CHAPTER I. Origin and Early History. THERE is probably no instrument which has from time to time so engrossed the thoughts of musicians, as also of the public at large, as the organ, combining, as it does in its completeness the effects of almost all important instruments, and capable of an expression to be obtained from none other; ranging in tone from the most boisterous forte to the most delicate pianissimo, it alone stands forth as the only adequate representative of the orchestra, the which in some respects it even surpasses. Thus has it earned the title of the "King of Instruments." In the same way that the pianoforte traces its origin from the most primitive lyre of the Egyptians, so does this noble work of art by gradual, though well-marked stages, become a mere row of reed pipes, tied under the chin of an idle shepherd. In the following pages it will be our object to place before the reader the development of the organ from its primary sources, giving a brief sketch of its history down to the present day, and to show clearly and practically the principles upon which the modern organ is built, together with short incidental notices of the older builders who have in our better instruments left lasting monuments of their fame. The actual origin of the organ will ever remain in obscurity, though there can be no doubt that the first attempt at the production of sounds from pipes can be discerned in the Pandean pipes, which consisted of a row of reeds bound firmly together, and played by means of the breath being forced into them. The mythical god, Pan, has the honour of this invention ascribed to him.* But without treading the uncertain paths of myth, we find the Grecian and Latin shepherds frequently amused themselves by means of the reed pipes culled from the neighbouring brook. The next step to be noticed was the intro * Pan primus calamos cerâ cor jungere plures (Virg. Buc. Ec. II., 32). duction of a box, the primitive wind-chest, to which the breath was introduced by a single pipe, representing the wind trunk, and into which box the sounding pipes were fixed. Under these circumstances it will be seen that all the pipes would speak at once, which inconvenience was obviated by placing the fingers over those not required. The great drawback to the instrument being the difficulty of stopping the requisite number of pipes, we are not surprised at soon finding that valves were placed under each pipe, so that, on pressing a given valve, a certain one would speak, by which arrangement it became obvious that the number of pipes might be increased indefinitely, the which being gradually accomplished, the difficulty of wind supply became apparent, and, as a substitute for the lung, we find a rude kind of skin bag being used, and an instrument which strongly resembled the bagpipes (Capa), and in princi ple was precisely similar to the modern organ, pipes, wind chest, wind trunk, and bellows, being more or less complete, was the result. The accompanying cut (Fig. 1) represents one of the earliest drawings of an instrument of this nature, and is a copy of a manuscript of the thirteenth century ("Les Arts du Moyen Age"). It is, perhaps, advisable to point out that although we trace this instrument clearly to the Greeks, and that we derive our name from their tongue, that the original term, pyavov, was employed not only for this but for all musical instruments ("St. Augustine's Commentary on the 4th verse of the 150th Psalm "), as the Romans afterwards employed the word organum to many machines of a complicated nature, especially to stringed musical instruments. FIG. 1. All the ingenuity of those engaged in producing what for the future we may dignify with the title organs, was now centered in obtaining a steady and sufficient supply of wind. It being found that men could not regulate the amount of wind supplied by their efforts, and that therefore the tone varied greatly, the power of water was called into play, and the hydraulic organ, or hydraulicon, sprung into existence. The manner in which the ancients applied this power seems to have been most complicated for such small results, and has never been satisfactorily explained. Archimedes has had the credit of advancing the hydraulicon, and it will be curious to notice that the water used to act on the instrument was first pumped by manual labour, and seems only to have performed the part of steadying and regulating the supply of wind, and not actually producing it. These instruments soon became common throughout Italy, and the manufacture at this period was confined to the Greeks and Romans. In the year A.D. 395 Theodosius possessed an instrument which he has the credit of having made. In the fourth century also the Emperor Julian wrote on the subject ("Anthologia," Book I., chap. 86). Vitruvius, the architect, describes an organ in his tenth book. St. Jerom, in his writings, mentions one which might be heard a thousand paces or a mile; he also speaks of another at Jerusalem, which could be heard at the Mount of Olives. But by far the most important matter to chronicle about this period is the introduction of organs into the church, which at once lifted them from obscurity, and brought them prominently before the world at large. The credit of this step is accorded by Bellarmine, who quotes Platina's statements from the Pontifical, to Pope Vitalian, about A.D. 660, and, as an immediate consequence of this encouragement, organs began to be sought and scattered throughout Europe. Pepin the Short, King of France, desired to obtain one, and having applied to the Emperor Constantine (Compronymus), that potentate sent him, by special embassy, an instrument, the pipes of which were made of lead. In the year A.D. 826 a Venetian, named Gregorius, built an organ for Louis I., King of France, at Aix-laChapelle. Some authorities state that this instrument was not blown by water, and was, therefore, a "pneumatic organ, though, as other writers distinctly mention it as an hydraulic organ, it is better to infer that it was no exception to the usual kind then made. It must be noticed that hitherto organs were imported into Europe from Italy, but as they became more common and more sought, the French took up the art, and in a short time not only equalled, but excelled their former rivais in such a manner as to establish the manufacture of organs in their country as a recognised branch of enterprise, and as the civilisation of the Greeks and Romans waned, and that of the Franks rose, organ building, together with the other arts, throve, and, spreading throughout Germany, took such a firm hold that up to even a recent period it was to that quarter that the finest instruments in existence owed their being. There are two representations of the organ occurring in the Utrecht Psalter that have been the subject of great controversy among antiquarians. That document has been ascribed by some of the most able authorities to the sixth, or even the fifth, century; others being of opinion that these very organs themselves, if not added after the MS. was completed, prove it of the ninth or tenth century. The larger drawing, of which Fig. 2 is an accurate copy, appears over the 150th Psalm, and the smaller (Fig. 3) over the 151st Psalm. Paul Lacroix has a cut of the former in his "Arts du Moyen Age," and attributes it to the later date; but this is probably owing to the fact that he copied it ዝዘ FIG. 3. from the celebrated "Eadwine," or "Canterbury Psalter," in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, written in the eleventh century, and well |