Pipe organ

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The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (referred to as wind) is driven through a series of pipes. The size of pipe organs varies greatly; the smallest portable organs may have only a few dozen pipes, while the largest organs may feature over 20,000.

The admission of wind into the pipes is controlled by a keyboard. A pipe "sounds" when a key is depressed on the keyboard, allowing wind to pass through the pipe. Modern organs usually include one or more keyboards playable by the hands and one keyboard playable by the feet. Each keyboard controls a certain number of pipes, meaning that the largest organs may require up to seven keyboards. The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain sound for as long as a key is depressed. This is unlike other keyboard instruments such as the piano and harpsichord, whose sound begins to decay immediately after the key is struck.

The origins of the pipe organ can be traced back to Ancient Greece in the third century BC, making the organ one of the oldest musical instruments. The wind supply was originally created with water pressure; since the second century AD, bellows have been used. Early portable organs were used to accompany both sacred and secular music. During the Renaissance period, the organ developed into a complex instrument capable of producing many different timbres and imitating other instruments. By the end of the seventeenth century, the organ was recognisably akin to the modern organ.

Pipe organs are found in churches and synagogues, as well as secular town halls and arts buildings, where they are used for the performance of classical music. The organ boasts a substantial repertoire of both sacred and secular music spanning a period of more than 400 years.

Construction

Pipes

An organ pipe is made from either wood or metal and produces sound when wind is directed through it. Because one pipe produces a single pitch, many pipes are necessary to allow the organ to sound a variety of pitches. The longer a pipe is, the lower its resulting pitch will be. The volume of the sound produced by the pipe depends on the pressure of the wind flowing to the pipe and how the pipe is voiced. Thus, the pipe's volume cannot be changed directly while playing.

Organ pipes are divided into flue pipes and reed pipes according to their design and timbre. Flue pipes produce sound by forcing air through a fipple, like a recorder, whereas reed pipes produce sound via a beating reed, like a clarinet.

The pipes are arranged by timbre and pitch into rows called ranks and mounted vertically onto a windchest. A mechanism called a stop admits wind to each rank. For a given pipe to sound, the stop governing the pipe's rank must be engaged, and the key corresponding to its pitch must be depressed. Ranks of pipes are organized into groups called divisions. Each division generally is played from its own keyboard and may contain one or more windchests.

Action

There are two types of action on an organ. The key action admits wind into a pipe when a key is depressed, and the stop action allows the organist to control which ranks are engaged. An action may be either mechanical or electrical. A key action which physically connects the keys and the windchests uses mechanical or tracker action. This connection is achieved through a series of rods called trackers. When the organist depresses a key, the corresponding tracker moves, allowing wind to enter the pipe. In a mechanical stop action, each stop control is physically connected to a rank of pipes. When the organist activates the stop control, the action allows wind to flow into the selected rank. This control is usually the stop knob, which the organist activates by pulling (or "drawing") towards himself. This is the origin of the idiom "to pull out all the stops".

An electric action uses electric current to control the key and/or stop mechanisms. The electric current may operate the action indirectly through air pressure valves, in which case the action is referred to as electro-pneumatic. Because only electrical wiring is necessary to connect the console to the windchest, electric actions allow the console to be separated from the rest of the organ. The key action is independent of the stop action, allowing an organ to feature a mechanical key action along with an electric stop action. A common electrical stop control is the rocker tab, which sits on a hinge and activates an electrical circuit when pressed.

Wind system

An organ's wind system comprises the parts that produce, store, and deliver wind to the pipes. The pressure of the wind supply is measured by a manometer. In the United States and United Kingdom, wind pressure is described in "inches of water"; in other countries, the metric "millimetres of water" is often used instead. Although the phrase is scientifically incorrect, pipe organs are said to be "on x inches (of wind)". The exact wind pressure depends on the design of the organ. An Italian organ from the Renaissance period may only be on 2.2 inches (56 mm), while certain stops in a large twentieth-century organ can feature wind pressures as high as 100 inches (2540 mm).

After the invention of the bellows, wind was produced by mechanical means. When signalled by the organist (often by a small bell), a calcant would operate a set of bellows, supplying them with air. Therefore, playing the organ before electricity required at least one person to operate the bellows. Because calcants were expensive, organists would usually practice on smaller instruments that required no external energy source, such as the clavichord or harpsichord. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, electric motors or blowers were used to fill the bellows with air. This made it possible for organists to practice regularly on the organ. Most organs, both new and historic, have electric blowers, though some organs' wind systems can still be operated manually. The wind supplied is stored in one or more windchests (reservoirs) to maintain a constant wind pressure, until the action allows it to flow into the pipes.

Stops

Each stop usually controls one rank of pipes, although mixtures and undulating stops (such as the Voix céleste) control multiple ranks. The name of the stop reflects not only the stop's timbre and construction, but also the style of the organ in which it resides. For example, the names on an organ built in the north German Baroque style generally will be derived from the German language, while the names of similar stops on an organ in the French Romantic style will usually be French. Most countries tend to use only their own languages for stop nomenclature. English-speaking nations as well as Japan are more receptive to foreign nomenclature. Stop names are not standardised: two otherwise identical stops from different organs may have different names.

In order to facilitate a large range of tone colours, organ stops exist at different pitch levels. A stop that sounds at unison pitch when a key is depressed is referred to as being at 8′ (pronounced "eight-foot") pitch. This refers to the length of the lowest-sounding pipe in that rank, which is approximately eight feet. For the same reason, a stop that sounds an octave higher is at 4′ pitch, and one that sounds two octaves higher is at 2′ pitch. Likewise, a stop that sounds an octave lower than unison pitch is at 16′ pitch, and one that sounds two octaves lower is at 32′ pitch. Stops of different pitch levels are designed to be played simultaneously. Rather than creating the impression of parallel octaves, the higher-pitched stops reinforce the partials of the unison- and lower-pitched stops, adding brilliance and clarity to the timbre.

The label on a stop knob or rocker tab indicates the stop’s name and its pitch level expressed in feet. In the case of stops that control multiple ranks, a Roman numeral indicating the number of ranks will be present and may preclude the pitch level indication. Thus, a stop labelled "Open flute 8′" is a single-rank flute stop sounding at 8′ pitch. A stop labelled "Mixture V" is a five-rank mixture.

When a rank of pipes is made available as part of more than one stop, the rank is said to be unified or borrowed. For example, an 8′ Diapason rank may also be made available as a 4′ Octave. When both of these stops are selected and a key (for example, c′) is pressed, two pipes of the same rank will sound: the pipe normally corresponding to the key played (c′), and the pipe one octave above that (c′′). Because the 8′ rank does not have enough pipes to sound the top octave of the keyboard at 4′ pitch, it is common for an extra octave of pipes used only for the borrowed 4′ stop to be added. In this case, the full rank of pipes (now an extended rank) is one octave longer than the keyboard. An organ that includes many extended ranks is called an extension organ.

Some organs feature stops that do not employ pipes at all or use them in a way different from a traditional stop. The "Zimbelstern" (cymbal star), for example, is a revolving wheel of bells. The "Nightingale" admits wind into a pipe submerged in a small pool of water, creating the sound of a bird warbling. The "Effet d'orage" (thunder effect) is a device that sounds many of the large bass pipes simultaneously, creating the effect of thunder. Other stops imitate various percussion instruments, including the "Drum", "Chimes", "Celesta", and "Harp".

Console

All the controls available to the organist, including the keyboards, couplers, expression pedals, and stops and registration aids, are accessed from the console. If the console is attached to the organ case (as in many mechanical-action organs), it may also be called the keydesk. If the console is separate from the organ case, it may be movable. Some organs have more than one console, allowing the organ to be played from different parts of the room.

Keyboards

Keyboards played by the hands are known as manuals (from the Latin manus, meaning "hand"). The keyboard played by the feet is a pedalboard. All organs must have at least one manual, most have a pedalboard. Each keyboard is named for a division of the organ and generally controls only the stops from that division. The range of the keyboards has varied widely across time and between countries. Most current specifications call for two or more manuals with sixty-one notes (five octaves, from C to c″″) and a pedalboard with thirty or thirty-two notes (two and a half octaves, from C to f′ or g′).

Couplers

A coupler allows the stops of one division to be played from the keyboard of another division. For example, a coupler labelled "Swell to Great" allows the stops drawn in the Swell division to be played on the Great manual. This coupler is a unison coupler, because it causes the pipes of the Swell division to sound at the same pitch as the keys played on the Great manual. Coupling allows stops from different divisions to be combined to create various tonal effects. It also allows all the stops of the organ to be played simultaneously from one manual.

Some organs feature octave couplers, which add the pipes an octave above ("super-octave") or below ("sub-octave") each note that is played. Octave couplers may operate on one division only (for example, the "Swell super octave," which adds the octave above what is being played on the Swell to itself), or they may act as a coupler to another keyboard (for example, the "Swell super-octave to Great," which adds to the Great the ranks of the Swell division an octave above what is being played on the Great manual).

In addition, some organs feature unison off couplers, which prevent the stops pulled in a particular division from sounding at their normal pitch. Unison off couplers can be used in combination with octave couplers to create innovative aural effects, and can also be used to effectively rearrange the order of the manuals to make specific pieces easier to play.

Enclosure and expression pedals

The term enclosure refers to a system that allows for the control of volume without requiring the addition or subtraction of stops. The pipes of an enclosed division are placed in a chamber generally called the swell box. At least one side of the box is constructed from horizontal palettes known as swell shades or louvres (much like Venetian blinds), which can be fully or partially opened or closed from the console. When the shades are open, more sound is heard than when they are closed. In a two-manual organ with Great and Swell divisions, the Swell will be enclosed. In larger organs, often part or all of the Choir and Solo divisions will be enclosed as well.

The most common way of controlling the movement of the swell shades is the balanced expression pedal. This device is usually placed above the centre of the pedalboard and is configured to rotate away from the organist from a near-vertical position (in which the shades are closed) to a near-horizontal position (in which the shades are open). An organ may also have a similar-looking crescendo pedal, found alongside any expression pedals. Pressing the crescendo pedal forward cumulatively activates all the stops of the organ, starting with the softest and ending with the loudest; pressing it backwards reverses this process.

Combination action

The stops of an organ can be combined in many different ways, resulting in a great variety of sounds. A specific combination of stops is called a registration. A combination action can be used to switch instantly from one registration to another, much more quickly than the organist could change the stops by hand. The most common combination action features pistons, which are buttons that can be pressed by the organist. They are generally located beneath the keys of each manual ("thumb pistons") or above the pedalboard ("toe studs"). Most combination actions allow the organist to program a registration into each piston. In addition, most large organs feature permanently-set pistons. Combination actions are usually electric, though it is possible to construct simple mechanical combination actions.

Casing

The pipes, action, and wind system are contained in a case, the design of which may also incorporate the console. The case may be either freestanding or integrated with the building that houses the organ. It is often designed to complement the building's architectural style and it may contain ornamental carvings and other decorations. The visible, "front" portion of the case, called the façade, features decoratively arranged pipes. The façade pipes may be playable (in which case they are usually part of the 8′ principal-scale rank of the organ's primary division) or non-playable (in which case they are "dummy" pipes intended solely for decoration). The pipes may be plain, burnished, gilded, or painted.

Some organs feature a few ranks of pipes protruding horizontally from the case in the manner of a row of trumpets. These are referred to as pipes en chamade and are particularly common in organs of the Iberian peninsula and large modern instruments.

Many organs, particularly those built in the early twentieth century, are contained in one or more rooms called organ chambers. Because sound does not project from a chamber into the room as clearly as from a freestanding organ case, enchambered organs may sound muffled and distant.

History and development

Antiquity

The organ is one of the oldest instruments still used in European classical music. Its earliest predecessors were built in Ancient Greece in the third century BC. The word organ is derived from the Latin organum, an instrument similar to a portative organ used in ancient Roman circus games. Organum is derived in turn from the Greek όργανον (organon), a generic term for an instrument or a tool.

The Greek engineer Ctesibius of Alexandria is credited with inventing the organ in the third century BC. He devised an instrument called the hydraulis, which delivered a wind supply maintained through water pressure to a set of pipes. The hydraulis was used frequently during games, circuses, and processions in the Roman Empire. The pumps and water regulators of the hydraulis were replaced by bellows in the second century AD.

Portable organs (the portative and the positive organ) were invented in the Middle Ages. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, the portatives represented in the miniatures of illuminated manuscripts appear to have real keyboards with balanced keys, as in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.Its portability made the portative useful for the accompaniment of both sacred and secular music in a variety of settings.

In the fourteenth century, the composer Guillaume de Machaut described the organ as "the king of instruments", a characterization still frequently applied. Large organs such as the one installed in 1361 in Halberstadt, Germany (the first documented "permanent" organ installation) likely prompted Machaut to say this. The Halberstadt organ was the first instrument to use a chromatic key layout across its three manuals and pedalboard, although the keys were wider than on modern instruments. It had twenty bellows operated by ten men, and the wind pressure was so high that the player had to use the full power of his arm to hold down a key.

Until the mid-fifteenth century, most large organs had no stop controls. Each manual controlled many ranks at multiple pitches. This large number of ranks was called the Blockwerk. Around 1450, controls were designed that allowed the ranks of the Blockwerk to be played individually. These devices were the forerunners of modern stop actions. Some of the higher-pitched ranks of the Blockwerk remained grouped together under a single stop control; these stops developed into mixtures.

Renaissance and Baroque periods

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the organ's tonal colours became more varied. Organ builders fashioned stops that imitated various instruments, such as the krumhorn and the gamba. The Baroque style of organ building is often thought of as the 'golden age,' as virtually every important refinement was brought to a culminating art. Builders such as the Silbermanns, Arp Schnitger, and Jasper Johannsen constructed instruments that were in themselves artistic masterpieces, displaying both exquisite craftsmanship and beautiful sound. All of these organs featured well-balanced tracker actions, giving the organist precise control over the pipe speech. Schnitger's organs particularly combined traditional building practices and innovative timbres. Many of his large instruments, including that of the Great Church of St. Michael in Zwolle, Holland (c. 1720), have the ranks predisposed in a way that produces the unmistakable effect of stereophonic sound, giving the organ unusually clear articulation during the performance of rapid passages.

Several circumstances, including changing political climates, led to different national styles of organ building. In the Netherlands, the organ became a large instrument with several divisions, doubled ranks, and mounted cornets. The organs of northern Germany also had several divisions, and independent pedal divisions became increasingly common. String-scale flue pipes were used by builders such as the Silbermann family. The divisions of the organ became visibly discernible from the case design. Twentieth-century musicologists labelled this style the Werkprinzip.

In France, the dominant style of organ building was described by Dom Bédos de Celles in his treatise L'art du facteur d'orgues (The Art of Organ Building). This style, which led to a virtually standardized kind of organ throughout France, is referred to as the French Classical style.

In England, existing pipe organs were destroyed during the English Reformation of the sixteenth century and the Commonwealth period. It was not until the Restoration that many organ builders (particularly Renatus Harris and "Father" Bernard Smith) brought new organ-building ideas from continental Europe. English organs evolved from small one- or two-manual instruments into three or more divisions disposed in the French manner with grander reeds and mixtures. The Echo division began to be enclosed in the early eighteenth century, and in 1712 Abraham Jordan claimed his "swelling organ" at St Magnus-the-Martyr to be a new invention. The swell box became common in English organs of the eighteenth century, but did not spread to continental Europe until the nineteenth century. By contrast, independent pedal divisions were not built in England until the eighteenth century.

Romantic period

During the Romantic period, the organ became more symphonic, capable of creating a gradual crescendo. New technologies and the work of organ builders such as Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and Henry Willis made it possible to build larger organs with more stops, more variation in sound and timbre, and more divisions. Enclosed divisions became common, and registration aids were developed in order to make it easier for the organist to manage the great number of stops. The desire for louder, grander organs required that the stops be voiced on a higher wind pressure than before. As a result, a greater force was required to overcome the wind pressure and depress the keys. To solve this problem, Cavaillé-Coll configured the English "Barker lever" to assist in operating the key action. To assist the organist with the multitude of registration changes that were necessary to play Romantic music, combination actions were invented.

Organ builders began to lean towards specifications with fewer mixtures and high-pitched stops. They preferred to use more 8′ and 16′ stops in their specifications. They also used wider pipe scales.

Organs were also built in concert halls (such as the organ at the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris), and composers such as Camille Saint-Saëns and Gustav Mahler used the organ in their orchestral works.

Modern development

The development of pneumatic, electro-pneumatic, and electric key actions in the late nineteenth century made it possible to locate the console independently of the pipes, greatly expanding the possibilities in organ design. Electric stop actions were also developed, which allowed sophisticated combination actions to be created.

In the mid-twentieth century, many organ builders subscribing to the tenets of the Orgelbewegung ('organ reform movement') began to build historically-inspired instruments modeled on Baroque organs. They returned to building mechanical key actions, voicing with lower wind pressures and thinner pipe scales, and designing specifications with more mixture stops.

The technology of digital electronic organs developed throughout the twentieth century. Many pipe organs were replaced by digital organs because of their lower purchase price, smaller physical size, and minimal maintenance requirements. Hybrid organs, usually called pipe/digital combination organs, incorporate both pipes and electronic representations of pipe sounds. Rodgers Instruments pioneered the hybrid organ in the early 1970s and remains the leader in this field.

Some components of digital organs are being incorporated into pipe organs, allowing simpler and more reliable key, stop, and combination actions. This also makes it possible to record and play back an organist’s performance via the MIDI protocol. Although the sound of a pipe organ cannot be completely replicated by a digital organ, it is becoming increasingly common for organ builders to place digital stops in new organs.

Repertoire

The development of organ repertoire has progressed along with that of the organ itself, leading to distinctive national styles of composition. Because organs are commonly found in churches and synagogues, the organ repertoire includes a large amount of sacred music, which is accompanimental (choral anthems, congregational hymns, liturgical elements, etc.) as well as solo in nature (chorale preludes, hymn versets designed for alternatim use, etc.). The organ's secular repertoire includes preludes, fugues, sonatas, organ symphonies, suites, and transcriptions of orchestral works.

Although most countries whose music falls into the Western tradition have contributed to the organ repertoire, France and Germany in particular have produced exceptionally large amounts of organ music. There is also an extensive repertoire from the Netherlands, England, and the United States. Most composers of organ music throughout history have been organists themselves. With the notable exception of Johann Sebastian Bach, few composers who have contributed extensively to the organ repertoire are well-known except for their organ music. Similarly, few composers well-known in other genres have written much music for the organ.

In the Renaissance period, keyboard music generally was not written for one instrument or another, but rather was written to be played on any keyboard instrument. For this reason, much of the organ's repertoire in this period is the same as that of the harpsichord. Netherlandish composers such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck composed both fantasias and psalm settings. Sweelinck in particular developed a rich collection of keyboard figuration that influenced subsequent composers. The Italian composer Claudio Merulo wrote toccatas and ricercars. In Spain, the works of Antonio de Cabezón began what is known as the 'golden age' of Spanish organ music that culminated with Juan Cabanilles.

Counterpoint flourished in the Baroque era. The majority of sacred organ music composed in early Baroque Germany was chorale-based. Composers such as Samuel Scheidt, Heinrich Scheidemann, and Johann Jakob Froberger wrote chorale preludes, chorale fantasias, and chorale motets. Towards the end of the Baroque era, Georg Böhm invented the chorale partita, a genre further developed by Johann Pachelbel and Dieterich Buxtehude. The primary kind of free-form piece at this time was the praeludia, as exemplified in the works of Vincent Lübeck, Nicolaus Bruhns, and Buxtehude. Johann Sebastian Bach is well-known for his large-scale preludes and fugues, as well as his chorale preludes. He composed approximately 250 organ works, both sacred and secular. At this time, George Frideric Handel composed the first organ concertos.

In France, organ music developed in the Baroque era through the music of Jean Titelouze, François Couperin, and Nicolas de Grigny. Because the French organ of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was very standardized, a conventional set of registrations developed for its repertoire. French composers (and Italian composers such as Girolamo Frescobaldi) wrote music for use during the Mass. Very little secular organ music was composed in France and Italy during the Baroque period; the written repertoire is almost exclusively intended for liturgical use. In England, composers such as John Stanley wrote multi-sectional free works for liturgical use called voluntaries.

Little organ music was written in the Classical era, as composers turned to instruments with the ability to create dynamics, such as the piano. As this became possible for the organ in the Romantic era, the intricate counterpoint of the eighteenth century was supplanted by homophonic textures. The French organist-composers César Franck and Charles-Marie Widor led organ music into the symphonic realm. The development of symphonic organ music continued with Louis Vierne and Charles Tournemire. Widor and Vierne wrote large-scale, multi-movement works called organ symphonies that exploited the full possibilities of the symphonic organ. In Germany, the sonatas of Felix Mendelssohn and Josef Rheinberger bridged the gap between the Baroque and Romantic periods. Max Reger and Sigfrid Karg-Elert's symphonic works made use of the abilities of the large Romantic organs being built in Germany at the time.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, organ builders began to build instruments in concert halls and other large secular venues, allowing the organ to be used as part of an orchestra, as in Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3. Frequently the organ is given a soloistic part, such as in Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante for Organ & Orchestra, and Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani. Other composers who have used the organ prominently in orchestral music include Gustav Holst, Richard Strauss, Ottorino Respighi, Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. As silent films became popular, theatre organs were installed in many theatres in order to provide accompaniment for the films.

In the twentieth century, two tracks of organ repertoire developed. Symphonic repertoire continued to develop through the music of Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé, and Herbert Howells. Other composers, such as Olivier Messiaen, Jehan Alain, Jean Langlais, and Petr Eben, wrote post-tonal organ music. Messiaen's music in particular redefined many of the traditional notions of organ registration and technique.

Footnotes

References

Bicknell, Stephen (1999) "Organ building today" in Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Webber, Geoffrey, (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57584-2
Bicknell, Stephen (1999) "Organ construction" in Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Webber, Geoffrey, (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bicknell, Stephen (1999) "The organ case" in Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Webber, Geoffrey, (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bridgemann-Sutton, David (2002) " Musings and Amusings". Accessed 23 May, 2007.
Cook, James H. (1999). " Organ History". Accessed 6 May, 2007.
Dalton, James (1999) "Iberian organ music before 1700" in Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Webber, Geoffrey, (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Douglass, Fenner (1995) "The Language of the Classical French Organ." New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ferguson, Charles (trans.) (1977) "The Organ-Builder". Translation of Dom François Bédos de Celles L'art du facteur d'orgues 1766–68. Raleigh, NC: Sunbury Press.
Ochse, Orpha (1975) "The History of the Organ in the United States." Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Riaño, J.F (1887) Critical and Bibliographical Notes on Early Spanish Music London: Quaritch. ISBN 0-306-70193-6
Sumner, William Leslie (1973) The Organ: Its Evolution, Principles of Construction and Use. London: Macdonald. SBN 356-04162-X
Thistlethwaite, Nicholas (1999) "Origins and development of the organ" in Thistlethwaite, Nicholas and Webber, Geoffrey, (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to the Organ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wicks Organ Company Glossary of Organ Terms Accessed 23 May 2007.

External links

Pipedreams Listen to pipe organ music, organ pictures and specifications
Sacred Classics Online radio program of pipe organ and choral music
The Pipe Organ
A Young Person's Guide to the Pipe Organ
Encyclopedia of Organ Stops Over 2500 stop names, with pictures and sound clips
Jeux d'orgues Pipe organ soundbanks
Pipe Organ Wiki
Pipe Organ Forum
Bach's Organ Tuning
Flue Pipe Acoustics
Organ transcriptions and the Late Romantic Period
In the UK this page documents the result of declining appreciation of the instrument and its repertoire: Organs are under threat from bulldozers and being scrapped at an alarming rate.
/ Olivier Messiaen and the Organ A film about Olivier Messiaen's Organ at La Trinité Church in Paris, from the Philharmonia Orchestra's Messiaen website

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