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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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"Early History Of The Pipe Organ." Essayworld.com. November 25, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Early-History-Of-The-Pipe-Organ/74856.
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