ORGAN, in general, is an instrument or machine designed for the production of some certain action or operation; in which sense the mechanical powers, machines, and even the veins, arteries, nerves, muscles, and bones of the human body, may be called organs. Organ, by far the most noble and imposing of all musical instruments. It is quite inconsistent with the design and limits of this work for us to enter into all the details of the nature and structure of the organ. They would fill a volume, and require many illustrative plates. We shall, however, endeavour to give such a general idea of the nature of the instrument as may satisfy those readers who are not professionally interested in the subject; and we assure them that their own inspection of the mechanism of an organ (which is easily attained in every large town) will afford them more clear and satisfactory knowledge than hundreds of pages written in explanation of its construction. For minute details, we refer to EArt du Factem d Orgues, by F. Bedos de Celles, published at Paris in 1766 and 1778, in folio, with 137 plates. This is considered, even now, as the best and most complete work on organ-building. It is a pity we have none such in the English language. See also the Abbé Vogler’s German works upon organ-building, and G∙ Serassi’s Lettere sugli Organi, printed at Bergamo in 1816; together with Reports of the French Institute upon Μ. Grenié’s improvements on the organ. We suspect that the general want of improvement in organ-building in Great Britain may be traced to the absence of such works, and some others, in our own language, for the instruction of our organ-builders. This may also explain, in some degree, why almost all the best organs in England were constructed by foreigners. Recently, however, we are happy to perceive a spirit of emulation arising amongst our native organ-builders; and we have little doubt that the ingenuity and superior workmanship of British artisans will soon enable us to vie with, or excel, the best organ-builders of the Continent. But, to do this, we must cast aside all national prejudices as to organs, &c. and meet foreigners upon a fair and liberal ground of competition.

The earlier history of the organ is extremely obscure. A small and imperfect instrument, somewhat on the principle of the organ, may have been known to the ancients; but surely nothing like our great church-organ. We read of ancient hydraulic and pneumatic organs; but such distinction is so far erroneous, inasmuch as organ-pipes could not be made to sound by having water forced through them. The water must have been a moving power only, to impel the wind into the pipes. It would seem that the Greek and Latin terms 5sya∣∕iv and organum, translated by the English word organ, originally signified an instrument or machine of any kind, and were afterwards applied to musical instruments of all kinds. “ Organa dicuntur omnia instrumenta musicoum" says St Augustin. Still later, according to St Isidore, these names, οeγανον and organum, were applied to none but wind-instruments. In modern times the term organ, in a musical sense, came to signify only the instrument which we now know under that name. The passage in Egrnhard’s Annals which has been interpreted the sending of an organ by Constantine Copronymus to King Pepin in the year 757, may more probably mean “various musical instruments,’' since the words are, “Constantinus Imperator Pipini regi multa misit munera, interque et organa? &c. A writer of the sixteenth century has ventured to describe the supposed organ sent to King Pepin; and, by force of imagination, makes it out to have been a grand organ with pedals. In Luitprand’s History (book vi. c. 2) there is a curious passage regarding an instrument sent to the Emperor Constantine in 950 :— “Erat Regia ornata sumtuosissime, ibi aenea inaurata arbor ante ipsius imperatoris solium effulgebat, expansis magnum in modum ramis acreis atque inauratis; in his frequentissimae variarum specierum aves arte confictae, quarum singulae speciei proprias voces cantusque emittebant, incredibili arte.” In the second volume of Gerbert (De Cantu et Musica Sacra, plate xxviii.) will be found a representation of a tree of this kind with birds upon it. The Chronicle of Albericus adds to the singing of the birds before Constantine, “the roaring of enormous gilded artificial lions.” (See Gerbert, vol. ii. p. 151.) That such birds can be made, is certain from Maillardet’s beautiful little artificial bird, which started up out of a gold snuffbox, fluttered its wings, and sang with a pipe so clear and loud as to fill a large room. It would appear that, in the rude instruments called organs in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the pipes were disposed in such a manner that every sound in its finger-key compass caused the fifth and the octave of that sound to be heard above it. Such a succession of fifths and octaves was called “organum,” no doubt par excellence. From this and the old and extraordinary specimens of Biscantus, or Discantus, given by Gerbert and others, and alluded to in our article Music (page 623), we are inclined to believe that the modern mixturestops of the organ have originated. We leave the consideration[7:16:530] of the ancient organs to antiquaries, and now proceed to the modern organ, which seems to have assumed something of its present form in the fifteenth century.

The mechanism of the modern organ has been much improved at different times by different builders. The family of the Antegnati, of Brescia, were amongst the earliest famous organ-builders in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the eighteenth century there were in Italy many celebrated organ-builders, amongst whom Serassi of Bergamo, and Callido of Venice, each constructed upwards of three hundred organs.

Most of our readers probably know already that the great organ is a complex wind-instrument, consisting of a great number of pipes of different sizes, formed of wood and of different kinds of metal, some of which are flutepipes or mouth-pipes, and others reed-pipes; whilst all of these are made to sound by means of compressed air applied to them through certain channels, by bellows worked either by human force or by mechanism. There are different kinds of organs, from the Lilliputian bird-organ up to the great church-organ. We pass over the minor ones, including the chamber-organs and the smaller chapel-organs, and proceed to the great church-organ. We need not describe its front, nor the case in which its mechanism is contained. The great church-organ has usually three rows of finger-keys, placed above each other like steps. In some of the largest organs there are four, or even five such rows of keys. Besides these, there are rows of pedals, or footkeys, which act upon the larger pipes of the organ. The bellows communicate, by a wind-trunk, with wind-chests, or reservoirs of air, whence the wind is distributed to the various pipes of the organ when the finger-keys or the foot-keys (pedals) are pressed down. Attached to the upper part of each wind-chest is a sound-board, as it is rather improperly called. This sound-board consists of two parts, an upper and an under board, the latter of which is much thicker than the other. Both of these are formed of planks of wood laid horizontally side by side, and accurately joined together at their edges. In the under side of the lower board several rectangular grooves or channels are cut parallel to each other, and carried along nearly the whole length of the board, and as far as there are stops in the organ. In these channels are fixed bars of wood, so as to render each channel or partition completely separate from every other. In the upper side of this board are cut a number of other rectangular channels or grooves running across the board, and at right angles with the under grooves. Into these upper grooves are exactly fitted wooden sliders, or registers, which run the whole length of the grooves. These sliders can be drawn out so far or pushed in at pleasure, by a mechanism attached to the draw-stops that are placed on the right and left in front of the organ. Holes corresponding with the number or rows of organ-pipes placed above the sound-board, are pierced through the latter into the above-mentioned channels, and also through the sliders or registers, in such a manner that when the latter are drawn out, their holes correspond with those of the soundboard, and allow the air from the wind-chest to pass through them and through the other holes in the sound-board; whilst, on the contrary, when the sliders are pushed in, they completely prevent any air from passing from the wind-chest to the pipes above the sound-board. Above all, and corresponding with the upper holes of the soundboard, are placed the pipes, fitted in by their conical feet to what are called the stock-boards. There are rows of thin boards, called racks, which are sustained by pillars of wood, and which receive the upper part of the feet of the pipes in holes made for the purpose. Opening into the wind-chest, and fixed upon the under side of the soundboard, are spring-valves, which are connected, by a particular mechanism, with the finger-keys and pedals; and which, when the sliders are drawn out, and the keys and pedals pressed down, are made to open, and so to admit the air from the wind-chest into the channels or partitions belonging to the different rows of pipes constituting the various stops of the organ. The pedals and the fingerkeys communicate with these spring-valves by means of an apparatus of trackers, cranks, and rollers, acting upon pulldown wires that pass through the bottom of the wind-chest, and are attached to these valves. The draw-stop movement, by which the sliders are drawn out or pushed in, consists of a similar mechanism. In some organs these sliders are superseded by another contrivance. Thus, in what are called by the Italians somicri a vento, the opening of a given stop or register is not effected by drawing out a wooden slider, so as to make its apertures correspond with those in the sound-board; but by pulling open, all at once, in the channels of the sound-board, as many small valves as there are pipes to that given stop. These small valves are made to open by pulling out a draw-stop, and to shut by pushing it in again. They are considered to have many advantages over the ordinary slider, as being more durable, and less subject to the influence of changes of the weather.

A stop is called simple if it consists of one row of pipes, and compound if it consists of more than one row. As to the different rows of finger-keys, each communicates with what is really a separate organ, or collection of pipes, with its peculiar wind-trunk, wind-chest, sound-board, &c. These different organs are generally three, and are called the great organ, the choir-organ, and the swell-organ. The middle row of keys is connected with the great organ, the lower with the choir-organ, and the upper with the swellorgan. The swell-organ has its pipes enclosed in a wooden box furnished with a sliding door, or a hinged door, which is gradually opened or shut by mechanism moved by the performer’s foot applied to a pedal. All these different organs, constituting the great church-organ, are supplied with air by the same bellows, and by suitable wind-trunks connected with the bellows. The bellows now generally used are horizontal ones, instead of the old ones resembling blacksmiths’ bellows. For some improvements in the sound-board and its appurtenances, see Serassi’s Let· tere sugli Organi.

We have already mentioned, that the pipes of an organ generally consist of mouth-pipes and of reed-pipes. With regard to the mouth-pipes, their nature may be pretty well understood by any one acquainted with the upper part of the common English flute, or the flageolet. The reed-pipes are explained in a subsequent part of this article. What we have said regarding sonorous tubes in the article Music, pages 608, 613, 615, may assist the reader in understanding our notices of organ-pipes. Organ-pipes are either open, or stopped, or half-stopped. The stopped ones have a plug or tompion inserted into their upper end, and pushed down or pulled up to regulate the pitch. The half-stopped ones have a kind of chimney at the top. Some of the middle-sized ones are partly stopped, and have also on each side of the mouth a kind of ear of metal, by bending of which outwards or inwards, the pitch of the pipe may be regulated. The largest pipes are square ones of wood, and belong to the pedals. In some great organs, the largest open pipe is thirty-two feet in length. The other pipes are made of wood or of metal. It has been observed by organ-builders and others, that the quality of tone (timbre) of pipes depènds much upon their proportions in length and width, the material of which they are made, &c.; and also upon the form of their open top, by which the wind escapes. We shall have occasion to notice this again, when describing some of Grenié’s improvements. A reed-pipe, with a conical tube which has a bell-shaped end, as in fig. 1, gives the most brilliant sound. If the pipe [7:16:531] have a reversed conical top, as in comes dull. If two similar truncated cones placed base to base be fixed to the wider end of a long conical tube, as in fig. 3, a reed-pipe so formed will give fulness and strength to the sound. Theory affords no satisfactory explanation of these facts. The timbre of the stopped and of the half-stopped pipes is softer and duller than that of the open ones. Pipes of pure tin have long been known to possess a timbre more clear and penetrating than those made of tin mixed with lead. Some years ago, a Bohemian organ-builder made some of his pipes of zinc, which was said to answer better than even tin. No doubt various simple and compound metals, and various other substances that have not yet been used in the making of organ-pipes, might be employed with advantage to produce a still greater variety of timbres and effects; and for the same purpose, various modifications of the ordinary forms of pipes might also be employed.

The pipes and stops of an organ differ in number and kind according to the size of the organ, the fancy of the builder, and the taste of the public. In some Dutch, German, and Italian organs, there seems to be a superfluity of stops. An immense organ at Weingarten, in Germany, is described as having sixty-six stops and 6666 pipes. The great organ at Haarlem contains sixty stops, and its largest pipe is thirty-two feet in length. For an enumeration of the stops of three of Silbermann’s organs at Dresden, we refer to a Ramble among the Musicians of Germany, published at London in 1828 (pp. 193, 194, 195). One of the largest organs in Italy is said to be that built in 1733, by Azzolino della Ci-aja, for the church of the Cavalieri di S. Stefano at Pisa. It is said to have four rows of finger-keys, and more than 100 stops. Another remarkable one is in the church of S. Alessandro in Colonna, at Bergamo. It was built by Serassi in 1782, and has three rows of finger-keys, and about 100 stops. In it the first and second rows of keys serve for the great organ, and the second organ or choirorgan, built together in the same part of the church. The third row of keys is connected with mechanism, which passes under ground and extends to a distance of about 115feet English, with a third great organ placed in another part of the church, and directly opposite to the first. Notwithstanding such a distance from the keys, the third organ obeys them as readily as the first one does. Its lowest pedal-pipes consist not only of mouth-pipes, but also of reed-pipes. The following is a brief description of another organ built by Serassi in 1796. “Two rows of finger-keys, the upper for the great organ, the ripieno of which consists of the following stops: Two principal soprani; two principal basses; octave, twelfth, fifteenth, twenty-second, twenty-sixth, twenty-ninth, two thirty-thirds, two thirty-sixths, and twelve deep bass stops belonging to the chromatic scale, with the octaves of these, all, however, governed by one register. The different stops belonging to the great organ are, the sesquialtera; two cornets; flute in octave; flute in twelfth; German-flute; vox humana; viola; bassoon; English horn; trumpets; trombones; cymbals; kettle-drums, and bass-drum, the last being managed by a pedal. The lower row of manuals or fingerkeys serves for the second organ, or choir-organ. It has its rψieno, composed of principal, octave, fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty-second, twenty-sixth, and twenty-ninth; and has, besides, the stops of cornet, flute in octave, vox humana, and violoncello. By means of a pedal moved by the right foot, all the stops of the first organ can be opened or shut at once.”

Of the different stops or registers of an organ, some derive their names from the instrument the tone of which they imitate, and some from the relation in pitch which they bear to the sounds of the diapason stop, as octave, twelfth, fifteenth, seventeenth, and so on. We subjoin a brief account of the most usual organ-stops. I. Open diapason ; consists of metal mouth-pipes open at the upper end, and extends through the whole scale of the organ, as its name diapason imports. II. Stopped diapason ; mouth-pipes generally of wood, and their pitch an octave below that of the open diapason. They are stopped at the upper end. III. Double diapason ; wooden mouth-pipes, open at the upper end, and their pitch an octave lower than those of the open diapason. They are generally confined to the two lowest octaves of the organ’s compass. In some of the largest organs, the gravest sound of these is rendered by an open pipe thirty-two feet in length. IV '. Principal ; metal mouthpipes, the pitch of which is an octave above the open diapason. The principal is the first stop tuned; and then, from it, all the other stops. V. Dulciana ; a metal mouthpipe stop, tuned in unison with the open diapason. The sweetness of its tone originates in the length and narrowness of its pipes. VI. Twelfth ; metal mouth-pipes tuned a twelfth above the open diapason. VII. Fifteenth; metal mouth-pipes tuned an octave above the principal. There are, in some organs, stops named tierce or seventeenth, larigot or nineteenth, twenty-second, twenty-sixth, twenty-ninth, thirty-third, &c., tuned respectively at these intervals above the open diapason. VIII. Flute ; metal and wood mouthpipes, in unison with the principal. IX. Trumpet ; reed-pipes of metal, in unison with the open diapason. X. Clarion or octave trumpet-stop; metal reed-pipes tuned an octave higher than those of the trumpet stop. XI. Bassoon ; reed-pipes, in unison, as far as their compass reaches, with pipes of the open diapason. XII. Cremona, or properly krum-horn ; reed-pipes, in unison with the open diapason. XIII. Oboe ; reed-pipes, in unison with the open diapason. XIV. Vox humana ; reed-pipes, in unison with the open diapason, and intended to imitate the human voice, a function which in general they perform very unpleasingly.

Amongst the compound stops used in organs are, I. The sesquialtera, consisting of four or five rows of open mouthpipes at the intervals of seventeenth, nineteenth, twenty-second, twenty-fourth, or twenty-sixth, above the open diapason. II. The cornet, a stopped diapason, principal, twelfth, fifteenth, and seventeenth. III. Mixture or furniture stop, consists of several ranks of pipes nearly the same as those of the sesquialtera, but some of them of a higher pitch. Vogler denounces the mixture-stops as “ insignificant? We have sometimes heard a harsher term applied to them.

In Costanzo Antegnati’s Arte Organica we find the following exposition of the series of registers or stops of the organs then used in Italy.

In order to enable the reader to form a clearer idea of the distribution of the pipes of an organ, we subjoin a sketch of a row of the usual pipes of the great organ (as contradistinguished from the choir and swell organs), and as these pipes stand upon and are inserted in the top of the sound-board. To simplify the diagram, the rack-board and pillars are not represented here. The letter t indicates the trumpet; ff, furniture; sss, sesquialter; 15, fifteenth; 12, twelfth; p, principal; sd, stopped diapason; od, open diapason; SB, the top of the sound-board. The other rows of pipes are, of course, to be imagined as placed behind those pipes here represented, and as extending, in their respective ranks, the whole length of each stop [7:16:532]or register, in lines at right angles with the line formed by the row of pipes shown in the diagram.

Not many years ago, Μ. Grenié, a French amateur of music, introduced several important improvements in the construction of reeds for organ-pipes. (See the Reports of the French Institute, &c.) His reed (AB in the annexed figure 5) was made of wood or copper, square-edged, and of the form of a parallelopipedon. [In order to show the difference between the construction of Μ. Grenié’s reed and the common organ-pipe reed, we add a diagram of the latter, fig. 6.] The tongue was a thin plate of brass, of an even surface, and cut in a rectangular shape, so as to fit almost exactly the grooved face of the reed. A strong wire-spring cc kept down this tongue firmly upon the reed, at the proper length, so as to regulate the tongue’s vibrations. The result of such a construction is, that when this reed, enclosed in its tube, is made to sound by air forced into the porte-vent DEF, by the aperture at F, the air thus introduced not obtaining admittance into the reed between the tongue and the sides of the reed-groove, impels the tongue into the latter. A little air having been thus admitted into the reed-channel, the elasticity of the tongue makes it resume its former position, so as again to exclude the air. The velocity which the tongue had acquired in its first vibration causes it, when returning, to pass beyond the limit of its former position, to which it is again brought back by the resistance of the air, and by its own elasticity, and whence the impulse of the current of air from the porte-vent again forces it into the reedchannel. The advantages of this construction are, that the tongue does not strike against the edges of the reed, as in the common reed-pipes, which thereby produce a harsh and uneven tone; and that its movements are smooth and regular, since it has nothing to encounter in its vibrations but the air itself. The sound of Μ. Grenié’s reed-pipes is said to be, in the most acute as well as in the gravest of them, as sweet and pure as that of flute-pipes. Μ. Grenié adapted.the degree of strength and rigidity of each tongue to the breadth of the reed-channel which it had to cover, so that the stream of air could never throw it into vibrations around its axis. The strength of the spring-wire also kept the length of the vibrating portion of the tongue unchanged; so that, whatever the force of the wind, the tone never altered its pitch. Only the intensity of the sound was affected by the greater or less impulse of air. By means of a pedal, the performer moved a spring-bellows, and, by thus regulating at pleasure the force of the wind, could obtain a crescendo and diminuendo in all the reed-pipes, as perfect as that of the human voice, or of instruments modified in their sounds by the lips and breath of the performer.

The air which causes these reeds to vibrate passes out through open pipes, bevelled off into a cone, and terminating in a hemisphere, fig. 7. This form is said to give roundness and strength to the tone.

Μ. Grenié, when constructing his reed-pipes, was for a long time checked by a very curious phenomenon. He was at first occupied with the gravest octave of which the sound C is in unison with an open flute-pipe of eight feet; and had constructed a certain number of pipes, in giving wind to all his reeds by pipes of the same length, fig. 8. But when he had reached the first notes of the tenor compass, still continuing to construct his porte-vents in the same manner, the reed would not sound at all. He in vain increased and diminished the wind, in vain lengthened and shortened the tongue; the reed remained mute, or produced only very bad sounds. At last, after many attempts, Μ. Grenié thought that the length of the pipe which conducts the wind to the reed might have some unknown influence upon its vibration. He therefore substituted for his fixed tubes two pipes, of which the one was made to slide within the other, so that he could gradually vary the whole length. He tried this change of length until the reed produced a clear, pure, and sustained sound. He found also, that in order to obtain the tenor sounds in all their fulness, it was necessary to make the porte-vent much longer than for the sound immediately preceding, and this length always went on diminishing for the most acute octaves, as is represented by fig. 9. Then the tops of the pipes formed the curve C C' C*. This seemed to indicate that, by prolonging that curve, one would obtain the most favourable dimensions for those pipes of the first octave which Μ. Grenié had at first made of equal lengths. But, to his great surprise, he found that there [7:16:533]was no advantage whatever in doing so; but that, on the contrary, the sounds became very dull and irregular. He therefore reasonably adhered to his first construction, which, nevertheless, he still purposed to improve, by afterwards making all his porte-vents sliding tubes, so that each of them might have the most favourable length given to it. He has since constructed, on this same model, open reed-pipes of sixteen feet, which sound with very remarkable distinctness, strength, and regularity. In this case the tongue is a flat slip of copper, in length 0∙240 of a metre, un breadth 0O35 of a metre, in thickness 0∙003 of a metre; equal respectively to9∙449040, and 1∙377985,and 0∙118113 English inches and decimal parts. Its vibrations are so powerful, that they cause the pipe in which it is placed, the porte-vent over which it is mounted, and all neighbouring elastic bodies, to tremble. Of course, in order to make it sound, a powerful and well-managed bellows-íorce is necessary. That which Μ. Grenié employed was perfect in regularity and power. It had a double current of air, and was worked by one handle. Μ. Grenié obtained a patent for his improvements. He considered the mixturestops in common organs as productive of nothing but bad effects, and therefore excluded them from his organ. (See report by Cherubini, Catel, Baillot, &c. in 1811.) We have given so full an account of Grenié’s improvements, in order to excite the attention of British organ-builders to this subject, and induce them to discover many more improvements of which our organs are unquestionably susceptible.

One of the greatest steps to improvement in English organ-building was made upwards of twenty years ago, by Messrs Flight and Robson of London, in the construction of their magnificent organ, called the Apollonico. It was exhibited to the public, and attracted vast numbers of visitors. The ingenuity of its mechanism, the excellence of its workmanship, the fineness of its tone, and the novelty and grandeur of its effects, were universally acknowledged. This fine instrument was played either by means of the revolutions of three large cylinders, or else by means of six different sets of finger-keys acted upon simultaneously by , six different performers. The Apollonico was about twenty-four feet high and twenty broad. We heard it in 1817, and were much struck by its varied and powerful effects. However, the room in which it was placed was neither sufficiently large, nor so proportioned in form, as to display ∣the powers of this organ to the best advantage. This fine instrument alone is sufficient to bear us out in what we have said at the beginning of this article, as to the certainty of English organ-builders being able to rival, or to ixcel, the foreign ones, if they choose to exert themselves.

Several methods have been proposed in England to render the intonation of the organ less imperfect, by dividing he octave into a greater number of intervals than the usual twelve: amongst others, that employed in Hawke’s patent ιrgan, described in the thirty-sixth and thirty-ninth volumes of the Philosophical Magazine. Hawke divided the octave into seventeen intervals. Loeschman’s patent organ was I mother of this kind. He divided the octave into twenty-I Pour intervals, which were produced by six pedals and twelve finger-keys. (See description in vols.xxxvii xxxviii. i )f Philosophical Magazine.) In 1810, the Rev. Henry Liston, a clever and ingenious Scottish clergyman, obtained ι patent for an instrument, constructed by Messrs Flight and Robson, which he named the Euharmonic Organ. See vol. xxxvii. of Philosophical Magazine.) Another )⅛an, similar to the one last mentioned, was made for Mr Liston by the same builders. (See Philosophical Magazine, ∕ol. xxxix.) It had eleven pedals, six of which were the ' tame as those in Loeschman’s organ. In the second organ milt for Mr Liston, there was a contrivance for an occasional alteration of the pitch of the pipes, in the requisite legree, by means of flat metallic plates, which, when acted upon by the pedals, were brought, at due distances, over the tops of the open pipes, or opposite to the mouths of the stopped pipes, so as to flatten the pitch when this change was required.

I he object of Mr Liston’s organ was to supersede temperament; but although its ingenuity and its effects were admired by many of the best musicians in London, the complexity of its manuals and pedals prevented it from ever being generally adopted. And this has. been the fate of all such instruments, in modern as well as in ancient times; for attempts of a similar kind were made, centuries ago, to introduce such minute subdivisions of the octave into keyed instruments. The Spanish writer Salinas, in his work De Musica (lib. iii. c. 27), speaks disparagingly of an instrument called an Archicymbalum, which had been constructed in Italy above forty years before the publication of his work in 1577, and in which every tone was divided into five parts. “Non silentio praetermittendum arbitror instrumentum quoddam, quod in Italia, citra quadraginta annos fabricari coeptum est, ab ejus autore, quisquis ille fuit, Archicymbalum appellatum. In quo reperiuntur omnes toni in quinque partes divisi: ex quibus tres vindicat sibi semitonium majus, et duas semitonium minus, a quibusdam magni nominis musicis in pretio habitum, et usu receptum: eo quod omnis in eo sonus habet omnia intervalla, atque omnes consonantias (ut sibi videntur) inferne, et superne, et post certam periodum ad cundem, aut equivalentem sibi sonum post 31 intervalla reditur,” &c. In the latter part of the last century, F. X. Richter, chapel-master in the cathedral of Strasburg, usually composed upon a clavichord, which had twenty-one sounds to the octave, and which then seemed to be upwards of two hundred years old. Richter died in 1789, aged eighty.

For some hints regarding the proper use of the organ, see the article Music (vol. xv. p. 644). Those who wish to extend their knowledge of this subject will find abundance of information upon the history and the construction of the orgari, and the art of playing it, in works published in Germany, France, and Italy. The German works are the most numerous. (g. f. g.)