact of an air stream on the lower and upper lips of the “mouth” (labium) - a cut in the lower part of the pipe; in reed pipes, the source of sound is a metal reed vibrating under the pressure of an air stream. The main families of registers (timbres) are principals, flutes, gambas and reeds. The principals are the foundation of all organ sound; flute registers sound calmer, softer and to some extent resemble orchestral flutes in timbre; gambas (strings) are more piercing and sharper than flutes; The reed timbre is metallic, imitating the timbres of orchestral wind instruments. Some organs, especially theater organs, also have percussive sounds, such as those simulating cymbals and drums. Finally, many registers are constructed in such a way that their pipes do not produce the main sound, but its transposition an octave higher or lower, and in the case of the so-called. mixtures and aliquots - not even one sound, as well as overtones to the main tone (aliquots reproduce one overtone, mixtures - up to seven overtones).

Organ – ancient instrument. Its distant predecessors were, apparently, the bagpipes and the Pan flute. In the 3rd century. BC. a water organ appeared - hydraulos; its invention is attributed to the master Ctesibius of Alexandria. Hydraulos was powerful tool, in which the required air pressure entering the pipes was supported by a column of water. Hydraulos was used by the Greeks and Romans at hippodromes, in circuses, and also to accompany pagan mysteries. The sound of the hydraulic jet was unusually strong and piercing. In the first centuries of Christianity, the water pump was replaced by air bellows, which made it possible to increase the size of the pipes and their number in the organ.

Already in the middle of the 5th century. organs were built in Spanish churches, but since the instrument still sounded very loud, it was only used on major holidays. By the 11th century. large organs were built throughout Europe; In particular, the organ built in 980 in Winchester (England) was known for its extraordinary size. Gradually, keys replaced clunky, large “plates”; The range of the instrument has become wider, the registers have become more diverse. At the same time, a small portable organ, the portable, and a miniature stationary organ, the positive, came into widespread use.

17th–18th centuries – “golden age” of organ building and organ performance. The organs of this time were distinguished by their beauty and variety of sound; exceptional timbre clarity and transparency made them excellent instruments for performing polyphonic music. Almost all the great organ composers wrote for the “baroque organ,” which was more widespread than the organs of previous and subsequent periods. Romanticism of the 19th century, with its desire for expressive orchestral sound, had a dubious influence on organ construction and organ music; masters tried to create instruments that were an “orchestra for one performer,” but as a result, the matter was reduced to a weak imitation of an orchestra. At the same time, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many new timbres appeared in the organ, and significant improvements were made in the design of the instrument. The trend toward ever larger organs culminated in the enormous 33,112-pipe organ in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This instrument has two pulpits, one of which has seven keyboards. Despite this, in the 20th century. organists and organ builders realized the need to return to simpler and more convenient types of instruments.

When starting to talk about the structure of the organ instrument, we should start with the most obvious.

The organ console refers to the controls, which include all the numerous keys, register change levers and pedals.

So to gaming devices include manuals and pedals.

TO timbre– register switches. In addition to them, the organ console consists of: dynamic switches - channels, a variety of foot switches and copula switch keys, which transfer the registers of one manual to another.

Most organs are equipped with copulas for switching registers to the main manual. Also, using special levers, the organist can switch various combinations from the bank of register combinations.

In addition, a bench is installed in front of the console, on which the musician sits, and next to it is the organ switch.

Example of an organ copula

But first things first:

• Copula. A mechanism that can transfer the registers of one manual to another manual, or a pedal keyboard. This is relevant when you need to transfer the sound registers of weaker manuals to stronger ones, or transfer the sound registers to the main manual. The copulas are activated using special foot levers with locks or using special buttons.
• Channel. This is a device with which you can adjust the volume of each individual manual. At the same time, the shutters of the blinds are adjusted in the box through which the pipes of this particular manual pass.
• Memory bank of register combinations. Such a device is available only in electric organs, that is, in organs with an electrical circuit. Here we would make the assumption that an organ with an electric structure is somehow related to antediluvian synthesizers, but the wind organ itself is too ambiguous an instrument for such an oversight to be easily made.
• Ready-made register combinations. Unlike the memory bank of register combinations, which vaguely resemble the presets of modern digital audio processors, ready-made register combinations refer to organs with a pneumatic register structure. But the essence is the same: they make it possible to use ready-made settings.
• Tutti. But this device includes manuals and all registers. Here's the switch.

Manual

The keyboard, in other words. It’s just that the organ has keys for playing with your feet – pedals, so it’s more correct to say it’s a manual.

Usually there are from two to four manuals in an organ, but sometimes there are specimens with one manual, and even such monsters that have as many as seven manuals. The name of the manual depends on the location of the pipes it controls. In addition, each manual is assigned its own set of registers.

IN the main thing The loudest registers are usually located in the manual. It is also called Hauptwerk. It can be located either closest to the performer or in the second row.

• Oberwerk – a little quieter. Its pipes are located under the pipes of the main manual.
• Rückpositive – absolutely unique keyboard. It controls those pipes that are located separately from all the others. So, for example, if the organist is sitting facing the instrument, then they will be located at the back.
• Hinterwerk - This manual controls the pipes that are located at the back of the organ.
• Brustwerk. But the pipes of this manual are located either directly above the remote control itself, or on both sides.
• Solowerk. As the name itself suggests, the trumpets of this manual are equipped with a large number of solo registers.

In addition, there may be other manuals, but the ones listed above are the most commonly used.

In the seventeenth century, organs had a kind of volume control - a box through which pipes with shutters passed. The manual that controlled these pipes was called Schwellwerk and was located at a higher level.

Pedals

Originally, organs did not have pedal keyboards. It appeared around the sixteenth century. There is a version that it was invented by a Brabant organist named Louis Van Walbeke.

Nowadays there are a variety of pedal keyboards depending on the design of the organ. There are both five and thirty-two pedals, there are organs without a pedal keyboard at all. They are called portables.

Usually the pedals control the bassiest trumpets, for which a separate staff is written, under the double score, which is written for the manuals. Their range is two or even three octaves lower than other notes, so a large organ can have a range of nine and a half octaves.

Registers

Registers are a series of pipes of the same timbre, which are, in fact, a separate instrument. To switch registers, there are handles or switches (for electrically controlled organs), which are located on the organ console either above the manual or next to it on the sides.

The essence of register control is this: if all registers are turned off, the organ will not sound when you press a key.

The name of the register corresponds to the name of its largest pipe, and each handle refers to its own register.

There are both labial, so reed registers. The first relate to the control of pipes without reeds, these are the registers of open flutes, there are also registers of closed flutes, principals, registers of overtones, which, in fact, form the color of the sound (potions and aliquots). In them, each note has several weaker overtones.

But reed registers, as their name suggests, control pipes with reeds. They can be combined in sound with labial pipes.

Register selection is provided in stave, it is written above the place where one or another register should be applied. But matters are complicated by the fact that different times and even just in different countries Ah, the organ registers differed sharply from each other. Therefore, the registration of an organ part is rarely specified in detail. Usually, only the manual, the size of the pipes and the presence or absence of reeds are accurately indicated. All other nuances of sound are left to the performer’s consideration.

Pipes

As you might expect, the sound of pipes is strictly dependent on their size. Moreover, the only trumpets that sound exactly as written on the musical staff are eight-foot trumpets. Smaller pipes sound correspondingly higher, and larger ones – lower than written in the musical stave.

The largest pipes, which are not found in all, but only in the largest organs in the world, measure 64 feet. They sound three octaves lower than what is written on the musical staff. Therefore, when the organist uses the pedals when playing in this register, infrasound is emitted.

To tune small labials (that is, those without a tongue), use a steamhorn. This is a rod, at one end of which there is a cone, and at the other - a cup, with the help of which the bell of the pipes of the organ is expanded or narrowed, thereby achieving a change in the pitch of the sound.

But to change the pitch of large pipes, additional pieces of metal are usually cut out, which bend like reeds and thus change the tone of the organ.

Additionally, some pipes may be purely decorative. In this case, they are called “blind”. They do not sound, but have purely aesthetic significance.

The piano also has texture. There, this is a mechanism for transmitting the force of finger strikes from the surface of the key directly to the string. The organ plays the same role and is the main mechanism for controlling the organ.

In addition to the fact that the organ has a structure that controls the valves of the pipes (it is also called a playing structure), it also has a register structure that allows you to turn entire registers on and off.

The largest type of musical instrument.

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Subtitles

Terminology

Indeed, even in inanimate objects there is this kind of ability (δύναμις), for example, in [musical] instruments (ἐν τοῖς ὀργάνοις); about one lyre they say that it is capable of [sounding], and about another - that it is not, if it is dissonant (μὴ εὔφωνος).

The kind of people who make instruments spend all their labor on it, such as the cithared, or the one who demonstrates his craft on the organ and other musical instruments (organo ceterisque musicae instrumentis).

Fundamentals of Music, I.34

In Russian, the word “organ” by default means brass organ, but is also used to refer to other varieties, including electronic analogue and digital, that imitate the sound of an organ. Organs are distinguished:

• by device - wind, reed, electronic, analog, digital;
• by functional affiliation - concert, church, theater, fair, salon, educational, etc.;
• by disposition - baroque, French classical, romantic, symphonic, neo-baroque, modern;
• by the number of manuals - one-manual, two-manual, three-manual, etc.

The word "organ" is also usually qualified by reference to the organ builder (for example, "Cavaillé-Cohl Organ") or brand name ("Hammond Organ"). Some types of organ have independent terms: antique hydraulics, portable, positive, regal, harmonium, barrel organ, etc.

Story

The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments. Its history goes back several thousand years. Hugo Riemann believed that the ancestor of the organ was the ancient Babylonian bagpipe (19th century BC): “The bellows was inflated through a tube, and at the opposite end there was a body with pipes, which, no doubt, had reeds and several holes.” The embryo of the organ can also be seen in the Pan flute, Chinese shen and other similar instruments. It is believed that the organ (water organ, hydraulos) was invented by the Greek Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt in 296-228. BC e. An image of a similar instrument appears on one coin or token from the time of Nero. Organs large sizes appeared in the 4th century, more or less improved organs - in the 7th and 8th centuries. Tradition credits Pope Vitalian with introducing the organ into Catholic worship. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine V Copronymus donated the organ to the Frankish king Pepin the Short in 757. Later, the Byzantine Empress Irene gave his son, Charles the Great, an organ that was played at Charles’s coronation. The organ was considered at that time a ceremonial attribute of the Byzantine and then Western European imperial power.

The art of building organs also developed in Italy, from where they were exported to France in the 9th century. This art later developed in Germany. The organ became widespread in Western Europe starting in the 14th century. Medieval organs, in comparison with later ones, were of crude workmanship; a manual keyboard, for example, consisted of keys with a width of 5 to 7 cm, the distance between the keys reached one and a half cm. They struck the keys not with their fingers, as now, but with their fists. In the 15th century the keys were reduced and the number of pipes increased.

The oldest example of a medieval organ with relatively intact mechanics (the pipes have not survived) is considered to be an organ from Norrlanda (a church parish on the island of Gotland in Sweden). This instrument is usually dated to 1370-1400, although some researchers have doubts about such an early dating. The Norrland organ is currently kept at the National historical museum in Stockholm.

In the 19th century, thanks primarily to the work of the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who set out to design organs in such a way that they could compete with the sound of the whole with their powerful and rich sound symphony orchestra, instruments of previously unprecedented scale and sound power began to appear, which are sometimes called symphonic organs.

Device

Remote controller

Organ console (“spieltish” from German Spieltisch or organ department) - a console with all the tools necessary for an organist, the set of which is individual in each organ, but most have common ones: gaming - manuals And pedal keyboard(or simply "pedal") and timbre switches registers. Dynamic ones may also be present - channels, various foot levers or buttons to turn on copul and switching combinations from register combination memory bank and a device for turning on the organ. The organist sits at the console on the bench during the performance.

• Copula is a mechanism by which the switched-on registers of one manual can sound when played on another manual or pedal. Organs always have copulas of manuals for the pedal and copulas for the main manual, and there are almost always copulas of weaker-sounding manuals for stronger ones. The copula is turned on/off by a special foot switch with a lock or button.
• Channel - a device with which you can adjust the volume of this manual by opening or closing the blinds in the box in which the pipes of this manual are located.
• Register combination memory bank - a device in the form of buttons, available only in organs with an electric register structure, which allows you to memorize register combinations, thereby simplifying register switching (change general timbre) during execution.
• Ready-made register combinations - a device in organs with a pneumatic register structure that allows you to turn on ready set registers (usually p, mp, mf, f)
• (from Italian Tutti - all) - button to turn on all registers and copulas of the organ.

Manuals

The first sheet music with an organ pedal dates back to the mid-15th century. - this is a tablature by the German musician Adam from Ileborg (English) Russian(Adam Ileborgh, c. 1448) and the Buxheim Organ Book (c. 1470). Arnolt Schlick in “Spiegel der Orgelmacher” (1511) already writes in detail about the pedal and encloses his plays where it is used very masterfully. Among them, the unique treatment of the antiphon stands out especially Ascendo ad Patrem meum for 10 voices, of which 4 are assigned to the pedals. To perform this piece, it was probably necessary to wear some kind of special shoes that would allow one foot to simultaneously press two keys spaced apart by a third. In Italy, notes using an organ pedal appear much later - in the toccatas of Annibale Padovano (1604).

Registers

Each row of pipes of a wind organ of the same timbre constitutes, as it were, a separate instrument and is called register. Each of the retractable or retractable register knobs (or electronic switches), located on the organ console above the keyboards or on the sides of the music stand, turns on or off the corresponding row of organ pipes. If the registers are turned off, the organ will not sound when you press a key.

Each knob corresponds to a register and has its own name indicating the pitch of the largest pipe of this register - feet, traditionally indicated in feet when converted to the Principal register. For example, Gedackt pipes are closed and sound an octave lower, so such a sub-octave C pipe is designated as 32", when the actual length is 16". Reed registers, the pitch of which depends on the mass of the reed itself, and not on the height of the bell, are also designated in feet, similar in length to the pitch of the Principal register pipe.

Registers according to a number of unifying characteristics are grouped into families - principals, flutes, gambas, aliquots, mixtures, etc. The main ones include all 32-, 16-, 8-, 4-, 2-, 1-foot registers, and the auxiliary (or overtone) registers ) - aliquots and mixtures. Each main register pipe produces only one sound of constant pitch, strength and timbre. Aliquots reproduce an ordinal overtone to the main sound, mixtures produce a chord that consists of several (usually from 2 to a dozen, sometimes up to fifty) overtones to a given sound.

All pipe arrangement registers are divided into two groups:

• Labial- registers with open or closed pipes without reeds. This group includes: flutes (wide-scale registers), principals and narrow-scale registers (German Streicher - “streichers” or strings), as well as overtone registers - aliquots and mixtures, in which each note has one or more (weaker) overtone overtones.
• Reed- registers in the pipes of which there is a reed, when exposed to the supplied air, a characteristic sound appears, similar in timbre, depending on the name and design features of the register, with some wind orchestral musical instruments: oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, etc. Reed registers can be positioned not only vertically, but also horizontally - such registers form a group that is from French. chamade is called "shamada".

Compound various types registers:

• Italian Organo pleno - labial and reed registers along with mixture;
• fr. Grand jeu - labial and lingual without mixtures;
• fr. Plein jeu - labial with mixture.

The composer can indicate the name of the register and the size of the pipes in the notes above the place where this register should be used. The choice of registers for performing a piece of music is called registration, and the included registers are register combination.

Since the registers in different organs of different countries and eras are not the same, they are usually not designated in detail in an organ part: only the manual, the designation of pipes with or without reeds and the size of the pipes are written over one or another place in the organ part, and the rest is left to the discretion performer. Most of the musical organ repertoire does not have any author's designations regarding the registration of the work, since composers and organists of previous eras had their own traditions and the art of combining different organ timbres was passed down orally from generation to generation.

Pipes

Register pipes sound different:

• 8-foot trumpets sound according to musical notation;
• 4- and 2-footers sound one and two octaves higher, respectively;
• The 16- and 32-footers sound one and two octaves lower, respectively;
• The 64-foot labial pipes found in the largest organs in the world sound three octaves below the recording, therefore, those operated by the pedal and manual keys below the counter-octave produce infrasound;
• The labial pipes, closed at the top, sound an octave lower than the open ones.

A steamhorn is used to tune the organ's small, open, metal pipes. With the help of this hammer-shaped tool it is rolled or flared open end pipes. Larger open pipes are set up by cutting a vertical piece of metal close to or directly from open edge pipes that bend at one angle or another. Open wood pipes usually have a wood or metal tuning device that can be adjusted to adjust the pipe. Closed wood or metal pipes are adjusted by adjusting the plug or cap at the top end of the pipe.

The front pipes of the organ can also play a decorative role. If the pipes do not sound, then they are called “decorative” or “blind” (English: dummy pipes).

Traktura

An organ structure is a system of transfer devices that functionally connects the control elements on the organ console with the organ's air locking devices. The playing texture transmits the movement of the manual keys and pedals to the valves of a specific pipe or group of pipes in the mixture. The register structure ensures that an entire register or group of registers is turned on or off in response to pressing a toggle switch or moving the register handle.

The memory of the organ also operates through the register structure - combinations of registers, pre-arranged and embedded in the structure of the organ - ready-made, fixed combinations. They can be named both by the combination of registers - Pleno, Plein Jeu, Gran Jeu, Tutti, and by the strength of sound - Piano, Mezzopiano, Mezzoforte, Forte. In addition to ready-made combinations, there are free combinations that allow the organist to select, memorize and change a set of registers in the organ’s memory at his discretion. The memory function is not available in all organs. It is absent in organs with a mechanical register structure.

Mechanical

Mechanical texture is standard, authentic and the most common at the moment, allowing the widest range of works from all eras to be performed; The mechanical structure does not produce the phenomenon of sound “lag” and allows you to thoroughly feel the position and behavior of the air valve, which allows the organist to better control the instrument and achieve high performance technique. When using a mechanical tractor, the manual or pedal key is connected to the air valve by a system of light wooden or polymer rods (abstracts), rollers and levers; occasionally, in large old organs, cable-pulley transmission was used. Since the movement of all the listed elements is carried out only by the effort of the organist, there are restrictions on the size and nature of the arrangement of the sounding elements of the organ. In giant organs (more than 100 registers), the mechanical structure is either not used or is supplemented by a Barker machine (a pneumatic amplifier that helps press the keys; these are the French organs of the early 20th century, for example, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris). Mechanical playing is usually combined with mechanical register tracture and windlady of the shleiflade system.

Pneumatic

Pneumatic tracture - the most common in romantic organs - from the end of the 19th century to the 20s of the 20th century; pressing the key opens a valve in the control air duct, the supply of air into which opens the pneumatic valve of a specific pipe (when using a windlade shleiflade, this is extremely rare) or a whole series of pipes of the same tone (windlady kegellade, characteristic of a pneumatic tractor). It allows you to build instruments with a huge range of registers, since it does not have the power limitations of mechanical structure, but it has the phenomenon of sound “delay.” This often makes it impossible to perform technically complex works, especially in “wet” church acoustics, given that the delay time of the sound of the register depends not only on the distance from the organ console, but also on its size of pipes, the presence in the structure of relays that speed up the operation of the mechanics behind due to the refreshing of the impulse, the design features of the pipe and the type of windlade used (almost always it is a kegellade, sometimes it is a membranenlade: it works on air emission, extremely fast response). In addition, the pneumatic structure decouples the keyboard from the air valves, depriving the organist of the feeling of “ feedback"and worsening control over the instrument. The pneumatic structure of the organ is good for performing solo works of the Romantic period, difficult for playing in an ensemble, and is not always suitable for Baroque and modern music.

Electric

Electrical transmission is a circuit widely used in the 20th century, with direct transmission of a signal from a key to an electromechanical valve opening-closing relay through a direct current pulse in an electrical circuit. Currently, it is increasingly being replaced by mechanical technology. This is the only treatise that does not place any restrictions on the number and location of registers, as well as the placement of the organ console on the stage in the hall. Allows you to place groups of registers at different ends of the hall, control the organ from an unlimited number of additional consoles, perform music for two and three organs on one organ, and also place the console in a convenient place in the orchestra, from which the conductor will be clearly visible. Allows you to connect several organs into a common system, and also provides a unique opportunity to record a performance and then play it back without the participation of an organist. The disadvantage of the electric tract, as well as the pneumatic one, is the break in the “feedback” of the organist’s fingers and the air valves. In addition, the electrical structure can cause a sound delay due to the response time of the electric valve relays, as well as the switch-distributor (in modern organs, this device is electronic and does not provide a delay; in instruments of the first half and mid-20th century it was often electromechanical). Electromechanical relays, when activated, often produce additional “metallic” sounds - clicks and knocks, which, unlike similar “wooden” overtones of a mechanical texture, do not at all decorate the sound of the work. In some cases, the largest pipes of an otherwise completely mechanical organ receive an electric valve (for example, in a new instrument from the Hermann Eule company in Belgorod), which is due to the need, with a large air flow rate of the pipe, to maintain the area of ​​the mechanical valve, and as a result, playing efforts, in the bass within acceptable limits. The register electrical circuit can also make noise when changing register combinations. An example of an acoustically excellent organ with a mechanical playing texture and at the same time a fairly noisy register texture is the Swiss organ from the Kuhn company in the Catholic Cathedral in Moscow.

Other

Largest organs in the world

The largest organ in Europe is the Grand Organ of the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Passau (Germany), built by the German company Stenmayer & Co. Has 5 manuals, 229 registers, 17,774 pipes. It is considered the fourth largest operating body in the world.

Until recently, the world's largest organ with a completely mechanical playing structure (without the use of electronic or pneumatic controls) was the organ of the Cathedral of St. Trinity in Liepaja (4 manuals, 131 registers, more than 7 thousand pipes), however, in 1979, an organ with 5 manuals, 125 registers and about 10 thousand pipes was installed in the large concert hall of the performing arts center of the Sydney Opera House. Nowadays it is considered the largest (with mechanical structure).

The main organ of the Cathedral in Kaliningrad (4 manuals, 90 registers, about 6.5 thousand pipes) is the largest organ in Russia.

Experimental organs

Organs of original design and tuning have been developed since the second half of the 16th century, such as the archorgan of the Italian music theorist and composer N. Vicentino. However, such organs have not become widespread. They are now exhibited as historical artifacts in musical instrument museums along with other experimental instruments of the past.

The organ is the embodiment of grandeur and greatness; it is rightly called the “king” in the world of music. This is the only instrument whose resonator is often the room itself, and not a wooden body. Its closest relatives are not the piano and grand piano, as it might seem, but the flute and button accordion.

This stunning instrument is magnificent in everything: a powerful sound that does not leave the listener indifferent, an inspiring appearance that amazes with its scale, unusualness and a certain antique charm, as well as the complexity and intricacy of its design.

Organ structure

The instrument has a rather complex structure, consisting of huge amount various elements: pipes, manuals, pedal keyboard, bellows, filters and electric compressors (in old times they were replaced by people - up to 10 people), registers with switches and much more.

The console, or pulpit, is the place from which the musician controls the instrument, contains manuals, a pedal keyboard, various switches, etc.

Manual – manual keyboard. One organ can have up to seven such manuals.

Register - a certain number of pipes belonging to the same “family”; they are united by timbre similarity. Register combinations are called “copulas” (from Latin - “bundles”, “connections”). At the request of customers, craftsmen can add separate registers to the organ that imitate the sound of a specific instrument.

The pedal keyboard is a foot keyboard and looks the same as a manual one. With its help, the performer controls the bass pipes. To play the pedal keyboard, organists wear specially made “sensitive” and tight shoes with very thin soles.

Organ pipes are metal, wooden and wood-metal hollow pipes of different lengths, diameters and shapes. Based on the method of sound production, they are divided into “reed” and “lobial”. The instrument can contain up to 10 thousand such pipes, the largest of them are bass ones, their height can reach up to 10 meters, and their weight can reach up to 500 kg. Sometimes the lowest sounds of the instrument are given a name, such as “whale voice.”

The organ also contains a foot roller that connects and disconnects the registers, so you can play a crescendo or diminuendo, since the organ manuals themselves are not sensitive - the volume of the sound does not depend on the force of pressing the key, as in a piano, for example.

Facade, visible to the audience the side of the organ is only a small part of it, the rest of the “contents” are behind the wall. Despite the external strength of organ pipes, they are still quite easy to bend, so strangers are rarely allowed “inside” the instrument.
Abstracts are special thin wooden slats that connect the keys to the pipe valves. Some of them can reach a height of 13 meters.

The largest organ in the world is located in the American city of Atlantic City in the Boardwalk Hall concert hall. The instrument has thirty-three thousand pipes and one thousand two hundred keys.
Air is forced into the pipes by fans that rotate electric motors with a power of 600 hp. With. The organ is currently not in working condition. In 1944, it was damaged during a hurricane, and in 2001, workers negligently destroyed part of the main pipes. The organ is subject to restoration, but this will take several years.

Etymology of the name of the instrument

Translated from ancient Greek, “organum” means “weapon” or “instrument”. And in medieval Rus', “every sounding vessel” was called an “organ.”

Historical information

The organ is one of the most ancient instruments. The exact date of its occurrence is impossible to determine. In the II century. BC. Greek master Ctesebius, was organ invented, playing using hydraulics - pumping air with a water press. And in the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Nero (1st century), the instrument was depicted on coins.

The most ancient predecessor of the organ is considered to be the Pan flute, which has a similar structure - connected tubes of various lengths, each of which produces a sound of a certain pitch. Then, having decided to improve the system, they added bellows that pump air and a keyboard in which the number of keys coincided with the number of pipes.

These were hand organs that musicians wore on a shoulder strap, pumping air into the bellows with one hand and playing a melody with the other; nearby, on a special stand, there were pipes into which air was supplied under pressure.

Medieval organs were not distinguished by the fineness of their manufacture - the size of the keys reached 5-7 cm, and the distance between them was sometimes 1.5 - 2 cm.

Therefore, they played on such a keyboard not with their fingers, as on modern instrument, but with fists and elbows, making considerable effort.
The organ became a widespread instrument after its introduction in the 7th century. Catholic liturgical practice. During this same period, organs evolved from small transport instruments carried on carts to large stationary musical “instruments” installed in churches.

In subsequent eras, the organ was gradually improved (Italian and German masters made a special contribution to its development), which continues to this day - new developments are being introduced in order to make the instrument even more convenient to perform and increase its functionality.

Varieties

Depending on the principle of operation, the following types of organs are distinguished:

• Brass;
• Strings;
• Theatrical;
• Mechanical;
• Electronic;
• Steam;
• Hydraulic;
• Digital

The role of the “king” of instruments in musical art

Since the time of its origin, the organ has occupied a certain place in the cultural life of mankind, having various degrees popularity and importance depending on historical era. The heyday, or “golden age of the organ,” is considered to be the Baroque era - XVII-XVIII centuries. During this period, such great composers as Bach, Buxtehude, Frescobaldi and others worked.

Also, the organ plays a different role in Eastern and Western Europe, or, to be more precise, in Orthodox and Catholic countries.

If in Western European Catholic countries, in each city there can be up to several hundred organs located in churches, then in Orthodox countries it is a concert instrument, which is not available in every city. But here, during organ performances, the halls are crowded with people who want to enjoy the luxurious organ sound.

It is impossible to find two identical organs, so this instrument is literally unique. The pipes of some specimens are capable of emitting ultra and infrasounds that cannot be detected by human hearing.

The organ is an instrument that has such unique and inimitable capabilities for simulating and combining different timbres that even the simplest melody “performed by it” turns into a gorgeous musical composition, the brightness of perception of which is enhanced by the power of sound and the bewitching appearance of the instrument.

Video

Watch the video below to listen and enjoy the sound of the instrument.