At the mention of such epithets as grandeur, grandeur, power and monumentality, associations with something voluminous and impressive are involuntarily born in the head.
In the world of music, all the qualities described above are combined in one of the oldest instruments - the organ.
Introduction
The organ is a keyboard wind musical instrument, rightfully bearing the title of king of music. It is the largest musical instrument in the world of all currently existing. The leader in size is located in the American city of Borduk and consists of 33 thousand pipes, the weight of which reaches 287 tons. The construction of such titanium lasted as long as 4 years.
An interesting fact: in the world it is impossible to find two exactly the same organs. Each of them is a special and unique creation of art.
Musical instrument organ: description and history
At first glance, it might seem that the instrument has close connections with the keyboards - the piano and the piano, but in fact, everything is much more interesting: the ancient bagpipe and pan flute are considered to be the "embryos" of the organ.
The first organ was invented by the ancient Greek innovator Ctesibius (285-222 BC). This tool was called "hydravlos" - "water". The device of the organ included the mandatory presence of fluid. Thanks to the water in the external storage, the air pressure from the pump in the metal chamber was kept constant. Gidravlos consisted of 3 or 4 registers, in each of which there were from 7 to 18 pipes.
Bodies of large dimensions appear in the IV century. And more advanced forms of a musical instrument even later - in the 7th-8th centuries.
The creation of organs began in Italy, then art appeared in France and Germany. Since the XIV century, the instrument has spread throughout Western Europe.
The organ of the Middle Ages was much rougher: the hand-held keyboard reached 7 cm in width, which had to be punched. However, in the XV century the situation changed when some changes were made: they reduced the volume of keys and increased the number of pipes.
In the late Renaissance and Baroque, the organ gained unprecedented popularity. For this instrument, such geniuses of music as Bach, Pretorius, Banquieri, Vicentino, Frescobaldi, Neidhardt and others created.
A huge contribution to the existence and development of the modern organ should be attributed to the work of the master from France Aristide Cavaye-Coll. He got the idea to make an entire orchestra out of one musical instrument and was able to bring it to life. Now there is a separate type of organ - symphonic, which in its timbre characteristics can surpass entire groups of musical instruments.
Device
Due to the large-scale dimensions of the instrument, it has a very complex structure with various elements: remote control, manuals, pedal keyboard, registers with switches, pipes, etc.
Remote controller
A console, or organ department, is a place equipped with all the means necessary for a performer: game manuals, pedal, and register switches. There may also be channels, levers for legs, buttons for activating copulas, etc.
- Copula is a device that allows you to play the registers of one hand keyboard while playing another.
- The channel is a mechanism, the essence of which is to adjust the dynamics by opening or closing the door of the box that stores the pipes of the manual keyboard.
Manuals
Manuals are called the keyboard, which is played with hands, which makes the organ similar to the piano and piano outwardly. Their number can reach seven units, but on average the number varies from two to four.
Modern manuals range from notes to large octaves and reach the third salt. They are located one above the other, and their numbering in the form of Latin numbers follows the principle from the bottom up. Each of the manuals has a number of its own registers.
- Register - a system of pipes of the same timbre located in the wind part of an organ.
However, some registers may not have their own manual keyboard. In this case, he will join any manual upon activation of the proper capsules.
Pedal Keyboard
The keyboard, or pedal, is another very interesting device in the organ. The set of keys varies from 5 to 32 units, including their own rows of pipes (registers) of predominantly low tones (from to a large octave to salt or the first one).
Playing the pedals is carried out by pressing the keys with a heel or toe (the method depends on the fingering indicated in the notes). However, sound extraction with the back of the foot appeared relatively recently - until the 19th century they played only with the toe.
The pedal keyboard can be of several types: direct and radial, or sunken and straight.
The pedal part in the notes is most often indicated separately and is under the part for the upper brother (manual). The first pedal keyboard recordings date from the mid-15th century.
Registers
This part of the organ device carries a very important mission: when the registers are off, the instrument keys will not sound. The activation of the pipes is due to electronic switches (register handles). They are located above the keyboard or on the sides of the music stand (music stand).
Each handle corresponds to its register and has an individual name, which indicates the height of the largest pipe of this register.
Registers are combined into groups: principal (has an organ timbre and is the main one), gambes, aliquots, flutes and others.
Regarding the arrangement of pipes, registers can be divided into two types: labial and reed.
The first type includes closed or open pipes with no reeds. Flutes, principals, potions and aliquots belong to it.
The second type, based on the name, includes the presence of a tongue, which, when exposed to air masses, produces an interesting sound similar to the timbres of wind instruments: oboe, clarinet, trumpet, bassoon, trombone and many others. The color of the sound will depend on the name and design of the register.
Reed registers can have not only a vertical structure, but also a horizontal one.
Pipes
Pipes in the device of the organ are wooden, metal and wooden-metal of different lengths, shapes and diameters. The tool can include up to 10 thousand pipes. Most of them are bass, the height of which reaches 10 meters.
Traktura
Thanks to the tractor, the control mechanisms on the remote control are connected to the air-tight parts of the instrument. Simply put, a tractor transfers the movement of the keys of an organ to the valves of one pipe or a whole group.
This mechanism is of several types:
- mechanical;
- electric;
- electro-pneumatic;
- pneumatic;
- mixed.
Application
This massive instrument was previously used only for worship by the Catholic and Protestant churches.
Later, organ halls began to be built in Soviet buildings (for example, at the Moscow Conservatory or the State Chapel of St. Petersburg).
The organ is a universal instrument, as it is suitable both for solo performance of works, replacing the entire orchestra, and for accompaniment in combination with others: ensembles, vocalists and choir. Also, cantato-oratorio musical genres are often not without it.
Along with other keyboard instruments, an organ can act as a performer of a part of a general bass or, in other words, a digital bass - the lowest voice, on the basis of which all subsequent accompaniment is built.