The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-03-18
History OF the organ.

The Pandean pipe, composed OF nOl-
low reeds of different lengths, and so
arranged that all could be blown at
once, seems to have been the basis
from which, by successive discoveries
in a period of three thousand years,
has been perfected the magnificent in
strument which alone renders the
highest measure of harmony possible.
The progress made, however, was for
many centuries very slow. The Pan
dean pipes, were first blown by hu-
man breath, then by some kind of
bellows, next by n reservoir of air con-
densed by means of the pressure of
water, perhaps-fOr so We interpret the
hydraldicon of Ctesiblus, in the third
century before Christ. The number
of pipes was increased, and they were
made of brass instead of reed. 1t was
not probably till after the commence
ment of the Christian era, that keys
were added ON which the performers
beat, and thus opening the valves, adj
mitted the air into the pipes.
The earliest record we have of the
use of the organ as an instrument of
church music is in the seventh cen
tury, when Pope Vitalian is said to
have introduced some of them into
the churches of the west Of Europe.
In 775, the Greek Emperor, Con-
stantine COprOnymus, sent one as a
present to King Pepin. In the latter
part of the ninth century, organs had
become quite common in England,
most of the cathedral churches hay-
ing them. In 95l, Elfeg, Bishop of
Winchester, procured one for his cath
edral, which exceeded i'm size any in
England, or probably any OH the con-
tinent. But large and cumbrOus rs
this was, it was a very imperfect in
strument. Its compass, though equal
in this respect to any then in Europe,
or to any built for two hundred years
later, did not exceed twelve or fifteen
notes. It's keys were broad and large,
and the player smOte them with his
fists. 1t was not till the twelfth CELL
tury that half notes were introduced
by some of the Ventian Organ-build
ers; and soon after the first attempt
was made to introduce a system of
concord, in such a way that each key
i'm the proper compass on being struck
called forth not only its own note,
but by connection with other pipes
also, its fifth and eighth above.
In 1l43, the steam organ, or calliOpe,
seems to have been anticipated, for
William of Malmesbury records that
q new musical instrument had been
invented, in which a wind ''fOrced
out by the violence of boiling water,
passing through brass pipes, sends
forth musical tones" 1t was not till
1170 that pedals We're attached to the
organ, and its power thus increased
One-third. This was the invention of
a German named Bernhard. Other
improvements We're added in great
numbers in the 10th century, and the
organ, though clumsier and ruder
than now, began to assume much OF
its present appearance.
In the time of the parliament and OF
Cromwell, many of the organs in the
churches in England were destroyed,
the more rigid of the ROundheads re-
garding them as instruments of in
iquity, and after the Restoration,
there being few good Organ-builders
in England, foreign artists came in
From the close of the seventeenth
century to about 1880, the organ re-
eeived few improvements; pipes of
tin, zinc, or tin and lead, and wood
were substituted for brass, and the ar
rangement of the pipes, the registers,
or stops, and the connection of several
partial organs into two, three or more
sets, or groups, for the players con-
Yenienee, were the most important of
these changes.
Since 1880, however, the instrument
has been so modified and improved
that it is hardly the same in anything
save its external appearance, as the
organ of a century ago. The vOicing
of the pipes has been greatly modified,
and the variety, richness, compass
and sweetness Of its tones thereby in
creased the valves and other arrange
ments for the passage or cutting OFF
the air from the pipes instantaneOusly
have been perfected, which with many
other improvements introduced have
made the grand and noble instrument
approximate more nearly to its pre-
destined purpose, of giving utteranee,
under the hands of skilful player, to
the sublimest and most impressive
musical compositions.
1t has been until recently neces-
sity that the great range of musical
expression could only be attained ut
very high cost. The number, size and
material of the pipes, and the great
variety of mechanical cOntrivanceS
necessary for their harmonious mani
pulatiOn and the production of the
best results from them, have rendered
il inevitable that even n small pipe
organ of good tOneand moderate COM
pass should cost from one thousand to
two thousand dollars, while the larger
and more complete instruments have
ranged from three to fifty thousand or
more dollars the great organ at Music
Hall, Boston, often regarded as the
ninth wonder Of the world, exceeded
in cost the latter sum, it is said.