“The King of Instruments” is what the wind organ is called for its enormous size, stunning sound range and unique richness of timbres. A musical instrument with a long history, which has experienced periods of enormous popularity and oblivion, it served both for religious services and secular entertainment. The organ is also unique in that it belongs to the class of wind instruments, but is equipped with keys. A special feature of this majestic instrument is that to play it, the performer must masterfully control not only his hands, but also his feet.
A little history
The organ is a musical instrument with a rich and ancient history. According to experts, the ancestors of this giant can be considered the syrinx - the simplest reed flute of Pan, the ancient oriental shen reed organ and the Babylonian bagpipe. What all these dissimilar instruments have in common is that to extract sound from them, a more powerful air flow than human lungs can create is required. Already in ancient times, a mechanism was found that could replace human breathing - bellows, similar to those used to fan the fire in a blacksmith's forge.
Ancient history
Already in the 2nd century BC. e. Greek craftsman from Alexandria Ctesibius (Ctesebius) invented and assembled a hydraulic organ - hydraulics. Air was pumped into it by a water press, and not by bellows. Thanks to such changes, the air flow was much more uniform, and the sound of the organ became more beautiful and smooth.
In the first centuries of the spread of Christianity, air bellows replaced the water pump. Thanks to this replacement, it became possible to increase both the number and size of pipes in the organ.
The further history of the organ, a musical instrument that was quite loud and little regulated, developed in European countries such as Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
Middle Ages
In the middle of the 5th century AD. e. organs were built in many Spanish churches, but due to their very loud sound they were used only on major holidays. In 666, Pope Vitalian introduced this instrument into Catholic worship. In the 7th-8th centuries the organ underwent several changes and improvements. It was at this time that the most famous organs were created in Byzantium, but the art of their construction also developed in Europe.
In the 9th century, Italy became the center of their production, from where they were distributed even to France. Later, skilled craftsmen appeared in Germany. By the 11th century, such musical giants were being built in most European countries. However, it is worth noting that a modern instrument differs significantly from what a medieval organ looks like. The instruments created in the Middle Ages were much cruder than later ones. Thus, the sizes of the keys varied from 5 to 7 cm, and the distance between them could reach 1.5 cm. To play such an organ, the performer used fists rather than fingers, hitting the keys with force.
In the 14th century, the organ became a popular and widespread instrument. This was also facilitated by the improvement of this instrument: the organ keys replaced large and inconvenient plates, a bass keyboard for the feet appeared, equipped with a pedal, the registers became noticeably more diverse, and the range was wider.
Renaissance
In the 15th century, the number of tubes was increased and the size of the keys was reduced. During the same period, a small portable (organetto) and a small stationary (positive) organ became popular and widespread.
By the 16th century, the musical instrument was becoming more and more complex: the keyboard became five-manual, and the range of each manual could reach up to five octaves. Register switches appeared, which made it possible to significantly increase the timbre capabilities. Each of the keys could be connected to dozens and sometimes hundreds of pipes, which produced sounds that were the same in pitch but differed in color.
Baroque
Many researchers call the 17th-18th centuries the golden period of organ performance and organ building. The instruments built at this time not only sounded great and could imitate the sound of any one instrument, but also of entire orchestral groups and even choirs. In addition, they were distinguished by their transparency and clarity of timbre sound, most suitable for the performance of polyphonic works. It should be noted that most of the great organ composers, such as Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Pachelbel, Bach, wrote their works specifically for the “baroque organ”.
"Romantic" period
Romanticism of the 19th century, according to many researchers, with its desire to give this musical instrument the rich and powerful sound inherent in a symphony orchestra, had a dubious and even negative influence on both the construction of organs and organ music. Masters, and primarily the Frenchman Aristide Cavaillé-Cohl, sought to create instruments capable of becoming an orchestra for one performer. Instruments appeared in which the sound of the organ became unusually powerful and large-scale, new timbres appeared, and various design improvements were made.
New time
The 20th century, especially at its beginning, was characterized by a desire for gigantism, which was reflected in organs and their scale. However, such trends quickly passed, and a movement arose among performers and organ builders that advocated a return to convenient and simple Baroque-type instruments with an authentic organ sound.
Appearance
What we see from the hall is the outside, and it is called the façade of the organ. Looking at it, it’s difficult to decide what it is: a wonderful mechanism, a unique musical instrument, or a work of art? The description of the organ, a musical instrument of truly impressive size, could fill several volumes. We will try to make general sketches in a few lines. First of all, the facade of the organ is unique and inimitable in each of the halls or temples. The only thing in common is that it consists of pipes assembled into several groups. In each of these groups, the pipes are arranged in height. Behind the austere or richly decorated facade of the organ lies a complex structure, thanks to which the performer can imitate the voices of birds or the sound of the sea surf, imitate the high sound of a flute or an entire orchestral group.
How is it arranged?
Let's look at the structure of the organ. The musical instrument is very complex and can consist of three or more small organs that the performer can control simultaneously. Each of them has its own set of pipes - registers and manual (keyboard). This complex mechanism is controlled from the executive console, or as it is also called, the lectern. It is here that the keyboards (manuals) are located one above the other, on which the performer plays with his hands, and below there are huge pedals - keys for the feet, which allow you to extract the lowest bass sounds. An organ can have many thousands of pipes, lined up in a row, and located in internal chambers, closed from the viewer's eyes by a decorative facade (avenue).
Each of the small organs included in the “large” one has its own purpose and name. The most common are the following:
- main - Haupwerk;
- top - Oberwerk;
- "ruckpositive" - Rückpositiv.
Haupwerk - the "main organ" contains the main registers and is the largest. Somewhat smaller and softer sounding, the Rückpositiv also contains some solo registers. “Oberwerk” - “upper” introduces a number of onomatopoeic and solo timbres into the ensemble. “Rukpositive” and “overwerk” pipes can be installed in semi-closed chamber-blinds, which open and close using a special channel. Due to this, effects such as gradual strengthening or weakening of sound can be created.
As you remember, an organ is a musical instrument that is both keyboard and wind. It consists of many pipes, each of which can produce a sound of one timbre, pitch and strength.
A group of pipes producing sounds of the same timbre are combined into registers that can be activated from the remote control. Thus, the performer can select the desired register or a combination of them.
Air is pumped into modern organs using an electric motor. From the bellows, through air ducts made of wood, the air is directed into vinladas - a special system of wooden boxes, in the top covers of which special holes are made. It is in them that the organ pipes are strengthened with their “legs”, into which air from the vinlad is supplied under pressure.
On June 17, 1981, its keys were first touched by the hand of a musician - the outstanding organist Harry Grodberg, who performed Bach's toccatas, preludes, fantasies and fugues for Tomsk residents.
Since then, dozens of famous organists have given concerts in Tomsk, and German organ builders have never ceased to be amazed how in a city where the temperature difference between winter and summer is 80 degrees, the instrument still plays.
Child of the GDR
The organ of the Tomsk Philharmonic was born in 1981 in the East German city of Frankfurt an der Oder, at the organ-building company W.Sauer Orgelbau.
At a normal working pace, building an organ takes about a year, and the process involves several stages. First, the craftsmen inspect the concert hall, determine its acoustic characteristics and draw up a design for the future instrument. Then the specialists return to their home factory, make individual elements of the organ and assemble them into a solid instrument. In the assembly shop of the factory, it is tested for the first time and the shortcomings are corrected. If the organ sounds as it should, it is again disassembled in parts and sent to the customer.
In Tomsk, all installation procedures took only six months - due to the fact that the process took place without any hiccups, shortcomings or other inhibitory factors. In January 1981, Sauer specialists came to Tomsk for the first time, and in June of the same year the organ was already giving concerts.
Internal composition
By the standards of experts, the Tomsk organ can be called average in weight and size - a ten-ton instrument holds about two thousand pipes of different lengths and shapes. Just like five hundred years ago, they are made by hand. Wooden pipes are usually made in the shape of a parallelepiped. The shapes of metal pipes can be more intricate: cylindrical, reverse-conical and even combined. Metal pipes are made from an alloy of tin and lead in different proportions, and pine is usually used for wooden pipes.
It is these characteristics - length, shape and material - that affect the timbre of the sound of an individual pipe.
The pipes inside the organ are arranged in rows: from highest to lowest. Each row of pipes can play separately, or you can combine them. On the side of the keyboard, on the vertical panels of the organ, there are buttons, by pressing which the organist controls this process. All the pipes of the Tomsk organ are sounding, and only one of them on the front side of the instrument was created for decorative purposes and does not produce any sounds.
On the reverse side, the organ looks like a three-story Gothic castle. On the ground floor of this castle there is a mechanical part of the instrument, which, through a system of rods, transmits the work of the organist’s fingers to the pipes. On the second floor there are pipes that are connected to the keys of the lower keyboard, and on the third floor there are pipes for the upper keyboard.
The Tomsk organ has a mechanical system for connecting keys and pipes, which means that pressing a key and the appearance of sound occurs almost instantly, without any lag.
Above the performing platform there are blinds, or in other words, a channel, which hide the second floor of organ pipes from the viewer. Using a special pedal, the organist controls the position of the blinds and thereby influences the strength of the sound.
The caring hand of a master
The organ, like any other musical instrument, is very dependent on the climate, and the Siberian weather creates many problems in caring for it. Special air conditioners, sensors and humidifiers are installed inside the instrument, which maintain a certain temperature and humidity. The colder and drier the air, the shorter the pipes of the organ become, and vice versa - with warm and humid air, the pipes lengthen. Therefore, the musical instrument requires constant monitoring.
The care of the Tomsk organ is provided by only two people - organist Dmitry Ushakov and his assistant Ekaterina Mastenitsa.
The main means of combating dust inside the organ is an ordinary Soviet vacuum cleaner. To search for it, a whole campaign was organized - they were looking for one that would have a blowing system, because it is easier to blow dust from the organ, bypassing all the tubes, onto the stage and only then collect it with a vacuum cleaner.
“Dirt in the organ must be removed where it is and when it interferes,” says Dmitry Ushakov. - If now we decide to remove all the dust from the organ, we will have to completely tune it again, and this whole procedure will take about a month, and we have concerts.
Most often, façade pipes are subject to cleaning - they are visible, so fingerprints of curious people often remain on them. Dmitry prepares the mixture for cleaning façade elements himself, using ammonia and tooth powder.
Sound reconstruction
Major cleaning and tuning of the organ is carried out once a year: usually in the summer, when there are relatively few concerts and it is not cold outside. But a little sound adjustment is required before each concert. The tuner has a special approach to each type of organ pipe. For some, it is enough to close the cap, for others, tighten the roller, and for the smallest tubes they use a special tool - a stimmhorn.
You won't be able to tune an organ alone. One person must press the keys and the other must adjust the pipes while inside the instrument. In addition, the person pressing the keys controls the setting process.
The Tomsk organ experienced its first major overhaul relatively long ago, 13 years ago, after the restoration of the organ hall and the removal of the organ from a special sarcophagus in which it spent 7 years. Specialists from the Sauer company were invited to Tomsk, who inspected the instrument. Then, in addition to internal renovation, the organ changed the color of the facade and acquired decorative grilles. And in 2012, the organ finally got “owners” - full-time organists Dmitry Ushakov and Maria Blazhevich.
XYLOPHONE
Ding-ding, tone-tone,
Xylo-xylo-xylo-phone.
The xylophone climbed onto the closet,
He was scared of the flamingo.
- You, flamingo, wait!
Don't knock too hard with your beak,
Better take a stick.
And you will hear a gentle ringing.
Just a miracle - the xylophone.
"Xylophone" translated from Greek means singing tree. The first xylophone may have appeared when a primitive man hit a dry tree with a stick and heard an unusual sound. Currently, similar simple xylophones are found in Africa, Asia and South America. It was brought to Europe by traveling musicians.
A xylophone consists of a large number of wooden blocks that produce sounds of different pitches when struck. The bars are made from maple, alder, walnut, and sometimes rosewood. They are placed on a braided rope made of straw, matting or rubber. The structure is usually installed on a table, sometimes resonators - hollow metal cylinders - are fixed under the blocks. The sound of the xylophone is abrupt, dry and clicking. It is removed using “goat legs” - wooden sticks with thickenings at the ends, similar to spoons.
Sometimes metal blocks are used instead of wooden blocks. This is a metallophone or vibraphone. All the records are located on the same level, while on the xylophone the bars corresponding to the black keys of the piano are slightly raised. The vibraphone is a complex structure. It is placed on a special three-frame table-stand, moved on four wheels. Appeared in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to its characteristic timbre and great virtuoso capabilities, the vibraphone is widely used in music. But if you attach a keyboard mechanism like a piano to a metallophone, you get a celesta instrument. It was made by master Auguste Muster in 1886. It is more convenient to play the celesta than with sticks on a metallophone. And the sound is just as gentle and sonorous. During his visit to Paris, P. I. Tchaikovsky heard the celesta and was so fascinated by its magical sound that he introduced the part of this instrument into his works: the ballad “The Voevoda” and the ballet “The Nutcracker.”
The xylophone was first used in an orchestra by Ferdinand Kauer in the mid-19th century. in the work "Seven Variations". One of the most famous works in which the xylophone is used is Saint-Saëns’ symphonic poem “Dance of Death.” The Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” assigned the xylophone the song “In the garden, in the vegetable garden” to depict a squirrel gnawing golden nuts.
ORGAN
The organ is the largest musical instrument, a unique human creation. There are no two identical organs in the world.
The giant organ has many different timbres. This is achieved by using hundreds of metal pipes of varying sizes, through which air is blown, causing the pipes to hum, or “sing.” Moreover, the organ allows you to continue the sound for as long as you like at a constant volume.
The pipes are located horizontally and vertically, some are suspended on hooks. In modern organs their number reaches 30 thousand! The largest pipes are over 10 m high, and the smallest are 1 cm.
The organ management system is called the department. This is a complex mechanism controlled by an organist. The organ has several (from 2 to 7) manual keyboards (manuals), consisting of keys, like on a piano. Previously, the organ was played not with fingers, but with fists. There is also a foot keyboard or just a pedal with up to 32 keys. 
Usually the performer is assisted by one or two assistants. They switch registers, the combination of which gives rise to a new timbre, not similar to the original one. The organ can replace an entire orchestra because its range exceeds the range of all the instruments in the orchestra.
The organ has been known since ancient times. The creator of the organ is considered to be the Greek mechanic Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria in 296–228. BC e. He invented a water organ - the hydraulos.
Nowadays, the organ is most often used in religious services. Some churches and cathedrals hold concerts or organ services. In addition, there are organs installed in concert halls. The largest organ in the world is located in the American city of Philadelphia, in the McCays department store. Its weight is 287 tons.
Many composers wrote music for the organ, but it was the genius composer Johann Sebastian Bach who revealed its capabilities as a virtuoso performer and created works of unsurpassed depth in its depth.
In Russia, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka paid significant attention to organ art.
It is almost impossible to master playing the organ on your own. This requires a lot of musical experience. Learning to play the organ begins in schools, if you have the skills to play the piano. But it is possible to master playing this instrument well by continuing your studies at the conservatory.
MYSTERY
The tool has been around for a long time
Decorated the cathedral.
Decorates and plays
The entire orchestra replaces
(Organ)
VIOLIN
It is generally accepted that the first stringed instrument was invented by the Indian (according to another version, Ceylonese) king Ravana, who lived about five thousand years ago. This is probably why the distant ancestor of the violin was called ravanastron. It consisted of an empty cylinder made of mulberry wood, one side of which was covered with the skin of a broad-scaled water boa constrictor. The strings were made from gazelle intestines, and the bow, curved in an arc, was made from bamboo wood. Ravanastron has been preserved to this day among wandering Buddhist monks.
The violin appeared on the professional stage at the end of the 15th century, and its “inventor” was an Italian from Bologna, Gaspar Duifopruggar. The oldest violin, made by him in 1510 for King Franz I, is kept in the Netherland collection in Aachen (Holland). The violin owes its current appearance and, of course, sound to the Italian violin makers Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri. Violins made by Magini are also highly prized. Their violins, made from well-dried and varnished maple and spruce plates, sang more beautifully than the most beautiful voices. The instruments made by these masters are still played by the best violinists in the world. Stradivarius designed a violin that is still unsurpassed, with a rich timbre and exceptional “range” - the ability to fill huge halls with sound. It had kinks and irregularities inside the body, due to which the sound was enriched due to the appearance of a large number of high overtones.
The violin is the highest timbre instrument of the bow family. It consists of two main parts - the body and the neck, between which four steel strings are stretched. The main advantage of the violin is the melodiousness of the timbre. It can be used to perform both lyrical melodies and dazzling fast passages. The violin is the most common solo instrument in the orchestra. 
The Italian virtuoso and composer Niccolo Paganini greatly expanded the capabilities of the violin. Subsequently, many other violinists appeared, but no one could surpass him. Wonderful works for the violin were created by Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and others.
Oistrakh, or, as he was called, “King David,” is considered an outstanding Russian violinist.
There is an instrument that looks very similar to a violin, but is slightly larger. This is an alt.
MYSTERY
Carved in the forest, smoothly hewn,
Singing and singing, what is it called?
(Violin)
When starting to talk about the structure of the organ instrument, we should start with the most obvious.
The organ console refers to the controls, which include all the numerous keys, register change levers and pedals.
So to gaming devices include manuals and pedals.
TO timbre– register switches. In addition to them, the organ console consists of: dynamic switches - channels, a variety of foot switches and copula switch keys, which transfer the registers of one manual to another.
Most organs are equipped with copulas for switching registers to the main manual. Also, using special levers, the organist can switch various combinations from the bank of register combinations.
In addition, a bench is installed in front of the console, on which the musician sits, and next to it is the organ switch.
Example of an organ copulaBut first things first:
- Copula. A mechanism that can transfer the registers of one manual to another manual, or a pedal keyboard. This is relevant when you need to transfer the sound registers of weaker manuals to stronger ones, or transfer the sound registers to the main manual. The copulas are activated using special foot levers with locks or using special buttons.
- Channel. This is a device with which you can adjust the volume of each individual manual. At the same time, the shutters of the blinds are adjusted in the box through which the pipes of this particular manual pass.
- Memory bank of register combinations. Such a device is available only in electric organs, that is, in organs with an electrical circuit. Here we would make the assumption that an organ with an electric structure is somehow related to antediluvian synthesizers, but the wind organ itself is too ambiguous an instrument for such an oversight to be easily made.
- Ready-made register combinations. Unlike the memory bank of register combinations, which vaguely resemble the presets of modern digital audio processors, ready-made register combinations refer to organs with a pneumatic register structure. But the essence is the same: they make it possible to use ready-made settings.
- Tutti. But this device includes manuals and all registers. Here's the switch.
Manual
The keyboard, in other words. It’s just that the organ has keys for playing with your feet – pedals, so it’s more correct to say it’s a manual.
Usually there are from two to four manuals in an organ, but sometimes there are specimens with one manual, and even such monsters that have as many as seven manuals. The name of the manual depends on the location of the pipes it controls. In addition, each manual is assigned its own set of registers.
IN the main thing The loudest registers are usually located in the manual. It is also called Hauptwerk. It can be located either closest to the performer or in the second row.
- Oberwerk – a little quieter. Its pipes are located under the pipes of the main manual.
- The Rückpositiv is a completely unique keyboard. It controls those pipes that are located separately from all the others. So, for example, if the organist is sitting facing the instrument, then they will be located at the back.
- Hinterwerk - This manual controls the pipes that are located at the back of the organ.
- Brustwerk. But the pipes of this manual are located either directly above the remote control itself, or on both sides.
- Solowerk. As the name itself suggests, the trumpets of this manual are equipped with a large number of solo registers.
In addition, there may be other manuals, but those listed above are used most often.
In the seventeenth century, organs had a kind of volume control - a box through which pipes with shutters passed. The manual that controlled these pipes was called Schwellwerk and was located at a higher level.
Pedals
Originally, organs did not have pedal keyboards. It appeared around the sixteenth century. There is a version that it was invented by a Brabant organist named Louis Van Walbeke.
Nowadays there are a variety of pedal keyboards depending on the design of the organ. There are both five and thirty-two pedals, there are organs without a pedal keyboard at all. They are called portables.
Usually the pedals control the bassiest trumpets, for which a separate staff is written, under the double score, which is written for the manuals. Their range is two or even three octaves lower than other notes, so a large organ can have a range of nine and a half octaves.
Registers
Registers are a series of pipes of the same timbre, which are, in fact, a separate instrument. To switch registers, there are handles or switches (for electrically controlled organs), which are located on the organ console either above the manual or next to it on the sides.
The essence of register control is this: if all registers are turned off, the organ will not sound when you press a key.
The name of the register corresponds to the name of its largest pipe, and each handle refers to its own register.
There are both labial, so reed registers. The first relate to the control of pipes without reeds, these are the registers of open flutes, there are also registers of closed flutes, principals, registers of overtones, which, in fact, form the color of the sound (potions and aliquots). In them, each note has several weaker overtones.
But reed registers, as their name suggests, control pipes with reeds. They can be combined in sound with labial pipes.
The choice of register is provided in the musical stave; it is written above the place where one or another register should be used. But the matter is complicated by the fact that at different times and even just in different countries, organ registries differed sharply from each other. Therefore, the registration of an organ part is rarely specified in detail. Usually, only the manual, the size of the pipes and the presence or absence of reeds are accurately indicated. All other nuances of sound are left to the performer’s consideration.
Pipes
As you might expect, the sound of pipes is strictly dependent on their size. Moreover, the only trumpets that sound exactly as written on the musical staff are eight-foot trumpets. Smaller pipes sound correspondingly higher, and larger ones – lower than written in the musical stave.
The largest pipes, which are not found in all, but only in the largest organs in the world, measure 64 feet. They sound three octaves lower than what is written on the musical staff. Therefore, when the organist uses the pedals when playing in this register, infrasound is emitted.
To tune small labials (that is, those without a tongue), use a steamhorn. This is a rod, at one end of which there is a cone, and at the other - a cup, with the help of which the bell of the pipes of the organ is expanded or narrowed, thereby achieving a change in the pitch of the sound.
But to change the pitch of large pipes, additional pieces of metal are usually cut out, which bend like reeds and thus change the tone of the organ.
Additionally, some pipes may be purely decorative. In this case, they are called “blind”. They do not sound, but have purely aesthetic significance.
The piano also has texture. There, this is a mechanism for transmitting the force of finger strikes from the surface of the key directly to the string. The organ plays the same role and is the main mechanism for controlling the organ.
In addition to the fact that the organ has a structure that controls the valves of the pipes (it is also called a playing structure), it also has a register structure that allows you to turn entire registers on and off.
The organ is a musical instrument that is called the “king of music.” The grandeur of its sound is expressed in its emotional impact on the listener, which has no equal. In addition, the world's largest musical instrument is the organ, and it has the most advanced control system. The organ's expressive resource allows it to create music with a wide range of content: from thoughts about God and the cosmos to subtle intimate reflections of the human soul. When you hear the word organ, you want to throw superlatives and epithets like “majestic,” “unearthly,” “divine.” And for many decades and even centuries this is what determined the development of the instrument.
A person who plays music on an organ is called an organist.
The organ is a musical instrument with a unique history. Its age is about 28 centuries.
Organ (lat. organum) is the largest keyboard wind musical instrument, which sounds using pipes (metal, wooden, without reeds and with reeds) of various timbres, into which air is pumped using bellows.
The organ is played using several hand keyboards (manuals) and a pedal keyboard.
The embryo of the organ can be seen in the Pan flute, as well as in the bagpipes. It is believed that the organ was invented by the Greek Ctesibius, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt in 296 - 228. BC e. An image of a similar instrument appears on one coin or token from the time of Nero.
Large organs appeared in the 4th century, more or less improved organs - in the 7th and 8th centuries. Pope Vitalian (666) introduced the organ into the Catholic Church. In the 8th century, Byzantium was famous for its organs.
The art of building organs also developed in Italy, from where they were exported to France in the 9th century. This art later developed in Germany. The organ began to receive its greatest and most widespread use in the 14th century. In the 14th century, a pedal appeared in the organ, that is, a keyboard for the feet.
Medieval organs, in comparison with later ones, were of crude workmanship; a manual keyboard, for example, consisted of keys with a width of 5 to 7 cm, the distance between the keys reached one and a half cm. They struck the keys not with their fingers, as now, but with their fists.
In the 15th century, the keys were reduced and the number of pipes increased.
Improved organs have reached a huge number of pipes and tubes; for example, the organ in Paris in the Church of St. Sulpice has 7 thousand pipes and tubes.
The organ is used in Catholic and Protestant services as an accompanying and (less often) solo instrument. It is not uncommon for a Catholic or Protestant church to be used in some sense as a decorated concert hall; in such “halls” concerts of non-liturgical church music are held (for example, in the Moscow Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception), where, along with other instruments (up to a symphony orchestra), the organ is also used. Organs are installed in secular concert halls, as a rule, opposite the stalls, along the wall bordering the stage (for example, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory). It is often used not only as a solo instrument, but also as an ensemble and accompanying instrument, in combination with other instruments of a chamber ensemble, orchestra, vocalists and choir, used in various cantata-oratorio musical genres, and rarely in opera. In addition, the instrument is widely used to play the basso continuo part in Baroque music. Many composers wrote for the organ.
By the time of Bach, organ music in Germany already had long-standing traditions that had developed thanks to Bach’s predecessors - Pachelbel, Böhm, Buxtehude and other composers. During his lifetime, Bach was best known as a first-class organist, teacher and composer of organ music. He worked both in the “free” genres traditional for that time, such as prelude, fantasy, toccata, passacaglia, and in more strict forms - chorale prelude and fugue. Throughout his life, Bach not only composed music for the organ, but also consulted in the construction of instruments, examined new organs and was well versed in the peculiarities of their tuning.
Bach. Passacaglia and fugue.
Handel. Sarabande.
Handel. Passacaglia for organ and orchestra.
Just recently, a wonderful and subtle composer Mikael Tariverdiev lived among us. Most people know him primarily as a melodist, songwriter, and film composer. His music for the cult “Seventeen Moments of Spring” and “Enjoy Your Bath” is known to everyone. And they are iconic largely thanks to Tariverdiev’s music.
And I personally learned that the composer was also an excellent organist and wrote works for the organ after the Master’s death.
Unfortunately, Tariverdiev does not have many organ works. But what there is is enough to talk about the composer’s discovery of a new facet of this instrument.
Tariverdiev. Chorale prelude.
Handel. Passacala for organ.
Sheet. Fantasy and fugue.
The structure, principles of sound production and other characteristics of a particular organ directly depend on its type and type. In acoustic organs (wind, hydraulic, mechanical, etc.), sound is generated due to the vibration of air in special organ pipes - metal, wood, bamboo, reed, etc., which can be with or without reeds. In this case, air can be pumped into the pipes of the organ in various ways - in particular, with the help of special bellows. For several centuries, almost all church music, as well as music written in other genres, was performed exclusively by wind organs. However, it is known about the church and secular use of not a wind instrument, but a string keyboard instrument with organ properties. The electric organ was originally created to electronically imitate the sound of wind organs, but then electric organs began to be divided into several types based on their functional purpose: Church electric organs, the capabilities of which are maximally adapted for the performance of sacred music in religious churches. Electric organs for concert performance of popular music, including jazz and rock. Electric organs for amateur home music playing.
The text is compiled from various sources.
