Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/704

 690 ORGAN tune. This made it possible to play without offence to the ear on six of the major and three of the minor scales. The remaining scales were so discordant as to be practically useless, as by that system of tempering each of the black keys was tuned either as the sharp of the white key at its left or as the flat of the white key at its right, but not to do duty both as a sharp and flat. To remedy the difficulty, organs were constructed in the 16th and 17th centu- ries having quarter tones, so as to give both the sharps and flats each by itself. Of course the mechanism of such an instrument became complex, and the difficulties of playing upon it were greatly increased. Johann Sebastian Bach seems to have been the first to advocate the system of temperament by which that in- equality existing in every octave known as the wolf is distributed equally among the 12 notes of the octave, so that, while none of them are in perfect tune, none are so much out of tune as to be discordant. He wrote his " Well- tempered Clavier " to enforce his theories. By the adoption of this system of tuning the 24 major and minor scales became at once avail- able, and each tone could be made the keynote of a scale. The scale became what it now is, a series of compromises. This system of equal temperament met with long and strenuous op- position on the part of musicians and organ builders. Among its opponents was Silber- mann, the most celebrated organ builder of his day. It was not adopted in England until quite recently. In 1836 George Hogarth, in an article on the organ, said : " The organ in Eng- land is tuned on a system of temperament dif- ferent from that which prevails on the con- tinent, and the effect of which is that the har- mony is intolerably impure in all keys which require more than three sharps or three flats." In the system of equal temperament, the pitch of having been obtained, all the thirds, fourths, and sixths that are tuned upward are made a little sharp, those that are tuned down- ward rather flat ; the fifths being tuned slight- ly flat upward and slightly sharp downward. The most important of recent inventions con- nected with organ construction is the pneu- matic power, which-has rendered possible effects hitherto deemed unattainable. Organs could not be built previously beyond a certain size, because the performer had not strength enough in his fingers to open the pallets or valves re- quired to feed so many and such large pipes, a force of 20 Ibs. in some organs being required to press down a finger key ; nor could the wind pressure necessary to produce the power be obtained. Though claimed to be an invention of German origin, and to have been first applied in 1825 by Joseph Booth of Wakefield, Eng- land, and by the Scotch organ builder Hamil- ton, this wonderful power, by which the action of the largest organs is made as light as that of a pianoforte, was not fully known until about 1840, when its mechanism was completed by Mr. Barker, an Englishman residing in Paris. His invention has been improved in England by several organ builders, especially by Mr. "Willis of London, who invented the pneumatics or small bellows which act on the slides. The extreme ease of touch which has resulted from the introduction of the pneumatic lever has not however been without its evil effects. Cer- tain organ builders, for the sake of giving to their instruments power and brilliancy, have increased the wind pressure to even 20 or 30 inches. What they have gained in this way in force they have lost in delicacy. The tone of the instrument becomes bold and vulgar, and unfit for accompanying voices. In 1863 Mr. Barker took out a patent in France for an electro-magnetic contrivance to facilitate the playing of organs, and in 1867 he extended his patent to England. Since then various im- provements in it have been patented and sev- eral organs built in which the action has been used. It is an exceedingly complicated appa- ratus, combining both electric and pneumatic action, the connection between the keys and the mechanism which works the pipes being made by insulated copper wires. When a key is struck an electric current passes by means of these through an electro-magnet, the armature of which is so connected with a disk valve as to open it and admit a current of compressed air to act on the pallets. The wires are gen- erally grouped together into one cable, which may be of any length, so that the keyboard may be at one end of the church and the organ at the other. In St. Michael's church, Cornhill, London, the organ and the keyboard are on opposite sides of the chancel, the connection being effected by means of 336 insulated wires gathered in a cable 1J inch in diameter, and carried under the floor. The pneumatic lever was introduced into this country by the Eng- lish organ builder Thomas Robjohn, but its present perfection in many important details is due to American organ builders. It has also been applied to moving the stops of the organ. Now, by the pressure of a small knob within reach of the performer's fingers while playing, whole combinations of stops can be drawn out or pushed in, and the changes from fortissimo to pianissimo made almost instantly and by a single touch. An old invention known as the tubular action has quite recently been revived and improved upon with excellent effect. It consists in the substitution of tubes of lead for carrying wind to the pallets in place of the old system of trackers. The largest organ in the world is in Albert hall, London, and was built by Henry Willis in 1 870. It contains 138 stops, four manuals, and nearly 10,000 pipes, all of which are of metal. The wind is supplied by steam power. Thirteen couplers connect or dis- connect the various subdivisions of the organ at the will of the performer. The organ at St. George's hall, Liverpool, also built by Mr. Willis, has 100 stops and four manuals. That of St. Sulpice, Paris, is of the same magnitude and has 5,000 pipes. The largest organ in America