ORGAN
300
ORGAN
had been in use before the pneumatic lever. They
were now often replaced by small pistons placed con-
veniently for the hands. These piston.s are soniet imes
so designed a.s not to interfere with the arrangement
of stops worked by hand; .'Sometimes they are made
"adjustable" — that is, .so contrivid as to draw any
combination of stops whioh I he player may previously
arrange. Attem]jts have also been made to have indi-
vidual stops playable from several manuals. This is a
great advantage, but, on the other hand, it implies
inaccessible mechanism. Casson's "Octave-duplica-
tion" avoiils this objection, while, by making a whole
manual i)!ayable in octave pitch, it considerably in-
crea.ses the variety of tone obtainable from a given
number of stops.
A Sjiccial difficulty in organ-plajnng is the manipu- lation of the pedal stops. On the manuals quick changes of strength and quality can be obtained by passing from one key-board to another. But, as only one pedal key-board is feasible, similar changes on the pedals can only be made by change of stops. Hence special facilities are here particularly desirable. Cas- son's invention, in 1889, of "pedal helps" — little levers, or pistons, one for each manual, which make the pedal stops adjust themselves automatically to all changes of stops on the corresponding manual — is the most satisfactory solution of this difficulty.
II. F.^Mous ORt:.\N Builders. — Ctesibius, the in- ventor of the hydraulus, and the Venetian Georgius, who built the first organ north of the Alps, have al- ready been mentioned. It is interesting to find a pope among the organ-builders of history: Sylvester II (999-1003), who seems to have built a hydraulic organ (Pretorius, "Syntagma Musicum", II, 92). We may also record here the first instructions on organ-build- iflg since the time of Vitruvius and Heron, contained in a work, " Diversarum artium schedula ", by Theoph- ilus, a monk, who seems to have written before 1 100 (Degering, "Die Orgel", p. 65). After this names are scarce until the thirteenth century. Then we hear in Germany of a large organ in Cologne cathedral, built, probably, by one Johann, while the builders of famous organs in Erfurt Cathedral (122.5) and in St. Peter's near Erfurt (1226) are not known. A Master Gunce- lin of Frankfort built a large organ for Strasburg cathedral in 1292, and a Master Raspo, also of Frank- fort, probably built one for Basle cathedral in 1303. The famous organ at Halberstadt, with four key- boards, was built between 13.59 and 1361 by Nicholas Faber, a priest. Of the fifteenth century we will men- tion only Steffan of Breslau, who built a new organ for Erfurt cathedral in 1483. In the sixteenth century Gregorius Vogel was famous for the beauty and vari- ety of tone of his stops. In the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries the Silbermann family were renowned . The first of them to take up organ-building was Andreas Silbermann (1678-1733); his brother Gottfried (16S3- 1753), the mo.st famous organ-builder in the family, was also one of the first to build pianofortes. Three sons of Andreas continued the work of their father and uncle: Johann Andreas (1712-83), Johann Daniel (1717-1766), and Johann Heinrich (1727-1799), the last two building mainly pianofortes. In a third gen- eration we meet Johann Josias (d. 1786), a son of Jo- hann Andreas, and Johann Friedrich (1762-1817), a son of Johann Heinrich. In the nineteenth century we may mention Moser, who, about 18.30, built a large organ for Freiburg in Switzerland, where they imitate thunder-storms; Schulze of Paulinzelle, Ladegast of Weissenfcls, Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Mauracher of Graz, Sauer of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Weigle of Stutt- gart, Stahlhuth of Aachen.
In England we hear in the fourteenth century of John the Organer and of Walter the Organer, who was akso a clock-maker. From the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the names of a large number of organ-build- ers are transmitted to us, showing organ-building was
in a flourishing condition, but the Puritans destroyed
most organs, and organ-builders almost disappeared.
When organ-building was taken up again, in 1660,
there was a scarcity of competent builders, and Ber-
nard Schmidt, with his two nephews Gerard and Ber-
nard, came over from Germany. Bernard the elder
was commonly known as Father Smith, to distinguish
him from his nephew. At the same time John Harris,
a son of Thomas Harris of Salisbury, who had been
working in France, returned to England. His son,
Renatus, became the principal rival of Father Smith.
In the following century another German, John Snetz-
ler (1710-c. 1800) settled in England and became
famous for the quality of his organ pipes. His busi-
ness eventually became that of W. Hill and Son, Lon-
don. In the nineteenth century the most prominent
builder was Henry Willis (1S21-1901), who designed
several ingenious forms of pneumatic actions and
brought the intonations of reeds to great perfection.
Mention should also be made of R. Hope-Jones of
Birkenhead, whose electro-pneumatic action marked
a great step forward.
In Italy the Antegnati family were prominent dur- ing the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Bartolomeo Antegnati built an organ in 1486 for Brescia cathedral, where he was organist. He had three sons: Giovan Francesco, Giov. Giacomo, and Giov. Battista. Fran- cesco is also known as a maker of harpsichords. G. Giacomo was the organist of Milan cathedral and built for Brescia cathedral a choir organ which was famous in its time. Graziado, a son of G. Battista, built a new large organ for Brescia in 1580. His son (Jostanzo (b. 1557) was an organist and a composer of renown. In the preface to a collection of ricercari (1608) he gives a list of 135 organs built bj' members of his family (cf. Damiano Muoni, "Elgi Antegnati", Milan, 1883). Vineenzo Columbi built a fine organ for St. John Late- ran in 1549. In France we hear of an organ in the Ab- bey of Fecamp in the twelfth century. In the eigh- teenth century a well-known organ-builder was Job. Nicolaus le Ferre, who, in 1761, built an organ of 51 stops in Paris. More famous is Don Bedos de Celles (1714-97), who also wrote an important book, "L'art du facteur d'orgues" (Paris, 176f)-78). In the nine- teenth century a renowned firm was that of Daublaine & Co., founded 1838; in 1845 it became Ducrocquet & Co. and sent an organ to the London Exhibition of 1851; in 1855 it changed its name again to Merklin, Schlitze & Co. and erected some of the earliest electro- pneumatic organs. The most famous builder of mod- ern times, however, was Aristide Cavaill(5-Col (1811- 99), a descendant of an old organ-building family, mentioned above in connexion with Barker's inven- tion of the pneumatic lever; he was also highly es- teemed for the intonation of his reeds.
In America the first organ erected was imported from Europe in 1713 for Queen's Chapel, Boston. It was followed by several others, likewise imported. In 1745 Edward Broomfield of Boston built the first or- gan in America. More famous was W. M. Goodrich, who began business in the same city in 1800. The best known of American organ builders is Hilborne L. Roosevelt of New York, who, with his son Frank, ef- fected many bold improvements in organ building. In 1894 John Turnell Austin patented his "universal air- chest", an air-chest large enough to admit a man for repairs and containing all the mechanism, as well as the magazine for storing the wind and keeping it at equal pressure (Mathews, "A Handbook of the Organ").
III. The Organ in Church Service. — In the early centuries the objection of the Church to instrumental music applied also to the organ, which is not surprising, if we remember the association of the hydraulus with theatre and circus. According to Platina ("De vitis Pontificum", Cologne, 1.593), Pope Vitalian (657-72) introduced the organ into the church service. This, however, is very doubtful. At all events, a strong ob-
