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THE RECENT REVOLUTION IN ORGAN BUILDING
Being an Account of Modern Developments
by
GEORGE LAING MILLER
Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Eng.; First Mus. Bac.,
Dunelm.; Organist of Christ Church, Pelham Manor, N. Y.; late of All
Angels', New York; St. Clement's, Philadelphia, and Wallasey Parish
Church, England
Second Edition
[Frontispiece: The Organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, Eng. Built
by Henry Willis in 1855. Rebuilt 1867 and 1898. The White Marble Bust
Seen in Front is That of W. T. Best.]
New York
The Charles Francis Press
1913
Copyright, 1909, 1913, by
George L. Miller
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
Reprinted by the Vestal Press, Vestal, N. Y. 13860
1000 copies, 1969
Second Reprinting, April 1971, 1000 copies
Write for catalog of other reprinted books in the field of piano and
organ literature
FOREWORD
Some years ago the elders and deacons of a Scotch church were assembled
in solemn conclave to discuss the prospective installation of a pipe
organ. The table was piled high with plans and specifications and
discussion ran rife as to whether they should have a two-manual or a
three-manual instrument--a Great and Swell or a Great, Swell, and Choir
organ. At last Deacon MacNab, the church treasurer and a personage of
importance, got a chance to speak.
"Mr. Chairman," said he, "I don't see why we should have a Great, a
Swell, and a Choir organ. I think that one organ is quite enough."
Now, Deacon MacNab was a master tailor, and a good one at that; so the
musical man who was pushing the thing through appealed to his
professional instincts in explaining the situation by saying:
"Surely, Mr. MacNab, you would not say that a man was properly dressed
with only a coat on! You would expect him to have on a coat, waistcoat
and trousers!" And the day was won for the three-manual organ.
Of course there had been no organ in this church before, or the worthy
deacon might have known more about it. If he had read the second
chapter of this book, he would have known all about it. The following
pages have been written with the idea of helping those who may be
placed in a similar position; who may be called upon to decide the
serious question of the purchase of a new organ for their church, town
hall, or an auditorium, or the rebuilding of the old one now in use;
who are distracted by the conflicting plans and contending claims of
rival organ builders; who are disinclined to rely upon so-called
"expert" opinion, but wish to look into these things for themselves and
intelligently purchase an instrument which is thoroughly up-to-date in
every particular, which will not drive the organist to the verge of
profanity every time he plays upon it, and will not prove a snug source
of income to its builders--for repairs.
The organ-student, the amateur, and eke the professional organist, will
also find much here that will interest them and lead to a better
understanding of the instrument.
The revolution in organ-building herein described has for the most part
taken place under the personal notice of the author, during the last
fifty years. The organists of a younger generation are to be
congratulated on the facilities now placed at their disposal, mainly by
the genius and persevering efforts of four men--as hereinafter
described.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
As It Was in the Beginning
CHAPTER II
The Organ in the Nineteenth Century
CHAPTER III
The Dawn of a New Era; the Pneumatic Lever
CHAPTER IV
Pneumatic and Electro-pneumatic Actions--Tubular Pneumatics--Division
of Organs--Sound Reflection--Octave Couplers and Extensions
CHAPTER V
Stop-keys--Control of the Stops
CHAPTER VI
Radiating and Concave Pedal Boards--Pedal-stop Control--Suitable Bass
Attachments
CHAPTER VII
Means of Obtaining Expression--Crescendo Pedal--Sforzando Pedal--Double
Touch--Balanced Swell Pedal--Control of Swell by Keys--Swell Boxes--the
Sound Trap Joint--Vacuum Swell Shutters
CHAPTER VIII
A Revolution in Wind Supply--Springs vs. Weights--Individual
Pallets--Heavy Wind Pressures--Mechanical Blowers
CHAPTER IX
Transference of Stops--Double Touch--Pizzicato Touch--the Unit
Organ--Sympathy
CHAPTER X
Production of Organ Tone--Acoustics of Organ Pipes--Estey Open Bass
Pipes--Diapasons--Flutes--Strings--Reeds--Vowel Cavities--Undulating
Stops (Celestes)--Percussion Stops--the Diaphone
CHAPTER XI
Tuning--Equal Temperament--New Method of Tuning Reeds
CHAPTER XII
Progress of the Revolution in Our Own Country
CHAPTER XIII
Chief Actors--Barker--Cavaillé-Coll--Willis--Hope-Jones
CHAPTER XIV
How We Stand To-day--Automatic Players--Specifications of Notable
Organs: St. George's Hall, Liverpool; Notre Dame, Paris; St. Paul's
Cathedral, London; Westminster Abbey; Balruddery, Scotland; Worcester
Cathedral; Yale University, U. S. A.; St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo;
Paris Theatre, Denver; Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York;
University of Toronto, Canada; City Hall, Portland, Me.; Liverpool
Cathedral, England
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS
The Organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, Eng. . . . _Frontispiece_
Prehistoric Double Flutes
The Wind-chest; Front View. The Wind-chest; Side View.
The Pneumatic Lever
Nomenclature of Organ Keyboard
Portrait of Moitessier
Tubular Pneumatic Action
The First Electric Organ Ever Built
The Electro-Pneumatic Lever
Valve and Valve Seat, Hope-Jones Electric Action
Portrait of Dr. Péschard
Console, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo
Console on Bennett System
Console, Trinity Church, Boston
Console, College of City of New York
Principle of the Sound Trap
Sound Trap Joint
The Vacuum Shutter
Series of Harmonics
Estey's Open Bass Pipes
Diapason Pipe with Leathered Lip
Haskell's Clarinet without Reed
Diagram of Reed Pipe
Vowel Cavities
Diaphone in Worcester Cathedral
Diaphone in Aberdeen University
Diaphone in St. Patrick's, N. Y.
Diaphone in Auditorium, Ocean Grove, N. J.
Diaphone in St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo
Diaphone Producing Foundation Tone.
New Method of Tuning Reeds
Portrait of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
Portrait of Charles Spachman Barker
Portrait of Henry Willis
Portrait of Robert Hope-Jones.
Keyboards of Organ, St. George's Hall
Keyboards of Organ, Notre Dame, Paris
Keyboards of Organ, Westminster Abbey
Organ in Balruddery Mansion, Dundee, Scotland
The Author Playing a Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra
THE RECENT REVOLUTION IN ORGAN BUILDING
CHAPTER I.
AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING.
"The Organ breathes its deep-voiced solemn notes,
The people join and sing, in pious hymns
And psalms devout; harmoniously attun'd,
The Choral voices blend; the long-drawn aisles
At every close the ling'ring strains prolong:
And now, of varied tubes and reedy pipes,
The skilful hand a soften'd stop controuls:
In sweetest harmony the dulcet strains steal forth,
Now swelling high, and now subdued; afar they float
In lengthened whispers melting into cadenced murmurs,
Forming soft melodious strains, and placid airs,
Spreading gently all around, then soaring up to Heav'n!"
--_Dryden_.
The origin of the pipe organ is lost in the mists of antiquity.
Tradition hath it that there was one in Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem,
the sound of which could be heard at the Mount of Olives. It has the
honor of being the first wind instrument mentioned in the Bible
(Genesis iv, 21), where we are told that "Jubal is the father of all
such as handle the harp and the organ." The Hebrew word here is
_ugab_, which is sometimes translated in the Septuagint by cithara (the
ancient lute), sometimes by _psalm_, sometimes by _organ_. Sir John
Stainer ("Dictionary of Musical Terms," p. 444) says: "It is probable
that in its earliest form the _ugab_ was nothing more than a
Pan's-pipes or syrinx, but that it gradually developed into a more
important instrument." The passage, however, shows that the ugab was
known in the time of Moses, who was "learned in all the learning of the
Egyptians."
The flute, a component part of the organ, is one of the most ancient of
musical instruments. We find it pictured on the walls of early
Egyptian tombs, and specimens of it, still in playable condition, have
been unearthed and can be seen in our museums. Some of them were
double, as shown in the illustration. Side by side with these flutes
we find the shepherd's pipe with a reed or strip of cane in the
mouthpiece, which may be found in the Tyrol at the present day. The
next step was probably the bagpipes. Here we find four of these pipes
attached to a bag. The melody or tune is played on one of the pipes
furnished with holes for the purpose, while the other three give a
drone, bass. The bag, being blown up, forms a wind reservoir and the
amount of tone can be regulated by the pressure of the arm. Here we
have the precursor of the organ bellows. Next comes the Irish
bagpipes, with a bellows worked by the arm furnishing the wind to the
bag, the reservoir, and producing a much sweeter tone. This is one
line of advance.
[Illustration: Pre-historic Double Flutes. From Assyrian and Egyptian
Tombs]
On the other hand we have the syrinx or Pan's-pipes. Stainer says this
was undoubtedly the precursor of the organ. "It was formed of seven,
eight or nine short hollow reeds, fixed together by wax, and cut in
graduated lengths so as to produce a musical scale. The lower ends of
the reeds were closed and the upper open and on a level, so that the
mouth could easily pass from one pipe to another." This is the
instrument used at the present day by the Punch and Judy man. He wears
it fastened around his throat, turning his head from side to side as he
blows, while with his hands he beats a drum.
The next step would be to combine a set of flutes or shepherd's pipes
with the wind reservoir of the bagpipes, placing a little slider under
the mouthpiece of each pipe which could be opened or closed at will, so
that they would not all speak at once. Then some genius steadied the
wind pressure by pumping air into a reservoir partly filled with water.
This was the so-called "hydraulic organ," which name has given rise to
the impression that the pipes were played by the water passing through
them--which is impossible.
And so we come down the ages to the Christian era. The Talmud mentions
an organ (magrepha) having ten pipes played by a keyboard as being in
existence in the Second Century. "Aldhelm (who died A. D. 709)
mentions an organ which had gilt pipes. An organ having leaden pipes
was placed in the Church of S. Corneille, at Compiegne, in the middle
of the Eighth Century." St. Dunstan had an organ with pipes made of
brass. Then we have the organ in Winchester Cathedral, England,
described by Wulfstan of Winchester in his "Life of Saint Swithin."
This was a double organ, requiring two organists to play it. It
contained 400 pipes and had thirteen pairs of bellows. It was intended
to be heard all over Winchester in honor of St. Peter, to whom the
Cathedral was dedicated.
The year was now A. D. 951, and this is an important date to remember,
as modern harmony took its rise about this time. Before this, as far
as we know, there had been no harmony beyond a drone bass, and the vast
companies of musicians described in Holy Writ and elsewhere must have
played and sung in octaves and unison. I quote Stainer again:
"The large pipes of every key of the oldest organs stood in front; the
whole instrument sounded and shrieked in a harsh and loud manner. The
keyboard had eleven, twelve, even thirteen keys in diatonic succession
without semitones. It was impossible to get anything else than a
choral melody for one voice only on such an organ * * * the breadth of
a keyboard containing nine keys extended to three-quarters the length
of a yard, that of the single key amounted to three inches * * * even
from five to six inches * * * The valves of the keys and the whole
mechanism being clumsy, playing with the finger was not to be thought
of, but the keys were obliged to be struck with the clenched fist, and
the organist was often called '_pulsator organum_' (organ beater)."
Gradually the keys were reduced in size and the semitones were added.
By 1499 they had almost reached the present normal proportions. In
1470 pedals were invented by Bernard, the German, a skilful musician of
Venice, the pipe work was improved and so we come to the Sixteenth
Century[1] after which the organ remained almost _in statu quo_ for
hundreds of years.
Since then there have been four great landmarks in organ construction,
viz:
1. The invention of the swell box by Jordan in 1713;
2. The invention of the horizontal bellows, by Samuel Green, in 1789;
3. The invention of the pneumatic lever by Barker in 1832; and the
electro-pneumatic action, by Péschard in 1866; and,
4. The marvelous improvements in mechanism and tone production and
control in 1886 to 1913 by Robt. Hope-Jones.
[1] The organ compositions of Frescobaldi, a celebrated Italian
organist who flourished 1591-1640, show that the organ must in his time
have been playable by the fingers.