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Organ music instrument brief description. How the organ works: inside view


XYLOPHONE

Ding-ding, tone-tone,
Xylo-xylo-xylo-phone.
The xylophone climbed onto the closet,
He was scared of the flamingo.
- You, flamingo, wait!
Don't knock too hard with your beak,
Better take a stick.
And you will hear a gentle ringing.
Just a miracle - the xylophone.
"Xylophone" translated from Greek means singing tree. The first xylophone appeared perhaps when primitive man I hit a dry tree with a stick and heard an unusual sound. Currently, similar simple xylophones are found in Africa, Asia and South America. It was brought to Europe by traveling musicians.
The xylophone consists of large quantities wooden blocks, producing sounds of different pitches upon impact. The bars are made from maple, alder, walnut, and sometimes rosewood. They are placed on a braided rope made of straw, matting or rubber. The structure is usually installed on a table, sometimes resonators - hollow metal cylinders - are fixed under the blocks. The xylophone sound is abrupt, dry and clicking. It is removed using “goat legs” - wooden sticks with thickenings at the ends, similar to spoons.
Sometimes metal blocks are used instead of wooden blocks. This is a metallophone or vibraphone. All the records are located on the same level, while on the xylophone the bars corresponding to the black keys of the piano are slightly raised. The vibraphone is a complex design. It is placed on a special three-frame table-stand, moved on four wheels. Appeared in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to its characteristic timbre and great virtuoso capabilities, the vibraphone is widely used in music. But if you attach a keyboard mechanism like a piano to a metallophone, you get a celesta instrument. It was made by master Auguste Muster in 1886. It is more convenient to play the celesta than with sticks on a metallophone. And the sound is just as gentle and sonorous. During his visit to Paris, P. I. Tchaikovsky heard the celesta and was so fascinated by its magical sound that he introduced the part of this instrument into his works: the ballad “The Voevoda” and the ballet “The Nutcracker.”
For the first time in an orchestra, the xylophone was used by Ferdinand Kauer in mid-19th V. in the work "Seven Variations". One of the most famous works in which the xylophone is used is Saint-Saëns’ symphonic poem “Dance of Death”. The Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” assigned the xylophone the song “In the garden, in the vegetable garden” to depict a squirrel gnawing golden nuts.


ORGAN

The organ is the largest musical instrument, a unique human creation. There are no two identical organs in the world.
The giant organ has many different timbres. This is achieved through the use of hundreds of metal pipes different sizes, through which air is blown, and the pipes begin to hum, or “sing.” Moreover, the organ allows you to continue the sound for as long as you like at a constant volume.
The pipes are located horizontally and vertically, some are suspended on hooks. In modern organs their number reaches 30 thousand! The largest pipes are over 10 m high, and the smallest are 1 cm.
The organ management system is called the department. This is a complex mechanism controlled by an organist. The organ has several (from 2 to 7) manual keyboards (manuals), consisting of keys, like on a piano. Previously, the organ was played not with fingers, but with fists. There is also a foot keyboard or just a pedal with up to 32 keys.
Usually the performer is assisted by one or two assistants. They switch registers, the combination of which gives rise to a new timbre that is not similar to the original one. The organ can replace an entire orchestra because its range exceeds the range of all the instruments in the orchestra.
The organ has been known since ancient times. The creator of the organ is considered to be the Greek mechanic Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria in 296–228. BC e. He invented a water organ - the hydraulos.
Nowadays, the organ is most often used in religious services. Some churches and cathedrals hold concerts or organ services. In addition, there are organs installed in concert halls. The largest organ in the world is located in the American city of Philadelphia, in the McCays department store. Its weight is 287 tons.
Many composers wrote music for the organ, but it was the genius composer Johann Sebastian Bach who revealed its capabilities as a virtuoso performer and created works of unsurpassed depth in its depth.
In Russia, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka paid significant attention to organ art.
It is almost impossible to master playing the organ on your own. This requires a lot of musical experience. Learning to play the organ begins in schools, if you have the skills to play the piano. But it is possible to master playing this instrument well by continuing your studies at the conservatory.
MYSTERY
The tool has been around for a long time
Decorated the cathedral.
Decorates and plays
The entire orchestra replaces
(Organ)


VIOLIN

It is generally accepted that the first string instrument invented by the Indian (according to another version, Ceylonese) king Ravana, who lived about five thousand years ago. This is probably why the distant ancestor of the violin was called ravanastron. It consisted of an empty cylinder made of mulberry wood, one side of which was covered with the skin of a broad-scaled water boa constrictor. The strings were made from gazelle intestines, and the bow, curved in an arc, was made from bamboo wood. Ravanastron has been preserved to this day among wandering Buddhist monks.
The violin appeared on the professional stage at the end of the 15th century, and its “inventor” was an Italian from Bologna, Gaspar Duifopruggar. The oldest violin, made by him in 1510 for King Franz I, is kept in the Netherland collection in Aachen (Holland). The violin owes its current appearance and, of course, sound to the Italian violin makers Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri. Violins made by Magini are also highly prized. Their violins, made from well-dried and varnished maple and spruce slices, sang more beautifully than the most beautiful voices. The instruments made by these masters are still played by the best violinists in the world. Stradivarius designed a violin that is still unsurpassed, with a rich timbre and exceptional “range” - the ability to fill huge halls with sound. It had kinks and irregularities inside the body, due to which the sound was enriched due to the appearance of a large number of high overtones.
The violin is the highest timbre instrument of the bow family. It consists of two main parts - the body and the neck, between which four steel strings are stretched. The main advantage of the violin is the melodiousness of the timbre. It can be used to perform both lyrical melodies and dazzling fast passages. The violin is the most common solo instrument in the orchestra.
The Italian virtuoso and composer Niccolo Paganini greatly expanded the capabilities of the violin. Subsequently, many other violinists appeared, but no one could surpass him. Wonderful works for the violin were created by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and others.
Oistrakh, or, as he was called, “King David,” is considered an outstanding Russian violinist.
There is an instrument that looks very similar to a violin, but is slightly larger. This is an alt.
MYSTERY
Carved in the forest, smoothly hewn,
Singing and singing, what is it called?
(Violin)

“The King of Instruments” is what the wind organ is called for its enormous size, stunning sound range and unique richness of timbres. A musical instrument with a long history, which has experienced periods of enormous 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 is equipped with keys. A special feature of this majestic instrument is that to play it, the performer must masterfully control not only his hands, but also his feet.

A little history

The organ is a musical instrument with a rich and ancient history. According to experts, the ancestors of this giant can be considered the syrinx - the simplest reed flute of Pan, the ancient oriental shen reed organ and the Babylonian bagpipe. What all these dissimilar instruments have in common is that to extract sound from them, a more powerful air flow is needed than human lungs can create. Already in ancient times, a mechanism was found that could replace human breathing - bellows, similar to those used to fan the fire in a blacksmith's forge.

Ancient history

Already in the 2nd century BC. e. The Greek craftsman from Alexandria Ctesibius (Ctesebius) invented and assembled a hydraulic organ - hydraulics. Air was pumped into it by a water press, and not by bellows. Thanks to such changes, air flow acted much more evenly, and the sound of the organ became more beautiful and even.

In the first centuries of the spread of Christianity, air bellows 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 oh, like Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

Middle Ages

In the middle of the 5th century AD. 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 also developed in Europe.

In the 9th century, Italy became the center of their production, from where they were distributed even to France. Later, skilled craftsmen appeared in Germany. By the 11th century, such musical giants were being built in most European countries. However, it is worth noting that a modern instrument differs significantly from what a medieval organ looks like. The instruments created in the Middle Ages were much cruder than later ones. Thus, 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 fists rather than fingers, hitting the keys with force.

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

Renaissance

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

Musical instrument XVI century becomes more and more complex: the keyboard becomes five-manual, and the range of each manual could reach up to five octaves. Register switches appeared, which made it possible to significantly increase the timbre capabilities. Each of the keys could be connected to dozens and sometimes hundreds of pipes, which produced sounds that were the same in pitch 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 this time not only sounded great and could imitate the sound of any one instrument, but also of entire orchestral groups and even choirs. In addition, they were distinguished by their transparency and clarity of timbre sound, 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 a symphony orchestra, had a dubious, and even negative influence. Masters, and primarily the Frenchman Aristide Cavaillé-Cohl, 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, was characterized by a desire for gigantism, which was reflected in organs and their scale. However, such trends quickly passed, and a movement arose among performers and specialists in the construction of organs, promoting a return to comfortable and simple tools Baroque type, with a genuine organ sound.

Appearance

What we see from the hall is the outside, and it is called the façade of the organ. Looking at it, it’s difficult to decide what it is: a wonderful mechanism, a unique musical instrument, or a work of art? The description of the organ, a musical instrument of truly impressive size, could fill several volumes. We will try to make general sketches in a few lines. First of all, the facade of the organ is unique and inimitable in each of the halls or temples. The only thing in common is that it consists of pipes assembled into several groups. In each of these groups, the pipes are arranged in height. Behind the austere or richly decorated facade of the organ lies a complex structure, thanks to which the performer can imitate the voices of birds or the sound of the sea 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. The musical instrument is very complex and can consist of three or more small organs that 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 lectern. It is here that the keyboards (manuals) are located one above the other, on which the performer plays with his hands, and below there are huge pedals - keys for the feet, which allow you to extract the lowest bass sounds. An organ can have many thousands of pipes, lined up in a row, and located in internal chambers, closed from the viewer's eyes by a decorative facade (avenue).

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

  • main - Haupwerk;
  • top - Oberwerk;
  • "ruckpositive" - ​​Rückpositiv.

Haupwerk - the "main organ" contains the main registers and is the largest. Somewhat smaller and softer sounding, the Rückpositiv 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 chamber-blinds, which open and close using a special channel. Due to this, effects such as gradual strengthening or weakening of sound can be created.

As you remember, an organ is a musical instrument that is both keyboard and wind. It consists of many pipes, each of which can produce a sound of one timbre, pitch and strength.

A group of pipes producing sounds of the same timbre are combined into registers that can be activated from the remote control. Thus, the performer can select the desired register or a combination of them.

Air is pumped into modern organs using an electric motor. From the bellows, through air ducts made of wood, the air is directed into vinladas - a special system of 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 is supplied under pressure.

"King of Tools" The largest, heaviest, with the widest register of sound produced, the organ has always been something of a legend in the flesh.

Of course, the organ has nothing to do directly with the piano. It can only be classified as one of the most of this stringed keyboard instrument. The result is an organ with three manuals that are somewhat similar to a piano keyboard, a bunch of pedals that do not moderate the sound of the instrument, but themselves carry a semantic load in the form of a particularly low register of sound, and huge heavy lead pipes that replace the strings in the organ.

It’s just the sound of the organ that the creators of “ancient” synthesizers tried to imitate. Although... it was possible to customize many sounds, which formed the basis of the idea of ​​​​a good synthesizer sound. Much later it became possible to synthesize the sound of a piano.

It is difficult to imagine a louder musical instrument than the organ. Just a bell. Like bell ringers, classical organists are characterized by hearing impairment. Therefore, organists develop a very special relationship with this instrument. In the end, they simply won't be able to play on anything else.

One way or another, the position of an organist was considered a church position - organs were mainly installed in churches and used during divine services. This picture emerged in the rather symbolic year 666, when the Pope decided to introduce the organ as the main instrument for the sound accompaniment of divine services.

But who invented the organ and when it was - this is another question, to which, unfortunately, there is no clear answer.

According to some assumptions, the organ was invented by a Greek named Ctesibius, who lived in the third century BC. According to other assumptions, they appeared a little later.

One way or another, more or less large instruments appeared only in the fourth century AD, and already in the seventh and eighth centuries they became quite popular in Byzantium. And so it happened in the end that the art of making organs began to develop precisely in countries with significant religious influence. IN in this case- in Italy. From there they were sent to France, and a little later Germany became interested in the organs.

The difference between modern organs and medieval ones

Medieval organs differed significantly from modern instruments. For example, they had much fewer pipes and rather wide keys, which were not pressed with fingers, but struck with a fist. The distance between them was also quite significant and reached one and a half centimeters.


 Organ at Macy's Lord & Taylor

It was only later, in the fifteenth century, that the number of pipes increased and the keys decreased. The apotheosis in organ building was reached in 1908, when an organ was built for the World's Fair, now located in the Philadelphia shopping center Macy's Lord & Taylor. It has six manuals and weighs a whopping 287 tons! Previously, it weighed slightly less, but over time it was expanded to increase power.

And the loudest organ is in Concord Hall in Atlantic City. He has neither more nor less, but seven manuals and the widest timbre set in the world. It is not used now because its sound can burst eardrums.

Video

Large concert organs are larger than all other musical instruments.

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 in relation to other varieties, including electronic (analog and digital), simulating the sound of an organ. Organs are distinguished:

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 of Egypt in 285-222. 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. Pope Vitalian is credited by tradition with introducing the organ into Catholic worship. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine V Copronymus gave the organ to the Frankish king Pepin the Short in 757. Later, the Byzantine Empress Irene gave his son, Charlemagne, an organ, which 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. Widespread in Western Europe the organ was received starting from 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.

During the late Renaissance and the Baroque era, organ building in Western Europe acquired unprecedented proportions. In Italy of the 16th-17th centuries, the most famous was the dynasty of organ builders Antegnati. In the last quarter of the 17th and early 18th centuries, about 150 organs were created or reconstructed by the legendary organ builder Arp Schnitger (1648-1719), who worked mainly in Northern Germany and the Netherlands. An outstanding contribution to German organ building was made by the Silbermann dynasty, their main workshops were located in Saxony and Alsace. The heyday of the Zilbermans' activities occurred in the 18th century.

Composers of the same period who successfully wrote for the organ often acted as consultants in tuning the instrument (A. Banchieri, G. Frescobaldi, J. S. Bach). The same function was performed by music theorists (N. Vicentino, M. Pretorius, I. G. Neidhardt), and some of them (such as A. Werkmeister) even acted as official experts in the “acceptance” of a new or restored instrument.

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 an entire symphony orchestra with their powerful and rich sound, instruments of a previously unprecedented scale and sound power began to emerge which are sometimes called symphonic organs.

Many historical authorities of continental Europe were destroyed during the Second World War - especially in Germany, as a result of the bombing of churches by the "Allies". The oldest surviving German organs are in churches St. James in Lubeck(2nd half of the 15th century), St. Nicholas in Altenbruch, St. Valentine's Day in Kidrich(both - the turn of the XV-XVI centuries).

Device

Remote controller

Organ console (“spieltisch” 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 just "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 is a device in the form of buttons, available only in organs with an electric register structure, which allows you to remember register combinations, thereby simplifying register switching (changing the overall timbre) during performance.
  • Ready-made register combinations are a device in organs with a pneumatic register structure that allows you to include a ready-made set of registers (usually p, mp, mf, f)
  • (from Italian Tutti - all) - button to turn on all registers and copulas of the organ.

Manuals

Organ manuals - keyboards for playing by hand

The first sheet music with an organ pedal dates back to the mid-15th century. :59-61 - this is the tablature of the German musician Adama of Ileborg(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 separated by a third: 223. In Italy, notes using an organ pedal appear much later - in the toccatas of Annibale Padovano (1604): 90-91.

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 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, whose pitch is primarily dependent on the length of the reed rather than the height of the trumpet, are also designated in feet, a length similar to the pitch of the trumpet of the Principal register.

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 are in different authorities different countries and eras are not the same, then in an organ part they are usually not indicated in detail: only the manual is written over one or another place in the organ part, the designation of pipes with or without reeds and the size of the pipes, 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, 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. This hammer-shaped tool is used to roll or flare the open end of the pipe. Larger open pipes are adjusted by cutting a vertical piece of metal near or directly from the open edge of the pipe, which is bent at a particular angle. 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” (eng. 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 best 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 of 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), 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 - with late XIX centuries to the 20s of the XX 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 windlade shleiflade, this is extremely rare) or a whole series of pipes of the same tone (windlady kegellade, characteristic of pneumatic traktur). 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 for the sound of the register depends not only on the distance from the organ console, but also on its size of pipes, the presence of relays in the structure 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 the release of air, 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. The most famous example of a historical instrument with a pneumatic structure is the Domsky organ. cathedral in Riga.

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 (for example, the huge organ of the Rufatti brothers company in the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, USA), control the organ from an unlimited number of additional consoles (the world's largest organ of the Broadwalk concert hall in Atlantic City has a record stationary spiltish with seven manuals and a mobile one with five), perform music for two and three organs on one organ, and also place the remote control in a convenient place in the orchestra, from which the conductor will be clearly visible (such as the Rieger-Kloss organ V concert hall them. P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow). Allows the connection of several organs in common system, and also provides a unique opportunity to record a performance and then play it back without the participation of an organist (the Cathedral organ was one of the first to receive this opportunity Notre Dame of Paris during reconstruction in 1959). 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, in combination with reliable fiber optic cables, does not cause a delay; in instruments of the first half and mid-20th century it was often electromechanical). The electric power supply of the 20th century is not reliable [ ], and in terms of complexity of design and repair, weight and cost, it often surpasses mechanical and even pneumatic ones. 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

Organ in the Church of Our Lady in Munich

The largest organ in Europe is the Great Organ of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Passau, built by the German company Stenmayer & Co (1993). 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).

In the 20th century, the Dutch physicist A. Fokker developed an instrument with several keyboards and unusual setting, which was called the Fokker organ.

There are other exotic varieties of the organ, such as

Organ– a unique musical instrument with a long history. One can only talk about the organ in superlatives: the largest in size, the most powerful in sound intensity, with the widest sound range and enormous 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 god wildlife, shepherding and cattle breeding, Pan invented a new musical instrument for himself, connecting several reed tubes of different sizes 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 a good respiratory system were required. 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 XVII-XVIII centuries in Germany, where musical works Great composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude, unsurpassed masters of organ music, created for the organ.

The organs differed not only in their beauty and variety of sound, but also in their architecture and decor - each of the musical instruments had individuality, was created for specific tasks, and fit harmoniously into the internal environment of the room.
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 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 in the United States is located in the Boardwalk Concert Hall in Atlantic City. 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 have an immediate, profound and stunning effect on the human soul; it seems that the heart is about to burst from the divine beauty of the music, the sky will open up and the secrets of existence, until that moment incomprehensible, will be revealed.