St. Landry democrat., 1888-05-12
THE PIPE ORGAN.
An Instrument Which Had a Beginning In
the Days of Jubal.

An Instrument Which Had Beginning in
the Days of Jubal.
The pipe organ of the nineteenth
century, with it's numerous pipes,
stops and keys, may be considered as
the nearly completed instrument
which had a beginning in the days OF
Jubal.
Jubals organ, the pipes of Pan and
perhaps the bagbipes were some of the
earliest forms of embellishments, UNI
less the human throat may be except
ed. The first organs were composed
of but few pipes of different lengths,
bound together, and supplied with
wind from the human lungs.
Improvements were made in the in
strument from century to century, but
the organ properly SO called is said to
have originated among the Greeks OF
Alexandria two centuries before the
Christian era This instrument was
water organ, with sixteen pipes. and
was used for domestic amusement.
In the seventh century there are rec.
ords showing that the organ was COM
monty used in the churches. The first
one spoken of in the Western world
was presented by the Byzantine EN-.
peror Cohronymus, A. d. ISL, to King
Pepin, father of Charlemagne. The
form of this wonderful organ
was like that of q branched
tree, with birds of various spe.
cies sitting among the branches.
This organ had twelve keys, each of
which must have been very wide, fo1
the player was obliged to work vigor.
ously with the fist to bring forth the
desired melody. When the keys were
struck, it is asserted that each bird
sitting in the branches gave forth its
own peculiar notes.
Charlemagne diligently cultivated
music and founded singing schools in
central places in his dominion. and he
also received an organ from Michael l.,
which he placed in the church at AK
la Chapelle.
In early times the mechanical diff
ficulties of performance were very
great. The organ keys were very
broad, being from four to six inches in
width. and from one foot to a yard in
length. The compass was sometimes
as great as twenty-one notes, yet but
two simultaneous tones could be pro.
duced, owing, mainly. to the fact that
the player had but two-closed fists
with which to strike the keys. 1t was
not until the fourteenth century that
the keys were so reduced in size as &C
become workable with the fingers, anc
several notes were then sounded by
means of one key.
An organ mentioned by St, jerome
had twelve pairs of bellows. The in.
strument was so powerful that its
sound might be heard a mile distant
In 1920, twenty bellows were found
in Brunswick which had been used
for an organ. These bellows were in
two rows, close together, and were
worked by the feet; ten men being re-.
CURED for this purpose. A wooden
shoe was attached to the top of each
bellows, and one man took charge Of
two bellows. Placing each foot in
the wooden shoes, and clinging to a
bar above his head with his hands, to
maintain an upright position, one foot
was raised on one bellows as the other
was lowered upon the other bellows.
In this tread-mill style continuous
supply of wind was procured for the
instrument
In the fifteenth and sixteenth cent.
uries great improvements were made
in the pipe-organ, and playing was
diligently cultivated in Italy. En-
gland and Germany. Gradually
has the organ improved in struct-
ure during this present century,
and the labor of manual performanc e
has been much diminished. There
are many large organs with from sixty
to one hundred stops now in existence,
and some have been built with from
six to seven thousand pipes. Whether
the pipe organ is yet a complete in
strument one is led to doubt, especi-
ally as ii is reported that an organ
has recently been built which was
constructed wholly of paper. ~ Y
Observer.