Conacher & CompanyEstablished 1854 Pipe Organ Builders |  |
Conacher & CompanyEstablished 1854 Pipe Organ Builders | |
The organ has evolved over many centuries, and the process has not stopped.The earliest organs used hollow stems of river reeds of different lengths joined together to make Pan Pipes or Syrinx, and are mentioned by Homer and Virgil.
These were developed into pipes with mouths and later open, rather than stopped, bodies.
Reeds of a similar type were developed in China, firstly the Cheng and later individual reed instruments which evolved into the Oboe and Clarinet.
Still in pre-Christian times the Roman Hydraulus was made, with copper and bronze pipes and various stops which were worked by levers, and large keys that were played with the fists.
These organs were used as weapons of war and at feasts and celebrations.
The Byzantine Empire had organs, and King Pepin of the Franks had one with lead pipes around AD 757. This organ was later copied and developed for his son, Charlemagne.
There are ancient drawings and carvings that show organs with stops of different pitches, including off-unison mutation stops which were needed for the music of the period and have been used ever since.
By the tenth century England had large organs, and two examples are Abingdon Abbey, Glastonbury, and the one at Winchester Cathedral which had, to quote the records, "400 brazen and copper pipes".
The development of organs continued through the Middle Ages and by 1705 Gottfried Silberman (one of the greatest organ builders of all time) produced complete and fully developed instruments.
During the Commonwealth period many of our organs were destroyed, and our organ builders took up occupations with a future!
The result was that when the monarchy was restored we had only four organ builders in this country and had to import others from abroad.
So Schmidt came from Germany and Harris came from France to revive the organ in England.
Soon the Swell Organ was introduced, and the Pedal Organ became common.
Under the Hanoverians the organ continued to be developed in England and after William IV the Victorian era began with Prince Albert encouraging all kinds of manufacture.
The organ played a major rôle in this process Father Henry Willis's organ won a gold medal at the Great Exhibition in 1851).
It was in the Victorian period that the organ flourished in this country.
Cathedrals, churches, colleges, town halls, concert halls, and chapels were being build all over the country and most of them wanted a new organ, preferably bigger and better than the one down the road!
And it was not just in this country where there was a high demand for organs - there was the British Empire to supply too.
The organ developed rapidly and was the most high-tech piece of machinery of its time.
The early pneumatic actions are now seen as prototypes of the micro-chip and many physics teachers use the analogy in their lectures.
The Ultra-Romantic Victorian organ with only a few upperwork mutations and dominant Diapason Choruses was the predominant Victorian fashion and this, in turn, lead to the twentieth century cinema organ.
From the thirties to the present day little has changed, except to say that the mistakes of the past have been learnt.
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