MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS— THE ORGAN 



639 



sition of large organs — many of them containing over six thou- 

 sand — so as to get them under the command of the narrow compass 

 of the manuals, reveal wonderful ingenuity, quite apart from the 

 musical effects capable of being represented through the instru- 

 mentality of that noble art medium. Formerly the pij^es were 

 attached to one key-board. Then came the disposition of the 

 pipes with two manuals and two cases. These were consequently 

 termed double organs. A modern instrument is found in many 

 instances to contain five separate organs within its case, but being 

 all under the control of the organist, they are spoken of com- 

 positely as one instrument, though particularized in giving a 

 description by their names — grand, swell, solo, choir, and pedal. 

 Emphasis has been laid 

 on these points in order 

 to give readers a clear 

 idea of the terms used 

 elsewhere in speaking 

 of the instrument. 



The aim of the or- 

 gan-builder has been 

 to increase the varie- 

 ty and extent of the 

 sounds, so as to render 

 them available for art 

 purposes through the 

 instrumentality of the 

 key - board and pedal 

 system. And in the or- 

 der of things, when the 

 number of pipes was 

 added to from time to 

 time to give increased 

 compass, it became 

 necessary to originate 

 improvements in the 

 wind collecting and dis- 

 tributing departments. 

 These are, first of all, 



the bellows, then the wind-chest, wind-trunk, and sound-board 

 grooves. Meantime it is seen that the perfection of this depart- 

 ment, so to speak, was such that it permitted the builder to apply 

 air to the action mechanism according to the laws of pneumatics, 

 with obvious advantage. In the early centuries the instrument was 

 blown with a rude bellows by hand ; then came the pedal bellows 

 described by Prsetorius, in 1620, which he found in the ancient or- 

 gan in the church of St. ^gidien, in Brunswick. This system re- 



PopuLAE Style of Modern I'arlor Organ. 



