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Name: Organ
Geographic Region: Europe
Country of origin: Germany
Classification: Aerophone
Material:
Author:
Ronald Ebrecht
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General History
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Wesleyan's Organ
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Technical Specifications
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References
General History
First used outdoors and in procession in Roman times, the pipe organ is
the oldest keyboard instrument. In its earliest form a simple keyboard
and primitive blowing apparatus either hand-pumped or if permanently
installed in public buildings such as the baths at Caracalla, run by
water, the hydraulis. A performer could play single-note melodies of
limited range. Early organs were quite loud by modern standards and
could be heard over great distances, similar in volume to the modern
cousin of the organ blown by steam, the calliope.
Over its history, the organ evolved in countries where the Romans first
used it. Portable organs of two types are known, those with flue pipes
are portativs and those with reeds, regales. With the conversion of
Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity, portable organs entered the
church (literally) in his entourage and permanently installed organs
evolved in that setting. In medieval times, multiple sets of pipes
emphasizing different overtones were added, and the compass was
extended. These instruments are now known as bloch-werk, to distinguish
them from later single manual, or keyboard, organs with a mechanism
developed to selectively delete some sets or ranks of pipes, called
stops. The term is still used to denote specific ranks even though the
selection process now allows each rank to be chosen individually (thus
starting the rank rather than stopping it), leading to the idiomatic
expression "pulling out all the stops." To allow more complicated
compositions to be played, wind ample for multiple notes sounded
together and simple foot-operated levers were developed. These pedals
allowed the performer to sound long drone notes of tonic and dominant,
hence the music theory term, "pedal-point." The oldest, late
medieval/Renaissance organ still in playing condition was built c. 1380
for Abondance Abbey in Savoy, and is now in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame
de Val?e, Sion, Switzerland. Spanish missionaries brought organs to
South America in the 16th Century, where Amer-Indians built them with
stops named after their instruments, such as Chirimias. Romans, and
later Christian missionaries took organs to many other parts of the
world, including Africa and Asia, where local musical traditions and
materials were used in their construction, leaving such remarkable
instruments as the famous Bamboo organ in the Phillippines, with its
pipes made of bamboo shoots of various lengths and diameters.
By 1700 in northern Europe - including Scandanavia, Holland, Germany
and France - organs had multiple manuals, often as many as four, and
pedal. In Spain and Italy until 1900, and until c.1730 in England, large
single manual organs with divided keyboards evolved. Thus in North
America, each immigrant group brought quite different concepts of the
organ with them, and in North America, they melded, so that in the 20th
Century American ingenuity drove developments in America and Europe,
particularly the use of electricity to operate stop-changes and provide
the connection between key and pipe.
Wesleyan's Organ
This extended evolution of the instrument, with peculiarities to each
country, inspired quite distinct compositional styles. We now benefit
from large compendiums of compositions, each with its own performance
practice and system of stop selection, or registration. From the
mid-nineteenth century to the present, composers have used elaborate
layerings of registrations on separate keyboards similar to
orchestration and ever more frequent changes of registration.
To suit this body of literature and what may be anticipated in the
future, the new organ of Memorial Chapel is equipped with several
computerized and digital components.
This is the fourth organ at Wesleyan. The first for the rear of the
original upstairs chapel was built in the late 1860s by Hook of Boston.
When the chapel was remodeled into a two story space in 1917, an organ
was built by Austin of Hartford and installed in the front. In 1962, a
Baroque revival organ was designed by E. Power Biggs, and Wesleyan
faculty Richard Winslow and Joseph Daltry, built by Schlicker of
Buffalo, and installed in an enlarged rear gallery. For the 2002/3
renovations of ? Theater and the Chapel with its connecting Zelnick
Pavilion, Ronald Ebrecht, University Organist, designed the new concert
organ, built by Holtkamp of Cleveland, and installed in the apse above
the stage.
Technical Specifications
The specification or stop-list of the Holtkamp opus 2085 is:
Great (electric slider chest either side of Positive and display)
Violone 16 (ext),
Bourdon 16 (ext),
Open Diapason 8,
Violone 8,
Bourdon 8,
Octave 4,
Open Flute 4,
Super Octave 2,
Mixture V,
Trumpet 8,
Tremulant,
Positive to Great
16, 8, 4
Solo to Great
16, 8, 4
Great to Great
16, unison off, 4
Tuba 16 (Solo)
Tuba 8 (Solo)
French Horn 8 (Solo)
Clarinet 8 (Solo)
Vox Humana 8 (Solo)
Tuba 4 (Solo)
Solo Tremulant
Positive (electric slider and electro-pneumatic chests enclosed under center lancet in Apse)
Stopped Flute 16 (ext),
Principal 8,
Stopped Flute 8,
Octave 4,
Chimney Flute 4,
Quinte 2 2/3,
Doublette 2,
Tierce 1 3/5,
Mixture IV,
Bassoon 16,
Trumpet 8,
Bassoon/Oboe 8 (ext),
Tremulant,
Positive to Positive,
16, unison off, 4,
Solo to Positive,
16, 8, 4,
Great to Positive,
All Swells to Positive,
Gamba 16 (Solo),
Gamba Celeste 16 (Solo),
Harmonic Flute 8 (Solo),
Gamba 8 (Solo),
Gamba Celeste 8 (Solo),
Echo Viole 8 (Solo),
Viole Celeste (Solo),
Gambette 4 (Solo),
Viole Celeste 4 II (Solo),
Solo Tremulant
Solo (unit chests enclosed in tower chambers, reeds left, flues right)
Gamba 16 (ext), ,
Gamba Celeste 16 (ext),
Harmonic Flute 8,
Gamba 8,
Gamba Celeste 8 (61),
Echo Viole 8,
Viole Celeste (61),
Gambette 4,
Echo Viole 4 (ext),
Viole Celeste 4 (ext),
Tuba 16 (ext),
Tuba 8,
French Horn 8,
Clarinet 8,
Vox Humana 8,
Tuba 4 (ext),
Flue Tremulant,
Reed Tremulant,
Solo to Solo 16, u off, 4,
Great to Solo,
Positive to Solo
Pedal (encased in towers, right and left in Apse and in attic over Apse)
Subbass 32 (elec ext),
Open Diapason 16,
Violone 16 (Gt),
Gamba 16 (So),
Subbass 16,
Stopped Flute 16 (Po),
Octave 8,
Violone 8 (Gt),
Gamba 8 (So),
Subbass 8 (ext),
Bourdon 8 (Gt),
Octave 4 (ext),
Flute 4 (ext),
Trombone 32 (elec ext),
Trombone 16,
Tuba 16 (So),
Bassoon 16 (Po),
Octave Trombone 8 (ext),
Bassoon/Oboe 8 (Po),
Tuba 8 (So),
Tuba 4 (So),
Great to Pedal 8, 4,
Positive to Pedal 8, 4,
Solo to Pedal 8, 4
Four expression shoes:
1 Positive, 2 Solo Reeds,
3 Solo Foundations,
4 Crescendo, with four programmable settings,
Reversibles as pistons and toe-studs for Gt/Pd, Po/Pd, So/Pd, Po/Gt,
So/Gt and
All Swells to Positive.
199 levels of memory,
12 general, 5 divisional pistons on each level.
Playback sequencer,
MIDI.
References
Williams, Peter and Barbara Owen. 1988. The Organ New Grove
Musical Instrument Series. New York: W. W. Norton.
Last Modified: 05-May-2005
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