The Recent Revolution In Organ Building - free ebook by George Laing Miller

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...

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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 sho

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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,

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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

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CHAPTER II. THE ORGAN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Before proceeding further we propose to give a brief description of the construction of the organ at the beginning of the last century and explain the technical terms we shall use later. As everybody knows, the tone comes from the pipes, some of which are to be seen in the front of the instrument. The pipes are of various shapes and sizes and are arranged in ranks or rows upon the wind-chest . Each of these ranks is called a stop or register . It should be borne in mind that this word stop refer

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Fig. 1. The Wind-chest. Front View

The spring S (Fig. 2) keeps the pallet C against the opening into D. The wires called pull-downs (P, P, P), which pass through small holes in the bottom of the wind-chest and are in connection with the keyboard, are attached to a loop of wire called the pallet-eye , fastened to the movable end of the pallet. A piece of wire is placed on each side of every pallet to steady it and keep it in the perpendicular during its ascent and descent, and every pallet is covered at top with soft leather, to m

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Fig. 2. The Wind-chest. Side View

When the apertures in the slider are under those below the pipe, the "stop," the handle of which controls the position of the slider, is said to be out , or drawn . When the apertures do not correspond, the stop is said to be in . Thus it is that when no stops are drawn no sound is produced, even although the wind-chest be full of air and the keys played upon. This wind-chest with the slider stop control is about all that is left to us of the old form of key action. The pallets were connected to

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CHAPTER III. THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA—THE PNEUMATIC LEVER.

Just as we no longer see four men tugging at the steering wheel of an ocean steamer, the intervention of the steam steering gear rendering the use of so much physical force unnecessary, so it now occurred to an organ-builder in the city of Bath, England, named Charles Spachman Barker,[1] to enlist the force of the organ wind itself to overcome the resistance of the pallets in the wind-chest. This contrivance is known as the pneumatic lever , and consists of a toy bellows about nine inches long,

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Fig. 3. The Pneumatic Lever

The organ touch could now be made as light as that of a pianoforte, much lighter than ever before. This epoch-making invention, introduced in 1832, rendered possible extraordinary developments. It was at first strangely ignored and opposed. The English organ-builders refused to take it up. Barker was at length driven to France, where, in the person of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, he found a more far-seeing man. After Cavaillé-Coll had fully demonstrated the practical value of Barker's invention, Will

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Fig. 4. Nomenclature of Organ Keyboard

[1] The invention of the pneumatic lever has been claimed for Mr. Hamilton, of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is, however, generally credited to Barker and known as the "Barker pneumatic lever." (See also note about Joseph Booth, page 129.) [2] Barker was also associated with Péschard, who in 1864 patented jointly with him the electro-pneumatic action. (See page 37.) [3] The pressure of the wind supplied by the old horizontal bellows is regulated by the weights placed on top. The amount of this pressur

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PROSPER-ANTOINE MOITESSIER, INVENTOR OF TUBULAR PNEUMATIC ACTION

In the year 1845, Prosper-Antoine Moitessier, an organ-builder of Montpellier, France, patented what he called " abrégé pneumatique ," an organ action in which all back-falls and rollers were replaced by tubes operated by exhaust air. In 1850 he built with this action an organ of 42 speaking stops for the church of Notre Dame de la Dalbade at Toulouse. This organ lasted 33 years. In 1866 Fermis, schoolmaster and village organist of Hanterire, near Toulouse, improved on Moitessier's action by com

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CHAPTER IV. PNEUMATIC AND ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC ACTIONS.

Undoubtedly the first improvements to be named must be the pneumatic and electro-pneumatic actions. Without the use of these actions most of the advances we are about to chronicle would not have been effected. As before stated, Cavaillé-Coll and Willis worked as pioneers in perfecting and in introducing the pneumatic action. The pneumatic action used by Willis, Cavaillé-Coll and a score of other builders leaves little to be desired. It is thoroughly reliable and, where the keys are located close

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TUBULAR PNEUMATICS.[1]

In the year 1872 Henry Willis built an organ for St. Paul's Cathedral, London, which was divided in two portions, one on each side of the junction of the Choir with the Dome at an elevation of about thirty feet from the floor. The keyboards were placed inside one portion of the instrument, and instead of carrying trackers down and under the floor and up to the other side, as had hitherto been the custom in such cases, he made the connection by means of tubes like gaspipes, and made a pulse of wi

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Fig. 5. Tubular Pneumatic Action

The tubes, N, from each key are fixed to the hole connected to the small puffs P in the puff-board E. Air under pressure is admitted by the key action and conveyed by the tubes N which raises the corresponding button valves S 1 , lifting their spindles S and closing the apertures T 2 in the bottom of the wind-chest A, and opening a similar aperture T in the bottom of the cover-board F, causing the compressed air to escape from the exhaust bellows M, which closes, raising the solid valve H in the

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THE CRYING NEED FOR ELECTRIC ACTION.

The instance of St. Paul's Cathedral cited above shows the demand that existed at that time for means whereby the organ could be played with the keyboards situated at some distance from the main body of the instrument. In the Cathedrals the organ was usually placed on a screen dividing the Choir from the Nave, completely obstructing the view down the church. There was a demand for its removal from this position (which was eventually done at St. Paul's, Chester, Durham, and other Cathedrals). The

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The First Electric Organ Ever Built. In the Collegiate Church at Salon, Near Marseilles, France (1866).

This form of mechanism, therefore, earned a bad name and was making little advance, if not actually being abandoned, when a skilled electrician, Robert Hope-Jones, entered the field about 1886. Knowing little of organs and nothing of previous attempts to utilize electricity for this service, he made with his own hands and some unskilled assistance furnished by members of his voluntary choir, the first movable console,[4] stop-keys, double touch, suitable bass, etc., and an electric action that c

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DESCRIPTION OF THE ELECTRIC ACTION.

The electric action consists substantially of a small bellows like the pneumatic lever, but instead of the valve admitting the wind to operate it being moved by a tracker leading from the key, it is opened by an electro-magnet, energized by a contact in the keyboard and connected therewith by a wire which, of course, may be of any desired length. We illustrate one form of action invented and used by Hope-Jones.[5] Within the organ, the wires from the other end of the cable are attached to small

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Fig. 6. The Electro-Pneumatic Lever

When a weak current of electricity is caused to circulate round the coils of the electro-magnet N, the small armature disc J is drawn off the valve-seat H on to the zinc plate K. The compressed air from within the small motor M escapes by way of the passage L, through the openings in the valve seat H into the atmosphere. The compressed air in the box A then acts upon the movable portion of the small motor M in such a manner that it is forced upwards and caused (through the medium of the pull-wir

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Fig. 7. Valve and Valve Seat, Hope-Jones Electric Action

The valve-seat H has formed on its lower surface two crescent shaped long and narrow slits. A very slight movement of the armature disc J, therefore, suffices to open to the full extent two long exhaust passages. The movement of this disc is reduced to something less than the 1/100 part of an inch. It is, therefore, always very close to the poles of the magnet, consequently a very faint impulse of electricity will suffice (aided by gravity) to draw the disc off the valve-seat H. The zinc plate K

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DIVISION OF ORGANS.

Before the invention of pneumatic and electro-pneumatic action, organs were almost invariably constructed in a single mass. It was, it is true, possible to find instruments with tracker action that were divided and placed, say, half on either side of a chancel, but instances of the kind were rare and it was well nigh impossible for even a muscular organist to perform on such instruments. The perfecting of tubular pneumatic and especially of electro-pneumatic action has lent wonderful flexibility

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OCTAVE COUPLERS.

In the days of mechanical action, couplers of any kind proved a source of trouble and added greatly to the weight of the touch. The natural result was that anything further than unison coupling was seldom attempted. In some organs hardly any couplers at all were present. In Schulze's great and celebrated organ in Doncaster, England, it was not possible to couple any of the manuals to the pedals, and (if we remember rightly) there were only two couplers in the whole instrument. Shortly after the

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DR. ALBERT PESCHARD. Inventor of Electro-Pneumatic Action.

Dr. Albert Péschard was born in 1836, qualified as an advocate (Docteur en droit), and from 1857 to 1875 was organist of the Church of St. Etienne, Caen, France. He commenced to experiment in electro-pneumatics in the year 1860, and early in 1861 communicated his discoveries to Mr. Barker. From that date until Barker left France, Péschard collaborated with him, reaping no pecuniary benefit therefrom. Péschard, however, was honored by being publicly awarded the Medal of Merit of the Netherlands;

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CHAPTER V. STOP-KEYS.

On looking at the console of a modern organ the observer will be struck by the fact that the familiar draw-stop knobs have disappeared, or, if they are still there, he will most likely find in addition a row of ivory tablets, like dominoes, arranged over the upper manual. If the stop-knobs are all gone, he will find an extended row, perhaps two rows of these tablets. These are the stop-keys which, working on a centre, move either the sliders in the wind-chest, or bring the various couplers on ma

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Fig. 8. Console, Showing the Inclined Keyboards First Introduced Into This Country by Robert Hope-Jones

We learn from Dr. Bédart that as early as 1804 an arrangement suggestive of the stop-key was in use in Avignon Cathedral. William Horatio Clarke, of Reading, Mass., applied for a patent covering a form of stop-key in 1877. Hope-Jones, however, is generally credited with introducing the first practical stop-keys. He invented the forms most largely used to-day, and led their adoption in England, in this country, and indeed throughout the world....

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Fig. 9. Console on the Bennett System, Showing Indicator Discs

Our illustration (Fig. 8) gives a good idea of the appearance of a modern Hope-Jones console. The stop-keys will be seen arranged in an inclined semi-circle overhanging and just above the keyboards. Fig. 9 shows a console on the Bennett system. Figs. 10 and 11, hybrids, the tilting tablet form of stop-keys being used for the couplers only....

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Fig. 10. Console of Organ in Trinity Church, Boston, Mass. Built by Hutchings Organ Co.

There is much controversy as to whether stop-keys will eventually displace the older fashioned draw-knobs....

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Fig. 11. Console of Organ in College of City of New York. Built by The E. M. Skinner Co.

A few organists of eminence, notably Edwin H. Lemare, are strongly opposed to the new method of control, but the majority, especially the rising generation of organists, warmly welcome the change. It is significant that whereas Hope-Jones was for years the only advocate of the system, four or five of the builders in this country, and a dozen foreign organ-builders, are now supplying stop-keys either exclusively or for a considerable number of their organs. Austin, Skinner, Norman &amp; Beard

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CONTROL OF THE STOPS.

In older days all stop-keys were moved by hand, and as a natural consequence few changes in registration could be made during performance. Pedals for throwing out various combinations of stops were introduced into organs about 1809; it is generally believed that J. C. Bishop was the inventor of this contrivance. Willis introduced into his organs pneumatic thumb-pistons about the year 1851. These pistons were placed below the keyboard whose stops they affected. T. C. Lewis, of England, later intr

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CHAPTER VI. RADIATING AND CONCAVE PEDAL BOARDS.

Pedal boards had always been made flat with straight keys until Willis and the great organist, Dr. S. S. Wesley, devised the radiating and concave board whereby all the pedal keys were brought within equal distance of the player's feet. This was introduced in the organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, and Willis has refused to supply any other type of board with his organs ever since. Curiously enough, the advantages of this board were not appreciated by many players who preferred the o

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PEDAL STOP CONTROL.

For a long time no means whatever of controlling the Pedal stops and couplers was provided, but in course of time it became the fashion to cause the combination pedals or pistons on the Great organ (and subsequently on the other departments also) to move the Pedal stops and couplers so as to provide a bass suited to the particular combination of stops in use on the manual. This was a crude arrangement and often proved more of a hindrance than of a help to the player. Unfortunately, unprogressive

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CHAPTER VII. MEANS OF OBTAINING EXPRESSION. CRESCENDO PEDAL.

To most organs in this country, to many in Germany, and to a few in other countries, there is attached a balanced shoe pedal by movement of which the various stops and couplers in the organ are brought into action in due sequence. By this means an organist is enabled to build up the tone of his organ from the softest to the loudest without having to touch a single stop-knob, coupler or combination piston. The crescendo pedal, as it is called, is little used in England. It is the fashion there to

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SFORZANDO PEDAL—DOUBLE TOUCH.

Under the name of Sforzando Coupler, the mechanism of which is described and illustrated in Stainer's Dictionary, a device was formerly found in some organs by which the keys of the Swell were caused to act upon the keys of the Great. The coupler being brought on and off by a pedal, sforzando effects could be produced, or the first beat in cadi measure strongly accented in the style of the orchestration of the great masters. Hope-Jones in his pioneer organ at St. John's Church, Birkenhead, Engla

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BALANCED SWELL PEDAL

At the commencement of the period of which we are treating (some fifty years ago) the Swell shutters of almost all organs were made to fall shut of their own weight, or by means of a spring. The organist might leave his Swell-box shut or, by means of a catch on the pedal, hitch it full open. When, however, he wanted the shutters in any intermediate position, he had to keep his foot on the pedal in order to prevent its closing. The introduction of the balanced Swell pedal (Walcker, 1863) has grea

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SWELL BOXES.

The invention of the Swell is generally attributed to Abraham Jordan. He exhibited what was known as the nag's head Swell in St. Magnus' Church, London, England, in the year 1731. The "nag's head" Swell, with its great sliding shutter, rapidly gave place to the "Venetian" Swell shades, used almost universally to this day. At the beginning of the period under consideration Swell boxes were almost invariably made of thin boards and their effect upon the strength of the tone was small. Willis was o

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Fig. 12. The Principle of the Sound Trap

This plan illustrates the principle of the sound trap joint. Figure 13 shows in section the joint between two Swell shutters. A small proportion of the sound waves from inside the Swell box striking the sound trap joint, as indicated by the arrow, will pass through the nick between the two shutters, but these sound waves will become greatly weakened in charging the groove A. Such of the sound waves is pass through the second nick will become attenuated in charging the chamber B. They will be fur

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Fig. 13. Sound Trap Joint

To relieve the compression of the air caused by playing for any length of time with the shutters closed, he provides escape valves, opening outside the auditorium. He also provides fans for driving all the cold air out of the box before using the organ, thus equalizing the temperature with the air outside—or he accomplishes this result through the medium of gas, electric or steam heaters, governed by thermostats. The Hope-Jones Vacuum Swell Shutters, with sound-trap joints, are shown in Figures

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Figs. 14-15. The Vacuum Shutter

They are very light and can therefore be opened and closed with great rapidity. A very thin vacuum shutter forms a better interrupter of sound waves than a brick wall two or three feet in thickness. When partially exhausted the aluminum shutters are dipped into a bath of shellac. This effectually closes any microscopic blow-hole that may exist in the metal. The use of Swell boxes of this vastly increased efficiency permits the employment of larger scales and heavier pressures for the pipes than

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CHAPTER VIII. A REVOLUTION IN WIND SUPPLY.

Prior to the construction of the above-named organ at Birkenhead, England, it had been the custom to obtain or regulate the pressure of wind supplied to the pipes by means of loading the bellows with weights. Owing to its inertia, no heavy bellows weight can be set into motion rapidly. When, therefore, a staccato chord was struck on one of these earlier organs, with all its stops drawn, little or no response was obtained from the pipes, because the wind-chest was instantly exhausted and no time

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BELLOWS SPRINGS VERSUS WEIGHTS.

In one of Hope-Jones' earliest patents the weights indeed remain, but they merely serve to compress springs, which in turn, act upon the top of the bellows. Before this patent was granted he had, however, given up the use of weights altogether and relied entirely upon springs. This one detail—the substitution of springs for weights—has had a far-reaching effect upon organ music. It rendered possible the entire removal of the old unsteadiness of wind from which all organs of the time suffered in

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INDIVIDUAL PALLETS.

Fifty years ago the pallet and slider sound-board was well nigh universally used, but several of the builders in Germany, and Roosevelt in this country, strongly advocated, and introduced, chests having an independent valve, pallet or membrane, to control the admission of wind to each pipe in the organ.[1] In almost all of these instances small round valves were used for this purpose. A good pallet and slider chest is difficult to make, and those constructed by indifferent workmen out of indiffe

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HEAVY WIND PRESSURES.

As previously stated, the vast majority of organs built fifty years ago used no higher wind pressure than 3 inches. Hill, in 1833, placed a Tuba stop voiced on about 11 inches in an organ he built for Birmingham Town Hall (England), but the tone was so coarse and blatant that such stops were for years employed only in the case of very large buildings.[3] Cavaillé-Coll subsequently utilized slightly increased pressures for the trebles of his flue stops as well as for his larger reeds. As a pionee

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MECHANICAL BLOWERS.

The "organ beater" of bygone days was invariably accompanied by the "organ pumper," often by several of them. There is a well-known story of how the man refused to blow any longer unless the organist said that " we had done very well to-day." The organ pumper's vocation is now almost entirely gone, especially in this country, although we know of organs in England which require four men "to blow the same" unto this day. When Willis built the great organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, h

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CHAPTER IX. TRANSFERENCE OF STOPS.

At the commencement of the period of which we are treating, the stops belonging to the Swell organ could be drawn on that keyboard only; similarly the stops on the Great, Choir and Pedal organs could be drawn only on their respective keyboards. It is now becoming more and more common to arrange for the transference of stops from one keyboard to another. If this plan be resorted to as an effort to make an insufficient number of stops suffice for a large building, it is bound to end in disappointm

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CHAPTER X. THE PRODUCTION OF ORGAN TONE.

We now come to the department of the organ which will be of more interest to the listener, viz., the various organ tones. The general shape and construction of the pipes now in use, judging from the earliest drawings obtainable, have not changed for hundreds of years. The ancients were not wanting in ingenuity and we have pictures of many funny-looking pipes which were intended to imitate the growling of a bear (this stop was sometimes labeled Vox Humana!), the crowing of a cock, the call of the

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Series of harmonics

The harmonics of a pianoforte string can be easily demonstrated by the following experiment: Depress the "loud" pedal and strike any note in the bass a sharp blow. On listening intently, the 3d, 5th, and 8th (the common chord) of the note struck will be heard sounding all the way up for several octaves. In this case the other strings of the piano act as resonators , enabling the harmonics to be heard. Coming back to our Flute again and applying the knowledge we have gained to an organ pipe, we o

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Fig. 16. Estey's Open Bass Pipes—Wood and Metal

Referring to the illustration, it will be seen that the pipes are partly open and partly stopped, with a tuning slide in the centre. The builders write as follows: "The inserted tube, or complementing chamber, in the pipe is such in length as to complete the full length of the pipe. It is, as will be noted, smaller in scale than the outside pipe. The effect is to produce the vibration that would be obtained with a full-length pipe, and in no way does it interfere with the quality of tone. In fac

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DIAPASONS.

The pipes usually seen in the front of an organ belong to the Great organ Open Diapason, long regarded as the foundation tone of the instrument. The Open Diapason may vary in size (or scale) from 9 inches diameter at CC to 3 inches. The average size is about 6 inches. The Diapasons of the celebrated old organ-builders, Father Schmidt, Renatus Harris, Green, Snetzler and others, though small in power, were most musical in tone quality. Though sounding soft near the organ, the tone from these musi

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Fig. 17. Diapason Pipe with Leathered Lip

The dull tone of the old Diapasons was due to the absence of the upper harmonics or partials. With the introduction of the Lutheran chorale and congregational singing it was found that the existing organs could not make themselves heard above the voices. But it was discovered empirically that by adding their harmonics artificially the organs could be brightened up and even made to overpower large bodies of singers. Hence the introduction of the Mixture stops (also called compound stops), which w

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THE DECLINE OF MIXTURES.

Fifty years ago it was common to find the number of ranks of mixtures in an organ largely exceed the total number of foundation stops. Mixtures were inserted in the pedal departments of all large organs. Organists of the time do not seem to have objected and many of the leading players strongly opposed Hope-Jones when he came out as the champion of their abolition. These stops greatly excited the ire of Berlioz, who declaims against them in his celebrated work on orchestration. The tone of these

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FLUTES.

The chief developments in Flutes that have taken place during the period under consideration are the popularization of the double length, or "Harmonic," principle,[4] by Cavaillé-Coll, by William Thynne and others, and the introduction of large scale leather-lipped "Tibias" by Hope-Jones. Harmonic Flutes, of double length open pipes,[5] are now utilized by almost all organ builders. Speaking generally, the tone is pure and possesses considerable carrying power. Thynne, in his Zauber Flöte, intro

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STRINGS.

Under this head are grouped the stops which imitate the tones of such stringed instruments as the Viola, the Violoncello, the Double Bass, and more especially the old form of Violoncello, called the Viol di Gamba, which had six strings and was more nasal in tone. At the commencement of the period herein spoken of string-toned stops as we know them to-day scarcely existed. This family was practically represented by the Dulciana and by the old slow-speaking German Gamba. These Gambas were more lik

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REEDS.

As remarked in our opening chapter, pipes with strips of cane or reeds in the mouthpiece are of great antiquity, being found side by side with the flutes in the Egyptian tombs. These reeds, as those used at the present day, were formed of the outer siliceous layer of a tall grass, Arundo donax , or sativa , which grows in Egypt and the south of Europe. They were frequently double, but the prototype of the reed organ-pipe is to be seen in the clarinet, where the reed is single and beats against t

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Fig. 18. Haskell's Clarinet Without Reed

In the last half-century the art of reed voicing has been entirely revolutionized. Prior to the advent of Willis, organ reeds were poor, thin, buzzy things, with little or no grandeur of effect, and were most unmusical in quality. Testimony to the truth of this fact is to be found in old instruction books for organ students. It is there stated that reeds should never be used alone, but that a Stopped Diapason or other rank of flue pipes must always be drawn with them to improve the tone quality.

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Fig. 19. Diagram of Reed Pipe

Willis created an entirely new school of reed voicing. He was the first to show that reeds could be made really beautiful and fit for use without help from flue stops. When he wanted power he obtained it by raising the pressure, in order that he might be able to afford still to restrain the tone and to consider only beauty of musical quality. He was the first to show that every trace of roughness and rattle could be obviated by imparting to the reed tongue exactly the right curve. He restrained

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Fig. 20. Vox Humana with Vowel Cavity Attached. Fig. 21. Orchestral Oboe with Vowel Cavity Attached Fig. 22. Kinura with Vowel Cavity Attached

Builders who have not mastered the art of so curving their reed tongues that buzz and rattle are impossible have endeavored to obtain smoothness of tone by leathering the face of the eschallot. This pernicious practice has unfortunately obtained much headway in the United States and in Germany. It cannot be too strongly condemned, for its introduction robs the reeds of their characteristic virility of tone. Reeds that are leathered cannot be depended upon; atmospheric changes affect them and put

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UNDULATING STOPS—CELESTES.

The writer is not aware who first introduced into the organ a rank of soft-toned pipes purposely tuned a trifle sharp or flat to the normal pitch of the organ, so as to cause a beat or wave in the tone. Fifty years ago such stops were sparingly used and many organists condemned their employment altogether. Stops of the kind were hardly ever found in small organs and the largest instruments seldom contained more than one. A great development in this direction has taken place and further advance s

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PERCUSSION STOPS.

This class of stop is also now finding its way into organs more generally than heretofore. Resonating gongs giving, when skillfully used, effects closely resembling a harp have been introduced freely by the Aeolian Company in its house organs, and there seems no possible objection to such introduction. The tone is thoroughly musical and blends perfectly with the other registers. Under the name of "Chimes" these resonant gongs are now finding place in many Church and Concert organs. Tubular bells

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THE DIAPHONE.

The invention of the Diaphone by Hope-Jones in 1894 will some day be regarded as the most important step in advance hitherto achieved in the art of organ building. The existence of patents at present prevents general adoption of the invention and limits it to the instruments made by one particular builder. In addition to this the Diaphone takes so many forms and covers so large a field that time must necessarily pass before its full possibilities are realized. Enough was, however, done by Hope-J

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Fig. 23. Diaphone in Worcester Cathedral, Eng.

M is a pneumatic motor or bellows to which is attached a rod bearing the compound and spring valve V, V 1 , working against the spring S. On the admission of wind (under pressure) to the box A, the motor M is caused to collapse, and thereby to open the valves V, V 1 . Wind then rushes into the chamber B, and entering the interior of motor M through the passage C, equalizes the pressure in the motor. The action of the springs now serves to close the valves V, V 1 , and to open out the motor M, wh

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Fig. 24. Diaphone in Aberdeen University.

In Fig. 24 we illustrate the Diaphone in the Hope-Jones organ built for Aberdeen University, Scotland. The action is as follows: Wind from the organ bellows enters the pipe foot F, and raises the pressure in the chamber C. The air in the chamber will press upon the back of the valve V, tending to keep it closed. It will press also upon the bellows or motor M, and as this bellows has a much larger area than that of the valve, it will instantly collapse, and, through the medium of the tail piece T

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Figs. 25, 26, 27. Diaphone in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

Referring to Fig. 25, the chamber WW is supplied with air under pressure whenever the organist presses a key or pedal calling into use this particular note. The pressure of air enters through the circular engine supply port S, thus raising the pressure in the chamber C and forcing in an upward direction the aluminum piston P through the medium of the division D (colored black), which forms a portion of the aluminum piston. When the lower edge of the piston has risen a certain distance it will un

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Fig. 28. Diaphone in the Auditorium, Ocean Grove, N. J.

In Fig. 28 we give an illustration of the form of Diaphone used in the Hope-Jones Unit organ at the Auditorium, Ocean Grove, N. J. P is a pallet controlling the admission of air into the body of the pipe P 1 . M is a motor adapted for plucking open the pallet P through the medium of strap s . The box B is permanently supplied with air under pressure from the bellows. When the valves V and V 1 are in the position shown in the drawing, the Diaphone is out of action, for the wind from the box B wil

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Fig. 29. Diaphone in St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, N. Y.

In Fig. 29 will be found an illustration of the Diaphone (or valvular reed) used in the Hope-Jones organ at St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, N. Y. Upon depressing a key, wind is admitted into the box B. Pressing upon the valve V it causes it to close against its seat in spite of the action of the spring S. This, however, does not take place until a pulse of air has passed into the foot of the pipe P, thereby originating a sound wave which in due time liberates the valve V and allows the spring S t

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Fig. 30. Diaphone Producing Foundation Tone

The action is as follows. Air under pressure enters the chamber B through the pipe foot A, and passing up the ports C, C 1 , C 2 , etc., forces the metal balls D, D 1 , D 2 , etc., upwards into the chamber E; the bottom end of the resonator or pipe. The pressure of air above the balls in the resonator E, then rises until it equals or nearly equals the pressure of air in chamber B. This is owing to the fact that the column of air in the pipe or resonator E possesses weight and inertia, and being

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CHAPTER XI. TUNING.

Having described the improvements in pipes, we now consider how they are tuned, and the first thing we must notice is the introduction of equal temperament. About fifty years ago most organs were so tuned that the player had to limit himself to certain key signatures if his music was to sound at all pleasant. Using excessive modulation or wandering into forbidden keys resulted in his striking some discordant interval, known as the "wolf." The writer remembers being present at a rehearsal of Hand

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NEW METHOD OF REED TUNING.

Organ reed pipes, especially those of more delicate tone, fail to stand well in tune, especially when the tuner is in a hurry or when he does not know enough of his business to take the spring out of the reed wire after the note has been brought into tune. Few persons fully understand the reason why reeds fail to stand in tune as they ought to....

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Figs. 31-35. New Method of Tuning Reeds

Figures 31, 32, and 33 will serve to make clear the chief cause for reeds going out of tune. Figure 31 may be taken to represent a reed block, eschallot, tongue and tuning wire at rest. In this case the tuning wire will be pressing firmly against the tongue at the point B, but said tuning wire will not be subjected to any abnormal strain. Turning to Figure 32, if we use the reed knife and slightly lift the tuning wire at the point C, friction against the tongue at the point B will prevent said p

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CHAPTER XII. PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION IN OUR OWN COUNTRY.

In the study of the art of organ-building one cannot fail to be struck by the fact that almost all the great steps in advance have been due to Englishmen: the compound horizontal bellows, the concussion bellows, the swell box, the pneumatic lever, the tubular-pneumatic action, the electro-pneumatic action, the Universal air chest, the leathered lip, the clothed flue, the diaphone, smooth reed tone, imitative string tone, the vowel cavity, tone reflectors, cement swell boxes, the sound trap joint

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CHAPTER XIII. THE CHIEF ACTORS IN THE DRAMA.

We now purpose to give a brief account of the leaders in revolutionizing the King of Instruments, the men whose genius and indomitable perseverance in the face of prejudice, discouragement and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, financial and otherwise, have made the modern organ possible. First of all these comes...

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CHARLES SPACHMAN BARKER,

who was born at Bath, England, on Oct. 10, 1806. Left an orphan when five years old, he was brought up by his godfather, who gave him such an education as would fit him for the medical profession, and he was in due time apprenticed to an apothecary and druggist in Bath. This apothecary used to draw teeth, and it was Barker's duty to hold the heads of the patients, whose howls and screams unnerved him so that he refused to learn the business and left before his term of apprenticeship expired. Dr.

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CHARLES SPACHMAN BARKER.

Barker built an organ for the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Cork, which was no better, and this was his last work. These misfortunes culminated in an appeal to his countrymen for subscriptions on his behalf in the musical papers. In his old age he had married the eighteen-year-old daughter of M. Ougby, his late foreman. He died at Maidstone, Eng., November 26, 1879. This sketch of Barker's career is taken partly from Grove's Dictionary of Music, from Hopkins and Rimbault's History, and from Dr. Hi

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ARISTIDE CAVAILLE-COLL.

The following sketch of the life of this eminent artist is taken from Dr. Bédart's forthcoming book on "Cavaillé-Coll and His Times," and from Le Monde Musical, of Paris, October 30, 1899, translated by Mr. Robert F. Miller, of Boston. The portrait is from the same magazine. Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was born at Montpellier, France, on the 4th day of February, 1811. He was the son of Dominique Cavaillé-Coll, who was well known as an organ-builder in Languedoc, and grandson of Jean Pierre Cavaillé,

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HENRY WILLIS.

The following sketch of the greatest organ-builder of the Victorian Era has been condensed from an interview with him as set forth in the London Musical Times for May, 1898. Henry Willis was born in London on April 27, 1821. His father was a builder, a member of the choir of Old Surrey Chapel, and played the drums in the Cecilian Amateur Orchestral Society. The subject of this sketch began to play the organ at very early age; he was entirely self-taught and never had a lesson in his life. In 183

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Henry Willis

About the year 1847 Henry Willis started in business for himself as an organ-builder, and his first great success was in rebuilding the organ in Gloucester Cathedral. "It was my stepping-stone to fame," he says. "The Swell, down to double C, had twelve stops and a double Venetian front. The pianissimo was simply astounding. I received 400 pounds for the job, and I was presumptuous enough to marry." For the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Crystal Palace (then in Hyde Park), Mr. Willis erected a m

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ROBERT HOPE-JONES.

Robert is the third son of the late William Hope-Jones, Hooton Grange, Cheshire, England. His father, a man of means, was prominent as one of the pioneers in organizing the volunteer army of Great Britain. He was musical, playing the cornet and having an unusual tenor voice. His mother (Agnes Handforth)—also musical and a gifted singer—was a daughter of the Rector of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire,—a highly nervous woman....

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Robert Hope-Jones

There were nine children of the marriage—two girls and seven boys. Robert appeared on the ninth of February, 1859. He inherited in exaggerated degree his mother's highly strung nervous nature. Melancholy, weak and sickly as a child, he was not expected to live. To avoid the damp and cold of English winters he was periodically taken to the south of France. Deemed too delicate for school, a private tutor was provided. Joining in sports or games was out of the question for so sensitive and delicate

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CHAPTER XIV. HOW WE STAND TO-DAY.

Looking backward over the field we have traversed we find that the modern organ is an entirely different instrument from that of the Nineteenth Century. Tracker action, bellows weights, the multitude of weak, drab-toned stops, have disappeared, and in their place we have stops of more musical character, greater volume, under perfect and wide control; new families of string and orchestral tones; great flexibility, through transference of stops; an instrument of smaller bulk than the old one, but

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AUTOMATIC PLAYERS.

When one listens to the Welte-Mignon Piano Player, it seems difficult to believe that a skilled artist is not at the keyboard performing the music. The exact instant of striking each note and the duration during which the key is held are faithfuly recorded and reproduced with absolute accuracy, and a pretty close approximation to the power of blow with which each key is struck is obtained. The first of these, that is, the time and duration of the note, is directly recorded from the artist who pl

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ORGAN IN ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LIVERPOOL, ENG.

This noble instrument was built by Henry Willis to the specification of Dr. S. S. Wesley, by whom it was opened on the 29th and 30th of May, 1855. The writer made its acquaintance in 1866, when it was tuned on the unequal temperament system. In 1867 Mr. Best succeeded in getting it re-tuned in equal-temperament, several improvements were made, and the wind pressure on four of the reed stops on the Solo organ increased from 9 1/2 inches to 22 inches. In 1898 the organ was thoroughly rebuilt with

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Keyboards of Organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Two Rows of Stops at Left Omitted

The following is the specification of the organ as it now stands, in its revised form: In addition to these coupling movements there are other accessories, consisting of 36 pneumatic pistons, 6 to each manual, and 12 acting upon the Pedal stops. There are also 6 composition pedals acting upon the "Great" and "Pedal" stops simultaneously, and 4 pedals acting upon the Swell organ pistons. The Swell and Solo organs are each provided with tremulants. Two large bellows in the basement of the Hall, an

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ORGAN IN THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE-DAME, PARIS, FRANCE.

The ancient organ in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was built in the reign of Louis XV by Thierry Leselope and the best workmen of his time. In the Eighteenth Century repairs and additions were made by the celebrated Cliquot. Further repairs were made by Dalsey from 1832 to 1838, and in 1863 the French Government confided the complete reconstruction of the instrument to Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. He spent five years over the work, and the new organ was solemnly inaugurated on the 6th of March

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Keyboards, Cathedral Notre Dame, Paris

It will be noticed that this illustration is not a photograph, but a wood engraving, drawn by hand, and the artist was evidently not a musician--he only shows 38 keys on each manual; there should be 56. It stands in a gallery over the west door of the Cathedral. It has five manuals of 56 notes each, CC to g 3 , pedal of 30 notes, CCC to F; 86 sounding stops "controlled by 110 registers"; 32 combination pedals, and 6,000 pipes, the longest being 32 feet. The action is Cavaillé-Coll's latest impro

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ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL ORGAN, LONDON, ENG.

The old organ in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, on which Sir John Goss played, and which had felt the magic touch of Mendelssohn, had 13 stops on the Great, 7 on the Swell, 8 on the Choir and only one on the Pedal. It stood in a case on the screen between the choir and the nave of the Cathedral. We have noted elsewhere in this book how Willis had this screen removed, and rebuilt the organ on each side in 1872. In 1891 it was rebuilt in its present form as noted below. The writer first saw and hea

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WESTMINSTER ABBEY ORGAN, LONDON, ENG.

All good Americans when they visit London go to Westminster Abbey, and will be interested in the organ there; in fact we believe it was largely built with American money. The house of William Hill &amp; Son, who built this organ, is the oldest firm of organ-builders in England, being descended from the celebrated artist, John Snetzler, whose business, founded in 1755, passed into the possession of Thomas Elliot, and to his son-in-law, William Hill (inventor of the Tuba), in the earlier part

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The Console, Westminster Abbey

The organ in Westminster Abbey is placed at each side of the choir screen, except the Celestial organ, which is placed in the triforium of the south transept (Poets' Corner) and connected with the console by an electric cable 200 feet long. The form of action used is Messrs. Hill's own, and the "stop-keys" therefor (made to a pattern suggested by Sir Frederick Bridge) will be seen in the picture to the left of the music desk. Note that this organ can be played from two keyboards. The main organ

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ORGAN IN THE MANSION OF J. MARTIN WHITE, ESQ., BALRUDDERY, SCOTLAND

The organs heretofore described have been somewhat on the old lines, but we come now, in 1894, to "the dawn of a new era," and the star of Hope-Jones appears on the horizon. With the exception of an instrument rebuilt by Hope-Jones in Dundee Parish Church, this is the first organ with electric action in Scotland....

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Organ in Hall of Balruddery Mansion, Dundee, Scotland

Balruddery mansion, the rural residence of Mr. J. Martin White, stands in a fair country seven miles to the west of Dundee. The grounds of the mansion are a dream of sylvan beauty, with the broad bosom of the River Tay within the vision and beyond that the blue line of the Fife shore. The organ is the work of three hands. It was originally built by Casson; the most notable characters in the voicing are due to Thynne; and it remained for Mr. Hope-Jones to entirely reconstruct it with his electric

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ORGAN IN WORCESTER CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND.

Next in chronological order comes the epoch-making organ in Worcester Cathedral, England, built by Hope-Jones in 1896. Here he gave to the world the result of his researches into the production of organ tone, and we make bold to say that no other instrument has so revolutionized and exerted such an influence on the art of organ-building both in England and the United States. Here for the first time we find that wonderful invention, the Diaphone, and even the nomenclature of the various stops is

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ORGAN IN WOOLSEY HALL, YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CONN.

This magnificent instrument, built by the Hutchings-Votey Organ Company in 1902, possesses increased foundation tone and higher wind pressures. The late Professor Samuel S. Sanford, devoted much time and interest in its design. He visited Worcester Cathedral, England, and was profoundly impressed with the new epoch in tone production heralded by that organ. He made an effort to have Mr. Hope-Jones voice one of his Tibias and Smooth Tubas for the Yale organ; and though his effort was not successf

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ORGAN IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, BUFFALO, N. Y.

This instrument, built by the Hope-Jones Organ Company and opened Christmas, 1908, in one of the finest churches in America, takes position among the great and important organs of the New World. It is built on the "Unit" principle, and is divided between the extreme ends of the lofty structure. The chancel organ, consisting of four extended stops, occupies the old organ chamber, which opens into the chancel and the transept of the church. This portion of the instrument stands in a cement swell b

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ORGAN KNOWN AS THE HOPE-JONES UNIT ORCHESTRA, IN THE PARIS THEATRE, DENVER, COLORADO.

This fine instrument was installed in May, 1913, and hailed by the people of Denver with great enthusiasm. The president of the Paris Theatre Company, writing under date of June 9, says: "The wonderful instrument * * * is proving a source of interest to the whole city and has materially added to the fame of 'The Paris' as the leading picture theatre of Denver. No thirty-piece orchestra could accompany the pictures so well as the Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra does. Neither would it so completely carr

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The Author Playing a Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra.

Only the keyboards are visible from the auditorium; the instrument is placed on each side of the proscenium, occupying the place of the usual stage boxes, the tone being reflected into the theatre through ornamental case work. The 32-foot open diaphone is located behind the picture screen. The specification:...

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CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, NEW YORK CITY.

This organ was built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company, Boston, Mass., in 1911. It is the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Levi P. Morton, and is said to have cost $50,000. It is contained in two cases on each side of the triforium of the chancel and blown by an electric installation of 85 h.p....

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ORGAN IN UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CANADA.

Many fine organs have been erected in Canada and the northern part of the United States by Casavant Frères, of St. Hyacinthe, Province of Quebec, among which we may mention the Church of Notre-Dame in Montreal, the Cathedrals of Montreal and Ottawa, the Northwestern University, Chicago, and the Grand Opera House, Boston. The organ in the Convocation Hall of the University of Toronto has 4 manuals of 61 notes, CC to c 4 ; pedals of 32 notes, CCC to g; electro-pneumatic action; 76 speaking stops;

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CITY HALL, PORTLAND, MAINE.

This organ was built by the Austin Organ Company, of Hartford, Conn., in 1912. It was presented to the city of Portland by Mr. Cyrus K. Curtis, of the Saturday Evening Post, in memory of the late Hermann Kotschmar, whose "Te Deum" is well known in the United States. The organ is in a handsome case on the platform at one end of the hall and is entitled to take its place among the world's great instruments. It is certainly a coincidence that those who have been associated with Mr. Hope-Jones in bu

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LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND.

The firm of Henry Willis &amp; Sons was established in 1845 by the late "Father" Willis, who took his two sons, Vincent Willis and Henry Willis, into partnership with him in 1878. The majority of the patents and improvements produced by the firm were solely the work of "Father" Willis, although his son Vincent was associated with him in certain of the later patents. Vincent Willis left the firm in 1894, six years previous to the death of "Father" Willis, which occurred in February, 1900, and

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