<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pipe organ</span>

Pipe organ

<p>The <b>pipe organ</b> is a <a href="/en/Musical_instrument" title="Musical instrument" class="wl">musical instrument</a> that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called <i>wind</i>) through the <a href="/en/Organ_pipe" title="Organ pipe" class="wl">organ pipes</a> selected from a <a href="/en/Musical_keyboard" title="Musical keyboard" class="wl">keyboard</a>. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called <i>ranks</i>, each of which has a common <a href="/en/Timbre" title="Timbre" class="wl">timbre</a> and volume throughout the keyboard <a href="/en/Compass_(music)" title="Compass (music)" class="mw-redirect wl">compass</a>. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called <a href="/en/Organ_stop" title="Organ stop" class="wl">stops</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Wind instrument controlled by keyboard</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Other names, Classification, Developed, Playi...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title">Pipe organ</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span><a href="/en/File:StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg/300px-StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="2071" data-file-height="1934" data-file-type="bitmap" height="280" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg/450px-StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg/600px-StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg 2x" alt="StGermainAuxerrois1.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">The pipe organ in <a href="/en/Saint-Germain_l'Auxerrois" title="Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois" class="wl">Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois</a>, Paris<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[lower-alpha 1]</span></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Other names</th><td class="infobox-data" style="text-align: left">Organ, Church organ (used only for Pipe organs in houses of worship)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Musical_instrument_classification" title="Musical instrument classification" class="wl">Classification</a></th><td class="infobox-data" style="text-align: left">
Keyboard instrument (<a href="/en/Aerophone" title="Aerophone" class="wl">Aerophone</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Developed</th><td class="infobox-data" style="text-align: left">3rd century BC</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:"><a href="/en/Range_(music)" title="Range (music)" class="wl">Playing range</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="text-align: left">
<figure class="mw-halign-center wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Organ_Range.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Organ_Range.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Organ_Range.svg/210px-Organ_Range.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1500" data-file-height="800" data-file-type="drawing" height="112" width="210" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Organ_Range.svg/315px-Organ_Range.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Organ_Range.svg/420px-Organ_Range.svg.png 2x" alt="Organ_Range.svg"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:"><a href="/en/Musical_instrument" title="Musical instrument" class="wl">Related instruments</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="text-align: left">
see <a href="/en/Organ_(music)" title="Organ (music)" class="wl">Organ</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:">Builders</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="text-align: left">
see <a href="/en/List_of_pipe_organ_builders" title="List of pipe organ builders" class="wl">List of pipe organ builders</a> and <a href="/en/Category:Pipe_organ_builders" title="Category:Pipe organ builders" class="wl">Category:Pipe organ builders</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:">Sound sample</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="text-align: left">
<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-center mw-default-audio-height"><span><div class='audio-player' title='06 Auszug e'><audio controls="" preload="none" height="32" width="220" resource="./File:06_Auszug_e.ogg"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/06_Auszug_e.ogg" type="audio/ogg; codecs=&quot;vorbis&quot;" data-title="Original Ogg file (167 kbps)" data-shorttitle="Ogg source"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5c/06_Auszug_e.ogg/06_Auszug_e.ogg.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-title="MP3" data-shorttitle="MP3"></audio></div></span><figcaption>Improvisation in E, played on the organ located in the St. George's Minster in the town of <a href="/en/Dinkelsbühl" title="Dinkelsbühl" class="wl">Dinkelsbühl</a>.</figcaption></figure></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

<p>A pipe organ has one or more keyboards (called <i><a href="/en/Manual_(music)" title="Manual (music)" class="wl">manuals</a></i>) played by the hands, and a <a href="/en/Pedal_keyboard" title="Pedal keyboard" class="wl">pedal clavier</a> played by the feet; each keyboard controls its own division, or group of stops. The keyboard(s), pedalboard, and stops are housed in the organ's <a href="/en/Organ_console" title="Organ console" class="wl"><i>console</i></a>. The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain notes for as long as the corresponding keys are pressed, unlike the piano and <a href="/en/Harpsichord" title="Harpsichord" class="wl">harpsichord</a> whose sound begins to dissipate immediately after a key is depressed. The smallest portable pipe organs may have only one or two dozen pipes and one manual; the largest may have over 33,000 pipes and seven manuals.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> A list of some of the most notable and largest pipe organs in the world can be viewed at <a href="/en/List_of_pipe_organs" title="List of pipe organs" class="wl">List of pipe organs</a>. A ranking of the largest organs in the world—based on the criterion constructed by Michał Szostak, i.e. 'the number of ranks and additional equipment managed from a single console—can be found in the quarterly magazine <i>The Organ</i><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> and in the online journal <i>Vox Humana</i>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span></p>

<p>The origins of the pipe organ can be traced back to the <a href="/en/Water_organ" title="Water organ" class="wl">hydraulis</a> in <a href="/en/Ancient_Greece" title="Ancient Greece" class="wl">Ancient Greece</a>, in the 3rd century BC,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-origin_6-0"><a href="#cite_note-origin-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span> in which the wind supply was created by the weight of displaced water in an airtight container. By the 6th or 7th century AD, <a href="/en/Bellows" title="Bellows" class="wl">bellows</a> were used to supply Byzantine organs with wind.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-origin_6-1"><a href="#cite_note-origin-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Dalby,_Andrew_2010_7-0"><a href="#cite_note-Dalby,_Andrew_2010-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[6]</span></a></span> A pipe organ with "great leaden pipes" was sent to the West by the <a href="/en/Byzantine" title="Byzantine" class="mw-redirect wl">Byzantine</a> emperor <a href="/en/Constantine_V" title="Constantine V" class="wl">Constantine V</a> as a gift to <a href="/en/Pepin_the_Short" title="Pepin the Short" class="wl">Pepin the Short</a>, King of the <a href="/en/Franks" title="Franks" class="wl">Franks</a>, in 757.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-8"><a href="#cite_note-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[7]</span></a></span> Pepin's son <a href="/en/Charlemagne" title="Charlemagne" class="wl">Charlemagne</a> requested a similar organ for his chapel in <a href="/en/Aachen" title="Aachen" class="wl">Aachen</a> in 812, beginning the pipe organ's establishment in Western European church music.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-9"><a href="#cite_note-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[8]</span></a></span> In England, "The first organ of which any detailed record exists was built in Winchester Cathedral in the 10th century. It was a huge machine with 400 pipes, which needed two men to play it and 70 men to blow it, and its sound could be heard throughout the city."<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-10"><a href="#cite_note-10" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[9]</span></a></span> Beginning in the 12th century, the organ began to evolve into a complex instrument capable of producing different <a href="/en/Timbre" title="Timbre" class="wl">timbres</a>. By the 17th century, most of the sounds available on the modern classical organ had been developed.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-11"><a href="#cite_note-11" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 10;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[10]</span></a></span> From that time, the pipe organ was the most complex man-made device<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-12"><a href="#cite_note-12" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 11;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[11]</span></a></span>—a distinction it retained until it was displaced by the <a href="/en/Telephone_exchange" title="Telephone exchange" class="wl">telephone exchange</a> in the late 19th century.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-13"><a href="#cite_note-13" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 12;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[12]</span></a></span></p>

<p>Pipe organs are installed in churches, synagogues, concert halls, schools, other public buildings and in private properties. They are used in the performance of classical music, <a href="/en/Religious_music" title="Religious music" class="wl">sacred music</a>, <a href="/en/Secular_music" title="Secular music" class="wl">secular music</a>, and <a href="/en/Popular_music" title="Popular music" class="wl">popular music</a>. In the early 20th century, pipe organs were <a href="/en/Theatre_organ" title="Theatre organ" class="wl">installed in theaters</a> to accompany the screening of films during the <a href="/en/Silent_film" title="Silent film" class="wl">silent movie</a> era; in municipal auditoria, where orchestral <a href="/en/Transcription_(music)" title="Transcription (music)" class="wl">transcriptions</a> were popular; and in the homes of the wealthy.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Rollin_14-0"><a href="#cite_note-Rollin-14" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 13;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[13]</span></a></span> The beginning of the 21st century has seen a resurgence in installations in concert halls. The organ boasts a substantial <a href="/en/Organ_repertoire" title="Organ repertoire" class="wl">repertoire</a>, which spans over 500 years.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-15"><a href="#cite_note-15" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 14;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[14]</span></a></span></p>



The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops. A pipe organ has one or more keyboards played by the hands, and a pedal clavier played by the feet; each keyboard controls its own division, or group of stops. The keyboard , pedalboard, and stops are housed in the organ's console. The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain notes for as long as the corresponding keys are pressed, unlike the piano and harpsichord whose sound begins to dissipate immediately after a key is depressed. The smallest portable pipe organs may have only one or two dozen pipes and one manual; the largest may have over 33,000 pipes and seven manuals. 