1. This artist unites in his business some of the operations of the
cabinet-maker, turner, and brazier. He also is dependent upon the
wire-drawer, and the tanner and currier, for some of his materials. So
great, however, is the number of musical instruments, and so different
their nature and construction, that the business of making them is
divided into several branches, all of which are never pursued, or
carried on, by one person. But, without reference to the several
divisions of this business, we will proceed to mention or describe the
principal instruments which are now in most common use.
2. The _organ_ is the largest of all musical instruments, and, in its
improved state, so complex that a mere description of it cannot be
well understood. Nevertheless, we will endeavor to give the reader
some idea of the general principles on which it is constructed.
3. The most essential and prominent parts of this machine are the
_wind-chest_, the _pipes_, and the _bellows_. The former of these is
an oblong box, made perfectly air-tight, and placed in a horizontal
position. The top of this chest is perforated with several rows of
holes of different sizes, and into these are inserted the pipes. Those
for the higher notes are of a cylindrical form, and are made of a
mixture of metals, chiefly of tin and lead; but those designed for the
expression of the lowest notes of the base are made of wood, in a
square form. The dimensions of these pipes are regulated by a
_diapason_, or _scale_.
4. There are as many of these rows of pipes, which are called _stops_,
as there are kinds of tones in the organ; and to every row or stop is
a plug, attached to a slide, which is denominated a _register_, and
which is designed to regulate the admission of wind into the pipes.
The pipes are also furnished with valves, which can be opened at
pleasure, by means of keys similar to those of the piano-forte. Some
organs have few, others have many stops; and, in order to regulate the
force of sound, most church organs have two or three rows of keys,
whereby a greater or less number of pipes may be filled, and the
powers of the instrument may be controlled in what is called the
_small organ_, or let loose, so as to become the _full organ_.
5. The fingering of an organ is similar to that of the piano-forte, so
far as relates to the position of the keys; but, on account of the
great number of holding notes in organ music, and the manner in which
the sound is produced, the fingers are more kept down; whence it is
considered injurious for performers on the piano-forte to practise on
the organ, lest that lightness of touch, so necessary for the former
instrument, be affected. It is hardly necessary to remark that, during
the performance on the organ, the wind-chest is filled by means of the
bellows.
6. The structure of the organ is lofty, elegant, and majestic; and its
solemnity, grandeur, and volume of tone, have obtained for it a
pre-eminence over every other instrument for the sacred purposes to
which it has been applied. The largest organ known is in St. Peter's
Church, at Rome. It has one hundred stops.
7. The church organ was probably suggested by the _water organ_ of the
Greeks, which was invented five or six hundred years before our era.
At what period, organs began to be employed in churches, cannot now be
ascertained. By some, it is said that Pope Vitelianus caused them to
be used in Rome in the seventh century. Others are of opinion, that
they were not introduced until three hundred years later. But, be this
as it may, the church organ was not in common use until the fourteenth
century; and now it is very different in its construction from that of
early times. It has received many additions and improvements since the
beginning of the fifteenth century.
8. The _hand_ or _barrel organ_ consists of a moveable cylinder, on
which, by means of wires, pins, and staples, are marked the tunes
which it is intended to perform. These pins and staples, by the
revolution of the barrel, act upon the keys within, and give admission
to the wind from the bellows to the pipes. The hand organ is so
contrived that the revolution of the barrel gives motion to the
bellows.
9. There are several instruments belonging to the class of _horns_,
all of which are made of brass or silver. Those of the latter kind of
metal are by far the softest in tone, but brass is the material most
commonly employed. The chief instruments belonging to this class are
the trumpet, the French horn, the bugle, the Kent bugle, the trombone,
and the bass-horn. The _serpent_ seems to be the connecting link
between the trumpet and the flute.
10. The instruments classed with the flute, are the common flutes of
various keys, German flutes, and several kinds of flageolets. Nearly
allied to these are the clarionet, the hautboy, and bassoon. The
breath is applied to the flageolet through an ivory tube at the end;
and, in the three last named instruments, a thin reed, capable of a
free vibration, is a part of the mouth-piece.
11. Of the instruments which produce musical sounds by the vibration
of strings, there are a great number, of which the following are the
principal;--the lyre, the harp, the guitar, the lute, the dulcimer,
the harpsichord, the spinnet, the piano-forte, the violin, the
violincello, and the base-viol. The strings of the three last are
agitated with a bow; but those of this class first mentioned, are
vibrated by the thumb and fingers, by some little instrument held in
the hand, or by little hammers, moved by keys, as in the piano-forte.
12. The _piano-forte_ is said to be the invention of Gottlieb
Schroder, of Hohenstein, in Saxony, born in Dresden, about the year
1717. Before the introduction of this instrument, the clavichord,
harpsichord, and spinnet, supplied its place. On all of these
instruments complete harmony can be produced by a single performer,
and the most difficult series of tones can be executed with rapidity,
by means of a simple mechanism.
13. The _piano-forte_ has been gradually improved, until it has become
one of the most elegant instruments in the whole compass of musical
practice. In firmness and strength of tone, the English piano-fortes
formerly surpassed all others; but, within a few years, they have been
equalled, and in some respects excelled, by those of American
workmanship. The manufacture of this instrument constitutes the most
extensive branch of musical instrument-making.
14. The instruments of percussion are the military drum, base-drum,
kettle-drum, tabor, tamborine, and the triangle. The kettle-drum has
received its name from its conformation. It has but one head, and is
used in orchestres, and by the cavalry of modern armies, especially in
Europe. The tabor has two heads, about three inches apart, and is
beaten with one stick. The tamborine has one head, drawn over a hoop,
to which are attached small bells and bits of tin, to make a jingling
sound. The time is beaten on the head with the hand.
15. The _bag-pipe_ is a wind instrument of high antiquity among the
northern nations of Europe; but it has been so long a favorite with
the natives of Scotland, that it may be considered their national
instrument. It consists of a leather bag and three pipes. The first of
the pipes is that by which the droning noise is produced, the second
emits wind from the bottom of the bag, and the third is that on which
the music is made.
16. During the performance on the bag-pipes, the bag is placed under
the arm, and worked like a bellows, while the notes are modulated as
on a flute or hautboy, by stopping and opening the holes, nine in
number, with the ends of the fingers and thumb. The bag is filled by
means of the breath blown into it through a pipe. In Rome, at the time
of Advent, the peasants of the mountains express their veneration for
the Virgin by playing on this instrument before her image.
[Illustration: The SCULPTOR.]