How an organ is organized. Organ (musical instrument) What is the name of a small organ

When starting a story about the structure of an organ instrument, one should start with the most obvious.

An organ console refers to the controls that include all the numerous keys, shifters and pedals.

So to gaming devices includes 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 keys that transfer the registers of one manual to another.

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

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

An example of an organ copula

But first things first:

• Copula. A mechanism that can transfer registers from one manual to another manual, or to a pedalboard. This is relevant when you need to transfer the sound registers of weaker manuals to stronger ones, or bring the sound registers to the main manual. The copulas are turned on with special foot levers with latches or with the help of 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 regulated 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 electric tracture. Here one would make an assumption that the organ with an electric tracture is somewhat related to the antediluvian synthesizers, but the wind organ itself is too ambiguous an instrument to easily make such an oversight.
• Ready register combinations. Unlike the register combination memory bank, which vaguely resembles the presets of modern digital sound processors, ready-made register combinations are organs with a pneumatic register tracture. 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 is the switch.

Manual

Keyboard, in other words. But the organ has keys for playing with your feet - pedals, so it's more correct to say the manual.

Usually there are two to four manuals in the 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 main The manual usually contains the loudest registers. It is also called Hauptwerk. It can be located both closest to the performer and in the second row.

• Oberwerk - a little quieter. Its pipes are located under the pipes of the main manual.
• Rückpositiv is a completely unique keyboard. She controls those pipes that are located separately from all the others. So, for example, if the organist sits facing the instrument, then they will be located behind.
• 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 console itself, or on both sides.
• solowerk. As the name suggests, the pipes of this manual are equipped with a large number of solo registers.

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

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

Pedals

Organs did not originally have pedalboards. It appeared around the sixteenth century. There is a version that it was invented by a Brabant organist named Louis van Walbeke.

Now 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 portable.

Usually the pedals control the bassiest pipes, for which a separate stave is written, under the double score, which is written for the manuals. Their range is two or even three octaves lower than the rest of the 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, handles or switches (for organs with electric control) are provided, which are located on the organ console either above the manual or nearby, on the sides.

The essence of register control is as follows: if all registers are turned off, then the organ will not sound when a key is pressed.

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

There is how labial, and reed registers. The first relate to the control of pipes without reeds, these are 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 overtone overtones.

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

The choice of register is provided in the musical staff, it is written above the place where this or that register should be applied. But the matter is complicated by the fact that different times and even simply in different countries the registers of organs 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 given to the consideration of the performer.

Pipes

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

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

To set up small labials (that is, those without a tongue), use a stimhorn. 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 pitch.

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

In addition, some pipes may be purely decorative. In this case, they are called "blind". They do not sound, but have an exclusively aesthetic value.

The piano also has a tractura. There, it is a mechanism for transferring the force of the impact of the fingers from the surface of the key directly to the string. The body plays the same role and is the main control mechanism of the body.

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

Large concert organs are larger than all other musical instruments.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 5

✪ Organ - the king of musical instruments

✪ Musical instruments (organ). Johann Sebastian Bach | Music Grade 2 #25 | info lesson

✪ Music 11. Organ sounds - Academy of Entertaining Sciences

✪ The largest organ in Ukraine

✪ "Organ??? Musical instrument!!!", Baranova T.A. MBDOU №44

Subtitles

Terminology

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

That kind of people who deal in instruments spends all their labor on it, like, for example, a kifared, or 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 wind organ, but is also used in relation to other varieties, including electronic (analogue and digital), imitating the sound of an organ. Organs are:

The word "organ" is also usually qualified by reference to the organ builder (e.g. "Cavaillé-Cohl Organ") or trademark ("Hammond Organ"). Some varieties of the organ have independent terms: antique hydraulics, portable, positive, regal, harmonium, hurdy-gurdy, etc.

Story

The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments. Its history goes back several thousand years. Hugo Riemann believed that the ancient Babylonian bagpipe (19th century BC) was the ancestor of the organ: “The fur was inflated through a pipe, and at the opposite end there was a body with pipes, which, no doubt, had tongues and several holes.” The germ of the organ can also be seen in the pan flute, the Chinese sheng, and other similar instruments. It is believed that the organ (water organ, hydraulics) was invented by the Greek Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria Egyptian in 296-228. BC e. Image similar instrument available on one coin or token from the time of Nero. Large organs appeared in the 4th century, more or less improved organs in the 7th and 8th centuries. Pope Vitalian is traditionally credited with introducing the organ into Catholic worship. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs. The Byzantine emperor Constantine V Kopronym in 757 presented the organ to the Frankish king Pepin the Short. Later, the Byzantine Empress Irina presented his son, Charles the Great, with an organ that sounded at the coronation of Charles. The organ was considered at that time a ceremonial attribute of the Byzantine, and then the Western European imperial power.

The art of building organs also developed in Italy, from where they were sent to France in the 9th century. This art later developed in Germany. ubiquitous distribution in Western Europe the organ has been received since 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 hit the keys not with fingers, as they do now, but with fists. In the 15th century, the keys were reduced and the number of pipes increased.

The oldest example of a medieval organ with relatively complete mechanics (pipes have not been preserved) is considered to be an organ from Norrlanda (a church parish on the island of Gotland in Sweden). This tool is usually dated to 1370-1400, although some researchers doubt such an early dating. Currently, the Norrland organ is stored in the National Historical Museum in Stockholm.

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

Device

Remote controller

Remote organ ("spiltish" from German Spieltisch or organ department) - a remote control 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. There may also be dynamic channels, various foot levers or buttons to turn on copula and switching combinations from register combination memory bank and a device for turning on the organ. At the console, on a bench, the organist sits during the performance.

• Copula - a mechanism by which the included 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 latch or a 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.
• The register combination memory bank is a device in the form of buttons, available only in organs with an electric register tracture, which allows you to memorize register combinations, thereby simplifying register switching (changing the overall timbre) during performance.
• Ready-made register combinations - a device in organs with a pneumatic register tracture that allows you to turn on ready set registers (usually p, mp, mf, f)
• (from Italian Tutti - all) - the button for turning on all the registers and copulas of the organ.

Manuals

The first musical instruments with an organ pedal date back to the middle of the 15th century. - this is the tablature of the German musician Adam from Åleborg (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 appends his pieces, where it is used with great virtuosity. Among them, the unique treatment of the antiphon stands out. Ascendo ad Patrem meum for 10 voices, of which 4 are entrusted to pedals. The performance of this piece probably required some kind of special shoes, which allowed one foot to simultaneously press two keys at a distance of a third. In Italy, notes using the 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 extendable or retractable drawbar knobs (or electronic switches) located on the organ console above the keyboards or on the sides of the music stand turns the corresponding row of organ pipes on or off. If drawbars are off, the organ will not sound when a key is pressed.

Each knob corresponds to the register and has its own name indicating the pitch of the largest pipe of this register - feet, traditionally denoted in feet in Principal. For example, the pipes of the Gedackt register are closed and sound an octave lower, so such a pipe of tone "to" subcontroctave is designated as 32", with an actual length of 16". Reed registers, whose pitch depends on the mass of the reed itself rather than on the height of the bell, are also indicated in feet, similar in length to the Principal register pipe in pitch.

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

All registers for the device of pipes 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 ones (German Streicher - “streichers” or strings), as well as overtone registers - aliquots and potions, in which each note has one or more (weaker) overtone overtones.
• Reed- registers, in the pipes of which there is a tongue, when exposed to the supplied air, which produces a characteristic sound 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 located not only vertically, but also horizontally - such registers make up a group that is from fr. chamade is called "shamad".

Connection of various types of registers:

• ital. Organo pleno - labial and reed registers along with potion;
• fr. Grand jeu - labial and reed without potions;
• fr. Plein jeu - labial with potion.

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 applied. The choice of registers for the performance of a musical work is called registration, and the included registers - register combination.

Since the registers different bodies different countries and eras are not the same, then in the organ part they are usually not indicated in detail: only the manual, the designation of the 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 of the performer. Most of the musical organ repertoire does not have any author's designations regarding the registration of the work, so the composers and organists of previous eras had their own traditions and the art of combining different organ timbres was passed on orally from generation to generation.

Pipes

The register pipes sound different:

• 8-foot pipes sound in accordance with musical notation;
• 4- and 2-foot sounds one and two octaves higher, respectively;
• 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 record, therefore, those actuated by the keys of the pedal and manual below the counter-octave already emit infrasound;
• the labial tubes closed at the top sound an octave lower than the open ones.

A stimhorn is used to tune the organ's small open labial metal pipes. With this hammer-shaped tool, the open end of the pipe is rolled or flared. Larger open pipes are tuned by cutting a vertical piece of metal near or directly from the open end of the pipe, which is bent at one angle or another. Open wood pipes usually have a wood or metal adjuster that can be adjusted to allow the pipe to be tuned. Closed wood or metal pipes are adjusted by adjusting the plug or cap at the top end of the pipe.

Facade pipes of the organ can also play a decorative role. If the pipes do not sound, then they are called "decorative" or "blind" (eng. dummy pipes).

Traktura

An organ tractura is a system of transmission devices that functionally connects the controls on the organ's console with the organ's air-locking devices. The game tractor transmits the movement of the manual keys and the pedal to the valves of a particular pipe or group of pipes in a potion. The register tracture provides switching on or off of the whole register or a group of registers in response to pressing the toggle switch or moving the register handle.

Through the register tracture, the memory of the organ also acts - combinations of registers, pre-configured and embedded in the device 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 function of memory is not available in all organs. It is absent in organs with a mechanical register tracture.

Mechanical

Mechanical tracture - reference, authentic and the most common on this moment, allowing you to perform the widest range of works of all eras; mechanical tracture does not give the phenomenon of "delay" of sound and allows you to thoroughly feel the position and behavior of the air valve, which makes it possible for the best control of the instrument by the organist and the achievement of high performance technique. The key of the manual or pedal, when using a mechanical traction, is connected to the air valve by a system of light wooden or polymer rods (abstracts), rollers and levers; occasionally, in large old organs, a cable-block transmission was used. Since the movement of all these elements is carried out only by the effort of the organist, there are restrictions in the size and nature of the arrangement of the sounding elements of the organ. In giant organs (more than 100 registers), mechanical traction is either not used or supplemented by a Barker machine (a pneumatic amplifier that helps to press the keys; such 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). The mechanical gaming is usually combined with the mechanical register tracture and windlad of the shleyflade system.

Pneumatic

Pneumatic tracture - the most common in romantic organs - with late XIX century to the 20s of the XX century; pressing the key opens a valve in the control air duct, the air supply to which opens the pneumatic valve of a particular pipe (when using windblade shleyflade, it is extremely rare) or a whole series of pipes of the same tone (windblade kegellade, characteristic of pneumatic traction). It allows building huge instruments in terms of the set of registers, as it has no power limitations of the mechanical tracture, however, it has the phenomenon of sound “delay”. This makes it often technically impossible to perform 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 remote control of the organ, but also on the size of the pipes, the presence of relays in the tract, which accelerate the operation of the mechanics due to the refreshment of the impulse, the design features of the pipe and the type of windlad used (almost always it is a kegellad, sometimes it is a membranenlad: it works to release air, extremely fast response). In addition, the pneumatic tracture disconnects the keyboard from the air valves, depriving the organist of the feeling of " feedback” and impairing control over the tool. Pneumatic tracture of the organ is good for performing solo works of the Romantic period, difficult to play in an ensemble, and not always suitable for baroque and contemporary music.

Electrical

Electric tractor is a tractor widely used in the 20th century, with direct signal transmission from a key to an electromechanical valve opening-closing relay by means of a direct current pulse in an electrical circuit. Currently, more and more often replaced by mechanical. This is the only traktura that does not impose any restrictions on the number and location of the registers, as well as the placement of the organ console on the stage in the hall. It allows you to place groups of registers at different ends of the hall, control the organ from an unlimited number of additional consoles, play music for two and three organs on one organ, and also put the console in a convenient place in the orchestra, from which the conductor will be clearly visible. Allows connection of multiple organs common system, and also gives a unique opportunity to record a performance with subsequent playback without the participation of an organist. The disadvantage of the electric tracture, as well as the pneumatic one, is the break in the "feedback" of the organist's fingers and air valves. In addition, an electric tractor can delay the sound due to the response time of the electric valve relays, as well as the distribution switch (in modern organs, this device is electronic and does not give a delay; in instruments of the first half and the middle of the 20th century, it was often electromechanical). When actuated, electromechanical relays often give additional "metallic" sounds - clicks and knocks, which, unlike similar "wooden" overtones of mechanical tracture, do not decorate the sound of the work at all. In some cases, the largest pipes in the rest of the completely mechanical organ (for example, in the new instrument of the Hermann Eule company in Belgorod) receive the electric valve, which is due to the need for big expense air pipe to keep the area of ​​the mechanical valve, and as a result, the playing effort in the bass within an acceptable range. Noise can also be emitted by a register electric tractor when changing register combinations. An example of an acoustically excellent organ with a mechanical playing tracture and at the same time a rather noisy register tracture is the Swiss Kuhn organ in the Catholic Cathedral in Moscow.

Other

The largest organs in the world

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

Until recently, the largest organ in the world with a completely mechanical playing tracture (without the use of electronic and pneumatic control) was the organ of the Cathedral of St. Trinity in Liepaja (4 manuals, 131 registers, more than 7 thousand pipes), however, in 1979 in a large concert hall center performing arts An organ with 5 manuals, 125 registers and about 10,000 pipes was installed at the Sydney Opera House. Now it is considered the largest (with a mechanical traction).

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

Experimental Bodies

Organs of original design and tuning have been developed since the second half of the 16th century, such as, for example, the archiorgan of the Italian music theorist and composer N. Vicentino. However, such bodies have not received wide distribution. Today they are exhibited as historical artifacts in museums of musical instruments along with other experimental instruments of the past.

In the Philippine city of Las Piñas (in the church of St. Joseph), a unique organ was installed in 1822, in the design of which 832 bamboo pipes are used.

In the 20th century, a Dutch physicist

The “King of Instruments” is exactly what is called for the huge size, amazing sound range and unique richness of timbres of the wind organ. A musical instrument with a centuries-old history, which survived periods of great popularity and oblivion, it served both for religious services and secular entertainment. The organ is also unique in that it belongs to the class of wind instruments, but at the same time it is equipped with keys. A feature of this majestic instrument is that in order to play it, the performer must masterfully control not only his hands, but also his legs.

A bit of history

Organ - musical instrument with a rich and ancient history. According to experts, the progenitors of this giant can be considered the syrinx - the simplest Pan reed flute, the ancient oriental sheng reed organ and the Babylonian bagpipe. What unites all these dissimilar instruments is that in order to extract sound from them, a more powerful air flow is needed than human lungs can create. Already in antiquity, a mechanism was found that could replace human breathing - furs, similar to those used to fan the fire in the forge.

Ancient history

Already in the II century BC. e. Greek craftsman from Alexandria Ctesibius (Ktesebius) invented and assembled a hydraulic organ - hydraulics. Air was forced into it by a water press, and not by bellows. Thanks to these changes, the air flow was much more even, and the sound of the organ became more beautiful and even.

In the first centuries of the spread of Christianity, air furs replaced the water pump. Thanks to this replacement, it became possible to increase both the number and size of pipes in the organ.

The further history of the organ, a musical instrument quite loud and little regulated, developed in such European countries as Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

Middle Ages

In the middle of the 5th century A.D. e. organs were built in many Spanish churches, but due to their very loud sound, they were used only on major holidays. In 666, Pope Vitalian introduced this instrument into Catholic worship. In the 7th-8th centuries, the organ underwent several changes and improvements. It was at this time that the most famous organs were created in Byzantium, but the art of their construction was also developing in Europe.

In the 9th century, Italy became the center of their production, from where they were ordered even to France. Later in Germany there were skilled craftsmen. By the 11th century, such musical giants were being built in most European countries. However, it is worth noting that modern instrument significantly different from what the medieval organ looks like. The tools created in the Middle Ages were much cruder than later ones. So, the sizes of the keys varied from 5 to 7 cm, and the distance between them could reach 1.5 cm. To play such an organ, the performer used not his fingers, but his fists, hitting the keys with force.

In the 14th century, the organ became a popular and widespread instrument. This was facilitated by the improvement of this instrument: the keys of the organ replaced large and uncomfortable plates, a bass keyboard for the feet appeared, equipped with a pedal, the registers became noticeably more diverse, and the range became wider.

Renaissance

In the 15th century, the number of pipes was increased and the keys were reduced in size. In the same period, a small portable (organetto) and a small stationary (positive) organ became popular and widespread.

By the 16th century, the musical instrument was becoming more and more complex: the keyboard became five-manual, and the range of each of the manuals could reach up to five octaves. Register switches appeared, which made it possible to significantly increase the timbre possibilities. Each of the keys could be connected to dozens, and sometimes even hundreds of pipes, which made sounds that were the same in height, but differed in color.

Baroque

Many researchers call the 17th-18th centuries the golden period of organ performance and organ building. The instruments built at that time not only sounded great and could imitate the sound of any one instrument, but also entire orchestral groups and even choirs. In addition, they were distinguished by the transparency and clarity of timbre sounding, which is most suitable for the performance of polyphonic works. It should be noted that most of the great organ composers, such as Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Pachelbel, Bach, wrote their works specifically for the "baroque organ".

"Romantic" period

Romanticism of the 19th century, according to many researchers, with its desire to give this musical instrument a rich and powerful sound inherent in symphony orchestra, provided both for the construction of organs and for organ music doubtful and even negative influence. Masters, and first of all the Frenchman Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, sought to create instruments capable of becoming an orchestra for one performer. Instruments appeared in which the sound of the organ became unusually powerful and large-scale, new timbres appeared, and various design improvements were made.

new time

The 20th century, especially at its beginning, is characterized by a desire for gigantism, which was reflected in the organs and their scale. However, such trends quickly passed, and a movement arose among performers and organ builders that advocated a return to comfortable and simple tools baroque type, with a genuine organ sound.

Appearance

What we see from the hall is the outer side, and it is called the facade of the organ. Looking at it, it is difficult to decide what it is: a wonderful mechanism, a unique musical instrument or a work of art? A description of an organ, a musical instrument of truly impressive size, can amount to several volumes. We will try to make general sketches in several lines. First of all, the facade of the organ is unique and inimitable in each of the halls or temples. The only thing that is common is that it consists of pipes assembled in several groups. In each of these groups, the pipes are aligned in height. Behind the austere or richly decorated façade of the organ lies a complex structure, thanks to which the performer can imitate bird voices or the sound of the surf, imitate the high sound of a flute or an entire orchestral group.

How is it arranged?

Let's look at the structure of the organ. A musical instrument is very complex and may consist of three or more small organs, which the performer can control simultaneously. Each of them has its own set of pipes - registers and manual (keyboard). This complex mechanism is controlled from the executive console, or, as it is also called, the pulpit. It is here that the keyboards (manuals) are located one above the other, on which the performer plays with his hands, and below - huge pedals - keys for the feet, allowing you to extract the lowest bass sounds. There can be many thousands of pipes in the organ, lined up in a row, and located in the inner chambers, closed from the viewer's eyes by a decorative facade (avenue).

Each of the small organs included in the "large" has its own purpose and name. The most common are the following:

• chief - Haupwerk;
• upper - Oberwerk;
• Ruckpositive - Rückpositiv.

Haupwerk - "main organ" contains the main registers and is the largest. Somewhat smaller and softer-sounding Rückpositiv, in addition, it also contains some solo registers. "Oberwerk" - "upper" introduces a number of onomatopoeic and solo timbres into the ensemble. "Rukpositive" and "Overwerk" pipes can be installed in semi-closed shutter chambers, which are opened and closed by means of a special channel. Due to this, effects such as a gradual increase or decrease in sound can be created.

As you remember, the organ is a musical instrument, keyboard and wind at the same time. It consists of many pipes, each of which can produce the sound of the same timbre, pitch and strength.

A group of pipes that produce sounds of the same timbre are combined into registers that can be turned on from the console. Thus, the performer can choose the desired register or a combination of them.

Air is pumped into modern organs by means of an electric motor. From the bellows, through air ducts made of wood, the air is directed to the vinlads - special system wooden boxes, in the top covers of which special holes are made. It is in them that the organ pipes are strengthened with their “legs”, into which air from the vinlad comes under pressure.

Which sounds with the help of pipes (metal, wooden, without reeds and with reeds) of various timbres, into which air is blown with the help of bellows.

Organ playing is carried out using several keyboards for hands (manuals) and a pedal keyboard.

In terms of sound richness and abundance of musical means, the organ ranks first among all instruments and is sometimes called the “king of instruments”. Due to its expressiveness, it has long been the property of the church.

A person who plays music on an organ is called organist.

Soldiers of the Third Reich called the Soviet multiple launch rocket systems BM-13 "Stalin's organ" because of the sound made by the tail of the missiles.

History of the organ

The embryo of the organ can be seen in, as well as in. It is believed that the organ (hydraulos; also hydraulikon, hydraulis - “water organ”) was invented by the Greek Ktesibius, who lived in Alexandria of Egypt in 296-228. BC e. The image of a similar tool is available on one coin or token from the time of Nero.

Large organs appeared in the 4th century, more or less improved organs in the 7th and 8th centuries. Pope Vitalian (666) introduced the organ into the Catholic Church. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs.

The art of building organs also developed in Italy, from where they were sent to France in the 9th century. Later this art developed in Germany. The organ began to receive the greatest and ubiquitous distribution in the XIV century. In the 14th century, a pedal appeared in the organ, that is, a keyboard for the feet.

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 hit the keys not with fingers, as they do now, but with fists.

In the 15th century, the keys were reduced and the number of pipes increased.

Organ device

Improved organs reached a huge number of pipes and tubes; for example, the organ in Paris in the church of St. Sulpice has 7 thousand pipes and tubes. In the organ there are pipes and tubes of the following sizes: at 1 foot, notes sound three octaves higher than written, at 2 feet, notes sound two octaves higher than written, at 4 feet, notes sound an octave higher than written, at 8 feet, notes sound as they are written, at 16 feet - notes sound an octave below written, at 32 feet - notes sound two octaves below written. Closing the pipe from above leads to a decrease in the emitted sounds by an octave. Not all organs have large tubes.

There are from 1 to 7 keyboards in the organ (usually 2-4); they are called manuals. Although each organ keyboard has a volume of 4-5 octaves, thanks to the pipes sounding two octaves below or three octaves above the written notes, the volume of a large organ has 9.5 octaves. Each set of pipes of the same timbre is, as it were, a separate instrument and is called register.

Each of the retractable or retractable buttons or registers (located above the keyboard or on the sides of the instrument) actuates a corresponding row of tubes. Each button or register has its own name and a corresponding inscription, indicating the length of the largest pipe of this register. 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 applied. (The choice of registers for the performance of a piece of music is called registering.) Registers in the organs are from 2 to 300 (most often found from 8 to 60).

All registers fall into two categories:

• Registers with pipes without reeds(labial registers). This category includes registers of open flutes, registers of closed flutes (bourdons), registers of overtones (potions), in which each note has several (weaker) harmonic overtones.
• Registers with pipes with reeds(reed registers). The combination of registers of both categories together with a potion is called plein jeu.

The keyboards or manuals are located in the terraced organs, one above the other. In addition to them, there is also a pedal keyboard (from 5 to 32 keys), mainly for low sounds. The part for the hands is written on two staves - in the keys and as for. The pedal part is often written separately on the same staff. The pedal keyboard, simply called "pedal", is played with both feet, using the heel and toe alternately (until the 19th century, only the toe). An organ without a pedal is called positive, a small portable organ is called portable.

Manuals in organs have names that depend on the location of the pipes in the organ.

• The main manual (having the loudest registers) - in the German tradition is called Hauptwerk(French Grand orgue, Grand clavier) and is located closest to the performer, or on the second row;
• The second most important and loud manual in the German tradition is called Oberwerk(louder version) or Positive(light version) (fr. Рositif), if the pipes of this manual are located ABOVE the pipes of Hauptwerk, or Ruckpositiv, if the pipes of this manual are located separately from the rest of the pipes of the organ and are installed behind the back of the organist; The Oberwerk and Positiv keys on the game console are located one level above the Hauptwerk keys, and the Ruckpositiv keys are one level below the Hauptwerk keys, thereby reproducing the architectural structure of the instrument.
• The manual, the pipes of which are located inside a kind of box, which has vertical shutters in the front part of the blinds in the German tradition are called Schwellwerk(fr. Recit (expressif). Schwellwerk can be located both at the very top of the organ (more common), and on the same level as the Hauptwerk. Schwellwerka keys are located on the game console at a higher level than Hauptwerk, Oberwerk, Positiv, Ruckpositive.
• Existing types of manuals: Hinterwerk(pipes are located at the back of the organ), Brustwerk(pipes are located directly above the organist's seat), Solowerk(solo registers, very loud trumpets arranged in a separate group), Choir etc.

The following devices serve as relief for the players and a means for amplifying or attenuating sonority:

copula- a mechanism by which two keyboards are connected, with the registers advanced on them acting simultaneously. The copula enables the player on one manual to use the extended registers of another.

4 footrests above pedal board(Pеdale de combinaison, Tritte), each of which acts on a certain combination of registers.

Blinds- a device consisting of doors that close and open the entire room with pipes of different registers, as a result of which the sound is strengthened or weakened. Doors are set in motion by a footboard (channel).

Since the registers in different organs of different countries and eras are not the same, they are usually not indicated in detail in the 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. The rest of the details are provided to the performer.

The organ is often combined with the orchestra and singing in oratorios, cantatas, psalms, and also in opera.

There are also electric (electronic) organs, for example, Hammond.

Composers who composed organ music

Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Adam Reinken
Johann Pachelbel
Dietrich Buxtehude
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Johann Jakob Froberger
Georg Friedrich Handel
Siegfried Karg-Elert
Henry Purcell
Max Reger
Vincent Lübeck
Johann Ludwig Krebs
Matthias Weckman
Domenico Zipoli
Cesar Frank

Video: Organ on video + sound

Thanks to these videos, you can get acquainted with the tool, see real game on it, listen to its sound, feel the specifics of the technique:

Sale of tools: where to buy/order?

The encyclopedia does not yet contain information on where to buy or order this instrument. You can change it!

Organ(Latin organum from other Greek ὄργανον - “tool, tool”) - a keyboard-wind musical instrument, the largest type of musical instruments.

Device and sound

Its height and length are equal to the size of the wall from the foundation to the roof in big building- temple or concert hall.
The device, principles of sound production and other characteristics of a particular organ directly depend on its type and type.
In acoustic organs (wind, steam, mouth, wind, hydraulic, mechanical, etc.), sound is generated due to the vibration of air in special organ pipes - metal, wooden, bamboo, reed, etc., which can be with reeds, or without tongues. In this case, air can be forced into the pipes of the organ different ways- in particular, with the help of special furs.
For several centuries, for the performance of almost all church music, as well as musical works written in other genres, only wind organs were used. However, it is known about the ecclesiastical and secular use of the organistrum, not a wind instrument, but a stringed keyboard instrument with organ properties.
The electric organ was originally created to electronically simulate the sound of wind organs, but then electric organs began to be divided into several types according to their functional purpose:

• Church electric organs, the possibilities of which are maximally adapted for the performance of sacred music in cult temples.
• Electric organs for concert performance of popular music, including jazz and rock.
• Electric organs for amateur home music making.
• Programmable organs for professional studio work

Let us consider in more detail the structure of the wind organ. It consists of the following parts:

Remote controller
An organ console refers to the controls that include all the numerous keys, shifters and pedals.
gaming devices include manuals and pedals.
To timbre - register switches. In addition to them, the console of the organ consists of: dynamic switches - channels, a variety of foot switches and keys for switching on copulas, which transfer the registers of one manual to another.
Most organs are equipped with copulas for switching registers to the main manual. Also, with the help of special levers, the organist can switch between different combinations from the bank of register combinations.
In addition, a bench is installed in front of the console, on which the musician sits, and the organ switch is located next to it.

Manual
Keyboard, in other words. But the organ has keys for playing with your feet - pedals, so it’s more correct to say the manual after all.
Usually there are two to four manuals in the 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.
The main manual usually contains the loudest registers. It is also called Hauptwerk. It can be located both closest to the performer and in the second row.
Oberwerk - a little quieter. Its pipes are located under the pipes of the main manual.
Rückpositiv is a completely unique keyboard. She controls those pipes that are located separately from all the others. So, for example, if the organist sits facing the instrument, then they will be located behind.
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 console itself, or on both sides.
solowerk. As the name suggests, the pipes of this manual are equipped with a large number of solo registers.
In addition, there may be other manuals, but those listed above are the most commonly used.
In the seventeenth century, the organs got a kind of volume control - a box through which pipes passed with shutters. The manual that controlled these pipes was called the Schwellwerk and was located at a higher level.
Pedals
Organs did not originally have pedalboards. It appeared around the sixteenth century. There is a version that it was invented by a Brabant organist named Louis van Walbeke.
Now 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 portable.
Usually the pedals control the bassiest pipes, for which a separate stave is written, under the double score, which is written for the manuals. Their range is two or even three octaves lower than the rest of the notes, so a large organ can have a range of nine and a half octaves.
Registers
The registers are a series of pipes of the same timbre, which are, in fact, a separate instrument. To switch registers, handles or switches (for organs with electric control) are provided, which are located on the organ console either above the manual or nearby, on the sides.
The essence of register control is as follows: if all registers are turned off, then the organ will not sound when a key is pressed.
The name of the register corresponds to the name of its largest pipe, and each handle belongs to its own register.
There are both labial and reed registers. The first relate to the control of pipes without reeds, these are 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 overtone overtones.
But reed registers, as can be seen from their very name, control pipes with reeds. They can be combined in sound with labial pipes.
The choice of register is provided in the musical staff, it is written above the place where this or that register should be applied. But the matter is complicated by the fact that at different times and even just in different countries, the registers of organs 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 given to the consideration of the performer.
Pipes
As you might expect, the sound of pipes is strictly dependent on their size. Moreover, the only pipes that sound exactly as it is written in the stave are eight-foot pipes. Smaller trumpets sound correspondingly higher, and larger ones lower than written in the stave.
The largest pipes, which are not found in all, but only in the largest organs in the world, are 64 feet in size. They sound three octaves lower than what is written in the musical staff. Therefore, when the organist uses the pedals while playing in this register, infrasound is already emitted.
To set up small labials (that is, those without a tongue), use a stimhorn. 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.
But to change the pitch of large pipes, they usually cut out additional pieces of metal that bend like reeds and thus change the tone of the organ.
In addition, some pipes may be purely decorative. In this case, they are called "blind". They do not sound, but have an exclusively aesthetic value.

Traktura wind organ
The piano also has a tractura. There, it is a mechanism for transferring the force of the impact of the fingers from the surface of the key directly to the string. In the organ, the tractura plays the same role and is the main mechanism for controlling the organ.
In addition to the fact that the organ has a tracture that controls the valves of the pipes (it is also called a playing tracture), it also has a register tracture, which allows you to turn entire registers on and off.
A potion is a group of registers that are currently in use. The game tracture does not use the pipes that are used with the help of the register tracture, so to speak, of course.
It is with the register tracture that the memory of the organ works, when entire groups of registers are switched on or off. In some ways, it resembles modern synthesizers. These can be both fixed combinations of registers, and free, that is, chosen by the musician in an arbitrary order.

The organ is a musical instrument with a history that is unique in its duration. Its age is about 28 centuries.
The historical predecessor of the organ is the Pan flute instrument that has come down to us (named Greek god who created it, as mentioned in the myth). The appearance of the Pan flute is dated to the 7th century BC, but the real age is probably much older.
This is the name of a musical instrument consisting of reed tubes of different lengths placed vertically next to each other. Lateral surfaces, they are adjacent to each other, and across are united by a belt of strong matter or a wooden plank. The performer blows air from above through the holes of the tubes, and they sound - each at its own height. A real master of the game can use two or even three pipes at once to extract a simultaneous sound and get a two-part interval or, with special skill, a three-part chord.

The Pan flute embodies the eternal human desire for invention, especially in art, and the desire to improve the expressive possibilities of music. Before this instrument appeared on the historical stage, the oldest musicians had at their disposal more primitive longitudinal flutes - the simplest pipes with finger holes. Their technical capabilities were not great. On a longitudinal flute, it is impossible to simultaneously extract two or more sounds.
The following fact also speaks in favor of a more perfect sounding of Pan's flute. The method of blowing air into it is non-contact, the air jet is supplied by the lips from a certain distance, which creates a special timbre effect of mystical sound. All predecessors of the organ were brass, i.e. used the controlled living force of breathing to create artistic images. Subsequently, these features - polyphony and ghostly fantastic "breathing" timbre - were inherited in the sound palette of the organ. They are the basis of the unique ability of organ sound - to introduce the listener into a trance.
From the advent of the Pan flute to the invention of the next predecessor of the organ, five centuries passed. During this time, connoisseurs of wind sound extraction have found a way to infinitely increase the limited time of human exhalation.
In the new instrument, air was supplied by means of leather bellows, similar to those used by a blacksmith to force air.
There was also an opportunity to automatically support two-voice and three-voice. One or two voices - the lower ones - without interruption pulled sounds, the pitch of which did not change. These sounds, called "bourdons" or "faubourdons", were extracted without the participation of the voice, directly from the bellows through the holes open in them, and were something of a background. Later they will receive the name "organ point".
First vote, thanks already known way closing holes on a separate “flute-like” insert in bellows, got the opportunity to play quite diverse and even virtuoso melodies. The performer blew air into the insert with his lips. Unlike bourdons, the melody was extracted by contact. Therefore, there was no touch of mysticism in it - it was taken over by bourdon echoes.
This tool has gained great popularity, especially in folk art, as well as among itinerant musicians, and became known as the bagpipe. Thanks to her invention, the future organ sound acquired an almost unlimited length. While the performer pumps air with bellows, the sound is not interrupted.
Thus, three of the four future sound properties of the “king of instruments” appeared: polyphony, mystical uniqueness of timbre and absolute length.
Starting from the 2nd century BC. constructions appear that are increasingly approaching the image of an organ. For air injection, the Greek inventor Ktesebius creates a hydraulic drive (water pump). This allows you to increase the power of the sound and provide the nascent colossus instrument with rather long sounding trumpets. To the ear, the hydraulic organ becomes loud and sharp. With such properties of sound, it is widely used in mass performances (race races, circus shows, mysteries) among the Greeks and Romans. With the advent of early Christianity, the idea of ​​blowing air with bellows returned again: the sound from this mechanism was more lively and “human”.
In fact, at this stage, the main features of the organ sound can be considered formed: a polyphonic texture, an imperiously attention-grabbing timbre, an unprecedented length and a special power suitable for attracting a large mass of people.
The next 7 centuries were decisive for the organ in the sense that it became interested in its capabilities, and then firmly "appropriated" them and developed Christian church. The organ was destined to become the instrument of mass preaching, as it remains to this day. To this end, his transformations moved along two channels.
First. The physical dimensions and acoustic abilities of the instrument have reached incredible levels. In accordance with the growth and development of temple architecture, the aspect of architectural and musical progressed rapidly. The organ began to be built into the wall of the temple, and its thunderous sound subdued and shook the imagination of the parishioners.
The number of organ pipes now made of wood and metal reached several thousand. The timbres of the organ acquired the widest emotional range - from the likeness of the Voice of God to the quiet revelations of religious individuality.
The possibilities of sound, previously acquired on the historical path, were needed in church life. The polyphony of the organ allowed the increasingly complex music to reflect the multifaceted interweaving of spiritual practice. The length and intensity of the tone exalted the aspect of living breathing, which brought the very nature of organ sound closer to the experiences of the destiny of human life.

From this stage, the organ is a musical instrument of great persuasive power.
The second direction in the development of the instrument followed the path of strengthening its virtuoso capabilities.
To manage a thousandth arsenal of pipes, a fundamentally new mechanism was needed, enabling the performer to cope with this untold wealth. History itself suggested the right solution: keyboard instruments appeared. The idea of ​​keyboard coordination of the entire sound array was perfectly adapted to the device of the “king of music”. From now on, the organ is a keyboard-wind instrument.
The control of the giant was concentrated on a special console, which combined the colossal possibilities of clavier technique and the ingenious inventions of organ masters. In front of the organist were now arranged in a stepped order - one above the other - from two to seven keyboards. At the bottom, near the floor under your feet, there was a large pedal keyboard for extracting low tones. It was played with the feet. Thus, the organist's technique required great skill. The performer's seat was a long bench placed on top of the pedal keyboard.
The combination of pipes was controlled by a register mechanism. Near the keyboards were special buttons or handles, each of which actuated tens, hundreds and even thousands of pipes at the same time. To prevent the organist from being distracted by switching registers, he had an assistant - usually a student who was supposed to understand the basics of playing the organ.
The organ begins its victorious march in the world artistic culture. By the 17th century, he reached his peak and unprecedented heights in music. After the perpetuation of organ art in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatness of this instrument remains unsurpassed to this day. Today the organ is a musical instrument of recent history.

The expressive resource of the organ allows you to create music for it with the widest scope of content: from reflections on God and the cosmos to subtle intimate reflections of the human soul.