ORGAN 



a part arranged on each side. Ttie most usual 

 compass nl tin- manuals is innu (' on tin- second 

 line below tlie boss stall to K iilmve the third 

 ledger line over the treble staff: and the compass 

 of tin 1 |HilaU is from the same (' to the F between 

 the baits and treble staves i.e. two octaves and a 

 half. The real compass of notes is, as will be seen, 

 much greater. 



Organ-pipe* vary much in form and material, but 

 belong to two great classes, known afjliie-piftes and 

 reed-pipet. A section of one of the former 

 is represented in the figure. Its essential 

 parta are the/uu/ a, the iW// h, and a Hat 

 plate c, called the language, extending 

 nearly acrotw the iiipe at the point of junc- 

 tion of foot and body. There U an open- 

 ing, de, in the pi|>e, at the spot where the 

 language is discontinuous. The wind ad- 

 milted into tin- foot rushes through the 

 narrow slit at if. and, in impinging again-t 

 c. imparts a vibratory motion to the column 

 . of air in the pi|>e, the result of which is a 

 la/ musical note, dependent for iis pitch on 

 \J the length of that column of air, ami con- 

 sequent I Y on the length of the l>dy of the 

 pipe : by doubling the length of the pipe we c, I, lain 

 a note of half the pitch, or lower by an octave. 

 Such is the general principle of all Hue-pipes, 

 whether of wood or of metal, subject to consider- 

 able diversities of detail. Metal pipes have gener- 

 ally a cylindrical section, wooden pipes a square 

 or oblong section. A flue-pipe may IM; stopped nt 

 the upper end by a plug culled a tuiii/iion, the effect 

 of which is to lower the pitch an octave, the vibrat- 

 ing column of air lieing doublet! ill length, as it has 

 to traverse the pipe twice In-fore making its exit. 

 l'i|>es are sometimes half stopped, having a kind of 

 chimney at the top. The reed-pipe consists of a 

 reed placed inside a metallic pipe. This reed is a 

 tube of metal, with the front part cut away, and a 

 tongue or spring put in its place. The lower end 

 of the tongue is free, the upper end attached to the 

 top of the reed ; by the admission of air into the 

 pipe the tongue is made to vibrate, and, in striking 

 either the edge of the reed or the air, produces a 

 musical note, dependent for its pitch on the length 

 of the tongue, its quality being determined to a 

 great extent by the length and form of the pipe or 

 Mil within which the reed is placed. When the 

 vibrating tongue does not strike the edge of the 

 reed, but the air, we have what is called the free 

 reed, similar to what is in use in the Harmonium 

 ('|.v.|. To descrilie the pitch of an organ pipe 

 terms are used derived from the standard length of 

 an open Hue-pipe of that pitch. The largest pipe 

 in use is the 32-fect C, which is an octave In-low 

 the lowest C of the incident pianoforte. There is, 

 however, now in the new Sydney organ a pedal 

 stop 64-feet tone. Hy a 32-feet or Iti-feet stop 

 e mean one whose lowest note is produced by a 

 pipe 32 feet or 16 feet in length. 



The ttoju of an organ do not always produce the 

 note properly belonging to the key struck ; some- 



ti s tney give a note- an octave, or, in the pedal 



organ, even two octaves lower, and sometimes one 

 of the harmonic- higher in pitch, f ',/////,//</ or 

 miff nre gtopi have several pipes to each key, cor- 

 responding to the different harmonics of the ground- 

 tone. There is an endless variety in the number 

 and kinds of stojm in different organs ; some are, 

 and -ome are not continued through the whole 



range of manual or pedal. S e of the more 



important stops are called II/M-H or X/H/I/H-I/ iini/iiix',n 

 (a term which implies tlmt they extend throughout 

 the whole compass of the- keyboard). The stops on 

 nn organ are principally of H feet in the manuals. 

 The <lnl-;iiiiii i- an 8- feet manual stop, of small 

 diameter, so called from the sweetness of its tone. 



Among the reed-stops are the clarion, oboe, balloon, 

 vox liiiiiiiiiiii, ti iiiii/-it or potaune, and frumiW 

 ophicleide, deriving their names from real or fan- 

 cied resemblances to these instruments ami to 1 lie- 

 human voice. Of th impound stops the most 



prevalent in Britain is the stmjiiidllcraHiun- tie 

 i|tiently called mixture consisting of three to five 

 ranks of open metal pipes, often a 17th, 10th, 

 -"-M, 26th, and 29th from the ground tone. The 

 resource! of the organ are further increased by 

 appliances called couplers, by which a second 

 manual and its stops can be brought into play, or 

 the same manual can be united to itself in the 

 octave In-low or aliove. 



Organs are now generally tuned on the e<|ual 

 temperament (see TEMPERAMENT). The notation 

 for the organ is in three staves, consisting of a 

 treble and two bass clefs ; but in old compositions 

 the soprano, tenor, and alto clefs arc used. 



The organs used in antiquity were principally 

 water-organs. Large water-organs were employed 

 to accompany the performances at the Roman 

 theatres, and similar instruments were to In- found 

 ill the hip|H>dromcs of Constantinople. The scope 

 of the instrument was therefore originally secular, 

 and one of the earliest patrons of the organ was the 

 Kmperor Nero. Ctesibms of Alexandria must be 

 credited with the invention of the organ. Taking 

 the idea from a peculiar sort of clepsydra or water- 

 clock which he nad invented, and one function of 

 which was to tell the hours of the night by musical 

 notes, he worked onwards from invention to inven- 

 tion until he- const i -in-led the- earliest water-organs. 

 The instruments shown to Nero anil the lirst organs 

 ever seen in Koine were from the designs of Ctesi- 

 bins. The water mechanism in the ' water-organs ' 

 was connected solely with the blowing, and seems 

 to have lieen insisted on so strongly \<\ I lie- early 

 organ builders in order to render that operation 

 equable and steady. By means of pistons winking 

 in cylinders the wind was pumped through water 

 into the wind-chest, where were set the pl|>os, fur- 

 nished on the bottom with slides, which were con- 

 nected with iron keys by strings or trackers. Such 

 was the main difference between the- water-organ 

 and the wind-organ. The water-organ became the 

 rage of Home and increased in favour as the empire 

 hastened to iUi decline. In the reign of Honorius 

 (400 A. D.) no nobleman's bouse was considered com- 

 plete without its organ, and portable water -organs 

 were made in great numbers which could IM- carried 

 by slaves from house to house-, where concerts or 

 musical gatherings were attended by their masters. 

 After the overthrow of the western empire organ, 

 building seems to have been lost, among other 

 useful arts, under the influence of the barbarian 

 inroads. Constantinople, however, remained what 

 it had always been, the great home- of organ-build- 

 ing in the ancient world. The magnificence of the 

 organs in tin- Colden Hippodrome is spoken of 

 with enthusiasm by the Itwantine Idstoiians. An 

 organ which was brought by certain Kyzantine 

 ambassadors on a mission to Chailemngne is t-aid 

 to have servc^l as a model for the- lirst organ ever 

 built in meclia-val Kurope, constructed by the orders 

 of that emiieror according to the (Jrcck pattein. 

 From Aix-la-Chapelle the use of organs spread 

 throughout Charlemagne's empire, and tin- instru- 

 ment served as a model for the rest. 



The application of bellows to the organ was 

 known in the days of the later Roman eni|iernn. 

 ( In the oln-lisk of Thcodosins we have a delineation 

 of an organ blown solely by bellow-. I'rohnbly 

 the- invention of (lie In-Hows mechanism dales from 

 Hie time of the Kmperor .lulian. Yet this great 

 secret of organ building was rarely if evn acted 

 upon: and until the end of the 9th century, when 

 (Jcrmany had become the centre of organ-building, 



