“…the organs, by their resonating sound, urge us to delve into our most hidden depths and ask ourselves inevitable questions about meaning, while sitting in a Gothic cathedral like the ones in Reims or Chartres, as the fantastic flickering of colored light from stained glass melds with the trembling of air from the organ pipes, completing the unity of all arts.
Ljerka Očić, The Art of Organ Playing”
“It is difficult to imagine a cathedral, church, or concert hall without an organ today. The queen of instruments, as Mozart called them, vibrates through the entire space with its sound, carrying the listener far from everyday life.”
“The origins of the organ reach far into the past. Their predecessors include almost all aerophone instruments such as the syrinx or Pan’s flute, which was made up of several connected pipes into which air was blown, or the paixiao found in China, with thirteen pipes of different lengths. The first known relative to the organ is the Chinese sheng from the 12th century BCE and the Greek hydraulis, water organ from the 3rd century BCE. In Roman times…” The first pneumatics organs are mentioned, which were forgotten with the fall of the Roman Empire. They re-entered the musical life only in the 8th century, through Byzantium, primarily in the church liturgy. These were mostly small portable organs, called portatives and later positive organs. By the 15th century, they spread throughout Western and Central Europe, and during the Renaissance, they experienced a great flourishing.
The golden age of the organ begins in the 17th century, during the Baroque period, when they stopped being just an accompaniment to church liturgy and vocal compositions, but also solo instrumental compositions for the organ were written. Instrumental music became increasingly important and independent, and the skill of the organist and their personal expression became an integral part of the liturgy. In the 19th century, there was a technical advancement of organs as pneumatic and electric mechanisms were gradually introduced instead of mechanical ones.
Structure and builders
The organs are the largest and most complex instrument in the group of wind instruments. The basic parts include: the bellows and the trakt” tour, pipe organ, and pipes.
A pipe organ is a keyboard instrument played with the hands (manuals) and feet (pedals). The number of manuals depends on the size of the organ.
Pipes, or tubes, are where the column of air vibrates and produces different sounds. By pressing a key on the keyboard, air is brought from the bellows to the pipes, creating sound.
The characteristics of the sound depend on the type of pipes: the material they are made of (wood, tin, lead, copper, ivory), their shape, as well as the ratio of their length and height. Pipes can range from 3 mm to 6 meters in height, and their number can vary from a hundred to several thousand. This creates registers of dark and light tones, softer and louder, more penetrating and crisp. The largest known organ today is located in Atlantic City, USA, and has 33,114 pipes.
Master builders tune the pipes as if they are harmonizing different beings: of various sizes and types, shapes and colors, tall and low, narrow and wide. When organs are built, the pipes must be arranged in such a way that your re skladno unity. And the builder, with his knowledge, feeling, and touch, breathes life into them in space and time, striving to achieve the color and warmth of the human voice. This is why organs, depending on the builder, reflected the sound of the country to which they belonged, the character and spirit of the people of that country. Therefore, we distinguish the sound characteristics of different European organ schools: Italian organs are dominated by a velvety and soft sound, French organs have nasal tones, German organs are serious, pronounced, and penetrating, and Anglo-Saxon organs cultivate rounded tones. That is why it is said that master builders are true architects of sound, enthusiasts, and artists, so that even though the basic structures are always given, each organ is an individual musical being or, as they are called, an instrument with character.
Interestingly, in the Middle Ages, builders often brought their workers and entire families with them to the place where they built organs. They lived within the cathedral or church, sometimes for several years, and they were dedicated there. in the construction of organs in a way that they built a building within a building.
Organists
In order to establish a better relationship with our instrument, we must approach the organ as a living being, as a material that carries within itself an inherent energy that we activate with our contribution.
The link between the musical composition, the organ, and the listener is the organists. These skilled artists bring to life the multidimensional spirit of music within the monumental space of the cathedral, thus opening the doors to another, indescribable space-time.
One peculiar aspect of organ music is that during the performance, both the organist and the organ are mostly invisible to the audience, so the music is in the foreground and the only thing with which the audience establishes direct contact.
A large number of composers throughout history were also organists. This is often how they began their musical journey. It is said that Johann Sebastian Bach himself was an organist from a time when his feet couldn’t yet reach the pedals.
Organists often collaborate with others. With organ builders striving to produce better and higher-quality sound, music was often written specifically for certain organs.
The Golden Age of the Organ – Johann Sebastian Bach
The Baroque period represents the golden age of the organ in terms of performance and composition. It is also a period in which increasingly lavish and larger organs with greater tonal capabilities are built. The most significant European representatives of this period who composed and performed organ works are: Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Georg Böhm in Germany, George F. Handel in England, and Nicolas de Grigny and Francois Couperin in France.
Bach’s contribution to music in general, and particularly to music written for the organ, is immeasurable. Goethe referred to it as listening to eternal harmony in a conversation with oneself.
In his time, he was more well-known as an organist than as a composer.
Among his organ works, his fugues, both vocal and instrumental, stand out, making him an unparalleled master to this day. They are superbly constructed, showcasing his exceptional skill in harmony and counterpoint. Because of his immense creative power and inventiveness, his deep exploration of sacred spaces, Bach gives them their final, complex and refined form, which is why the Baroque period is often referred to as the era of the fugue. His most famous organ fugues are the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which is a hallmark of organ art in general, and the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, which represents a masterpiece of Bach’s harmonic creation.
After the Baroque period, organs lose some of their importance. It is only in the 19th century, during the Romantic era, that the spirit of the organ is revived thanks to F. Mendelssohn, J. Brahms, F. Liszt, R. Schumann, and Max Reger, who starts a revival of Baroque organ forms in the early 20th century.
The possibilities of the organ remind us of the divine immensity and grandeur. This noble instrument makes cathedrals and churches vibrate from within, establishing resonance between the human and the divine. It is precisely the organ that has the power of connection, the power of a miraculous musical mediator that unites all instruments. Organ portrays the harmony of different sounds and unity in diversity, thereby affirming its connection to sacred spaces.
Each organ is unique, and its individuality extends beyond technical characteristics. The history of the organ, the country it originates from, its association with specific composers or performers, the music composed for that organ, and the audience for whom it is intended – all this makes the instrument a unique creation deserving great respect.
1 Traktura – a complex mechanism through which air enters the pipes.
2 Ljerka Ocic, Organ… the energy of the spirit.