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History of the Modern Organ.

The history of the ancient organ is dealt with in a separate section below. The first keyboard is said to have been introduced into the organ in the cathedral at Magdeburg about the close of the 11th century. There were sixteen keys; and a drawing exists in a work of the 17th century which purports to represent them. They are said to have been an ell long and 3 in. broad. The drawing represents a complete octave with naturals and short keys (semitones), arranged in the same relative positions as in the modern keyboard. In early organs with keyboards the keys are said to have required blows of the fist to put them down. In these cases probably sounding the notes of the plain song was all that could be accomplished.

As to the precise time and conditions under which the keyboard assumed its present form we know nothing. It is commonly said that the change to narrow keys took place in the course of the 14th century, and the semitones were introduced about the same time.

Many examples of organ keyboards still exist, both in England and on the Continent, which have black naturals and white short keys (semitones). The organ in the church at Heiligenblut in Tirol had in 1870 two manuals, one having black naturals and white semitones, the other white naturals and black semitones. In this organ the stops were acted on by iron levers which moved right and left. It had a beautiful tone; it possessed a reservoir bellows of great capacity, and was altogether a remarkable instrument. Harpsichords with black keyboards also exist.

The mode of blowing practised about the time of the introduction of the first keyboard appears to have been that which ultimately developed into the method still generally used in Germany. There were a great many separate bellows, each like a magnified kitchen-bellows, but provided with a valve, so that the wind could not return into the bellows.

One man had charge of two of these. Each foot was attached to one bellows, and the blower held on by a bar above. It was possible, by raising each of the two bellows in turn and then resting his weight upon it, to produce a constant supply of wind with the pressure due to his weight. A great many such bellows were provided, and it seems that each pair required one man; so that great numbers of blowers were employed. A slight modification is enough to change this method into the German one. Instead of fastening the feet to the bellows and pulling them up, the blower treads on a lever which raises the bellows. The bellows being loaded then supplies the wind of itself. The bellows thus used have diagonal hinges, and various expedients are employed to make them furnish steady wind. But the English system of horizontal reservoirs and feeders appears far superior.

The invention of the pedal may be set down to the 15th century. About that time the organ assumed on the Continent of Europe the general form which it has retained till lately, more especially in Germany. This may be described generally as having a compass of about four octaves in the manuals and of two octaves in the pedal, with occasionally extra

notes at the top in both, and frequently “short octaves” at the bottom. German short octaves are as follows. The manual and pedal appear to terminate on E instead of C. Then the E key sounds C, F＝F, F♯＝D, G＝G, G♯＝E, and the rest as usual. There were often three, sometimes four, manuals in large organs.

The character of all these was in general much the same, but they were more softly voiced in succession, the softest manual being sometimes spoken of as an echo organ. There are one or two examples of the echo as a fourth or fifth manual in England at the present time, in organs which have been designed more or less under German inspiration. The old echo was long ago superseded by the swell in England.

A few ancient cases survive in a more or less altered condition. Of these the following are worthy of mention, as bearing on the question of date.

In all these the cases are sufficiently preserved to make it almost certain that pipes of the same lengths were originally employed. The actual pipes are generally modern. Shortly after this date we find Renaissance cases. At La Ferté Bernard (dep. Sarthe) part of the substructure is Gothic, and is known to be of date 1501; the organ above is Renaissance, and is known to be of date 1536. At St Maurice, Angers, an organ was built in 1511, with Renaissance case, two towers of 32-ft. pipes, 48 stops and a separate pedal. An account of the instrument in a procès verbal of 1533 furnishes good evidence. In the 16th century, therefore, the organ had attained great completeness, and the independent pedal was general on the Continent.

We cannot follow the history of German organs through the intervening centuries; but we propose to give the items of one of the principal organs of the Silbermanns, the great builders of the 18th century—namely, that standing in the Royal Catholic Church, Dresden. Without being an enormously large instrument it is complete in its way, and gives a very good idea of the German organ The account is taken from Hopkins. The date is 1754.

The chief difference between English organs and those of the Continent was that until the 19th century the pedal was absolutely unknown in England. The heavy bass given by the pedal being absent, a lighter style of voicing was adopted, and the manuals were usually continued down below the 8-ft. C so as to obtain additional bass by