page_title: Pipe organ
section_title: The organ in the Baroque period (about 1600-1750)
hierarchical_section_title: Pipe organ / The history of the pipe organ / The organ in the Baroque period (about 1600-1750)
caption_attribution_description: English: Organ Callinet (1837) church of Notre-Dame, Saint-Etienne Français&#160;: Orgue Callinet (1837) de l'église Notre-Dame à Saint-Étienne
context_page_description: The pipe organ is a keyboard instrument in which the sound is made by air blowing through pipes. A person who plays the organ is called an organist. The organist plays the instrument using both the hands and the feet. The hands play the keyboards, while the feet play pedals which also make notes.
  Organs have been made for many centuries. They are usually found in places for Christian worship such as churches and cathedrals, although they may also be found in places like town halls and concert halls or even large private houses. Very small organs can be called “chamber organs”. Organs in large churches, cathedrals or halls are very large instruments indeed, and are built especially for the building they are in. They are called “pipe organs” to distinguish them from modern “electronic organs”.
  No two organs are ever quite the same, and they vary greatly from one country to another and one historical period to another. The information here is about organs from Europe, Great Britain and America.
context_section_description: The Baroque period was a great period for organ music in Germany.  Organs there were built on the Werkprinzip (literally: work principle) which meant that each keyboard with its pipes was built separately, like two or three different organs, although they were played from the same console.  Organs like these were built by the famous Arp Schnitger (1648-1719).  Many famous German composers wrote organ music, especially Johann Pachelbel (1653-1709) in South Germany and (Dietrich Buxtehude) (1637-1707) in North Germany.  The great composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) learnt from these composers and wrote some of the most famous organ music of all times.  The great organ builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753) lived during this time and built organs with a very beautiful tone.  Instead of a keyboard called a Choir (or Chair Organ) he built an Oberwerk which was above the Hauptwerk (Great).
  French organ builders at this time were very interested in colour (meaning: different sounds).  Many stops had names like Cornet, Tierce and Prestant.  When all the stops of the Principal chorus played together it was called the Plein jeux.  This was like the medieval Blockwerk.  All the reed chorus together was called Grand jeux. This would have sounded very loud and was used for dialogues and fugues.   Composers included Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703), Louis Marchand (1669-1732), Louis Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), Louis Claude Daquin (1694-1772) and François Couperin (1683-1733).
  In England there was not much interest in developing the organ.  It was used for accompanying the choir.  There were no pedals.  Pieces for organ were called voluntaries.  Henry Purcell wrote a few organ pieces.
caption: French organ built by Callinet (1837) Saint-Etienne, France
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