Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs .
31-398: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll ( French: [aʁistid kavaje kɔl] ; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder . He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ building that permeated the profession and influenced the course of organ building, composing and improvising through
62-463: A basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1897) was one of the first to be built with several of these new features. Consequently, it influenced César Franck , who was the titular organist there. The organ works of Franck have inspired generations of organist-composers who came after him. Featuring 102 stops and five manuals, the Saint-Sulpice instrument, which unlike many others remains practically unaltered,
93-512: A commission to design an organ with a particular disposition of stops , manuals , and actions , creates a design to best respond to spatial, technical and acoustic considerations, and then constructs the instrument. The profession requires specific knowledge of such matters as the scaling of organ pipes and also familiarity with the various materials used (including woods, metals, felt, and leather) and an understanding of statics, aerodynamics, mechanics and electronics. However, although in theory
124-482: A line of organ builders, he showed early talent in mechanical innovation. He exhibited an outstanding fine art when designing and building his famous instruments. His organs are " symphonic organs ": they can reproduce the sounds of other instruments and combine them as well. Cavaillé-Coll was also known for his financial problems - he focused mostly on the organ building art, leaving finance less attention. The art of his handcrafted instruments, unparalleled at that time,
155-445: A means of adjustment, or regulation, of the action has to be provided. This is commonly done by having a threaded wire end on the wooden tracker rods. A circular nut varies the effective length of the tracker where it engages with other parts of the action. One objective of correct regulation is that the keys on each manual have the same rest height and distance of travel when pressed. The regulation wrongly set at one extreme can cause
186-432: A note to sound when no keys are pressed. This may also be caused by the action sticking after the key is released. The other extreme is that notes do not sound, or sound feebly, when a key is pressed. Besides tracker action, two other kinds of action used in pipe organs are as follows: Currently, some organ builders use tracker action in new organs, others use electric action, and still others use either type depending on
217-404: A regulated handwork profession. Tracker action Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe(s) of the corresponding note. This is in contrast to " direct electric action " and " electro-pneumatic action ", which connect
248-529: A whole blossoming of wonderful colors—a rich palette of the most diverse shades: harmonic flutes, gambas, bassoons, English horns, trumpets, celestes, flue stops and reed stops of a quality and variety unknown before. For a mechanical tracker action and its couplers to operate under these higher wind pressures, pneumatic assistance provided by the Barker lever was required, which Cavaillé-Coll included in his larger instruments. This device made it possible to couple all
279-570: A whole family of harmonic stops ( flutes , trompettes , clairons ) and stops imitating orchestral instruments such as the bassoon , the oboe and the english horn . He popularized the harmonic flute stop, which, together with the montre (principals), the gambe (strings) and the bourdon (flutes), formed the fonds (foundations) of the organ. He designed the "orchestral quartet" which referred to orchestral four colours of sound - principals, flutes, strings and reeds. He introduced divided windchests which were controlled by ventils. These allowed
310-552: Is a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Marcel Dupré stated that "composing for an orchestra is quite different from composing for an organ... with exception of Master Cavaillé-Coll's symphonic organs: in that case one has to observe an extreme attention when writing for such kind of instruments." Almost a century beforehand, César Franck had ecstatically said of the modest Cavaillé-Coll instrument at l'Église St.-Jean-St.-François in Paris with words that summed up everything
341-464: Is then usually partly or wholly assembled in the workshop, dismantled, and reassembled on-site, after which the pipes receive a final tuning and voicing. Organ builders also provide regular maintenance, which includes adjustment of pipes and maintenance of the action, and repairs necessitated by wear and tear, unforeseen problems or rough treatment (including inappropriate temperature and humidity). A complete overhaul of an organ consists of disassembly of
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#1732876384452372-716: The Palais de Chaillot which replaced the Palais de Trocadéro, then rebuilt in 1975 by Gonzalez-Danion and relocated to the Auditorium Maurice Ravel in Lyon . Franck's Trois Pièces were premiered on the Trocadéro organ. A documentary film titled The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll was released in 2012 by Fugue State Films to mark both the 200th anniversary of Cavaillé-Coll's birth in 2011 and the 150th anniversary of his organ at St Sulpice. It won
403-615: The Positif , Cavaillé-Coll placed the Grand-Orgue manual as the lowest manual, and included couplers that allowed the entire tonal resources of the organ to be played from the Grand-Orgue . He refined the English swell box by devising a spring-loaded (later balanced) pedal with which the organist could operate the swell shutters, thus increasing the organ's potential for expression. He adjusted pipe making and voicing techniques, thus creating
434-628: The Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House , Sydney , Australia , and includes over 10,500 pipes. The action consists of many types of devices used for the playing of such said organ, as listed below: The above is a list of mechanisms unique to tracker action. Steam calliopes, such as those built by Thomas J. Nichol in the early twentieth century, used a very simplified tracker mechanism. For actions used in all forms of pipe organs, see pipe organ construction . Because of construction tolerances,
465-605: The DVD Documentary Award of the BBC Music Awards 2014. For a complete list of all organs by Cavaillé-Coll, see: List of Organs by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll [ de ] In addition, Cavaillé-Coll designed a large but never-built pipe organ for Saint Peter's Basilica , where a 1/10 scale model is preserved. Most of the instruments in this list were sold and installed by Mutin-Cavaillé Coll, successor of Cavaillé Coll business after his death in 1899. Argentina
496-428: The builder is responsible for all facets of construction, in practice organ-building workshops include specialists in pipes, actions, and cabinets; tasks such as the manufacture of pipes, metal casting , and making rarely-used components are often delegated to outside firms. After manufacture of all parts of a new organ, the pipes must be pre-tuned and voiced to the desired pitch and sound characteristics. The instrument
527-418: The builder was trying to do: "Mon nouvel orgue ? C'est un orchestre !" ("My new organ? It's an orchestra!"). Franck later became organist of a much larger Cavaillé-Coll organ at St Clotilde in Paris. In 1878 Franck was featured recitalist on the four-manual Cavaillé-Coll organ at the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris; this organ was subsequently rebuilt by V. & F. Gonzalez in 1939 and reinstalled in
558-583: The classical façade), Notre-Dame Cathedra l (behind the classical façade), baron Albert de L'Espée's residence in Biarritz (moved finally to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica ), and many others. The organ reform movement in the 20th century sought to return organ building to a more Baroque style; but since then, Cavaillé-Coll's designs have come back into fashion. Born in Montpellier , France, to Dominique, one in
589-425: The compass on a higher pressure than the bass , to emphasize melody lines and counteract the natural tendency of small pipes (especially reeds) to be softer. It is he [Cavaillé-Coll] who conceived the diverse wind pressures, the divided windchests, the pedal systems and the combination registers; he who applied for the first time Barker's pneumatic motors, created the family of harmonic stops, reformed and perfected
620-611: The early 20th century. As the author of scientific journal articles about the organ construction details, he published the results of his research and experiments. He was the inventor of the symphonic organ being able to follow smooth and immediate dynamic changes like a symphonic orchestra . His most famous organs were built in Paris in Saint-Denis Basilica (1841), Église de la Madeleine , Sainte-Clotilde Basilica (1859), Saint-Sulpice church (his largest instrument; behind
651-421: The hydraulis was an instrument in which water was used as a source of power to push wind through organ pipes. (It is not to be confused with the hydraulic action of a hydraulophone , an instrument that actually uses water to produce the sound, not just as a source of power). While the control of air pressure was controlled by water pressure, hence the name, the action was a rudimentary form of modern action. It
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#1732876384452682-413: The key to the valve through an electrical link or an electrically assisted pneumatic system respectively, or " tubular-pneumatic action " which utilizes a change of pressure within lead tubing which connects the key to the valve pneumatic. Organs trace their history as far back as at least the 3rd century BC with an organlike device known as the hydraulis . Also known as a "water organ" or "Roman organ",
713-487: The manuals together and play on the full organ without expending a great deal of effort. He also invented the pneumatic combination action system for his five-manual organ at Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris . All these innovations allowed a seamless crescendo from pianissimo all the way to fortissimo , something never before possible on the organ. His organ at the Basilique Ste-Clotilde, Paris (proclaimed
744-402: The mechanics to such a point that each pipe—low or high, loud or soft—instantly obeys the touch of the finger… From this result: the possibility of confining an entire division in a sonorous prison—opened or closed at will—the freedom of mixing timbres, the means of intensifying them or gradually tempering them, the freedom of tempos, the sureness of attacks, the balance of contrasts, and, finally,
775-450: The norm in large instruments, to offset the extreme key weight caused by high wind pressures. Although tracker action was less utilized in the early 20th century, particularly in England and America, its use has enjoyed a strong renaissance in the same areas since World War II, especially in instruments modeled on historical antecedents. Today, many builders are using tracker action throughout
806-401: The pipes and thorough cleaning of all components and maintenance where needed; changes and additions may also be made to the instrument at the same time. Older organs may also be restored to a previous state, including re-creation of damaged and missing parts using historically accurate materials and techniques. In some countries, including Germany, Switzerland , and Norway, organ building is
837-417: The use of higher wind pressures and for each manual's anches ( reed stops ) to be added or subtracted as a group by means of a pedal. Higher wind pressures allowed the organ to include many more stops of 8' ( unison ) pitch in every division, so complete fonds as well as reed choruses could be placed in every division, designed to be superimposed on top of one another. Sometimes he placed the treble part of
868-465: The world, and it has been successfully employed in organs of many styles. Some active builders of tracker action organs include Taylor and Boody of Staunton, Virginia, Paul Fritts of Tacoma, Washington, Flentrop Orgelbouw B.V. of Zaandam, the Netherlands, and C. B. Fisk , Inc. of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Currently, the world's largest mechanical (tracker) action organ was built by Ronald Sharp in
899-469: Was a strong demander of pipe organs in the first decades of XXth century, in such degree that the company installed a branch in Buenos Aires city at that time, with two shops: one located in street Estados Unidos number 3199, the other one in street 24 de Noviembre number 884. Cavaillé-Coll's name was given to an asteroid : 5184 Cavaillé-Coll . Organ builder The organ builder usually receives
930-489: Was not enough to ensure his firm's survival. It was taken over in 1898, shortly before his death, by Charles Mutin, who continued in the organ business, but by the 1940s the firm had almost disappeared. Cavaillé-Coll died in Paris on 13 October 1899 and is buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery . Cavaillé-Coll is responsible for many innovations that revolutionized organ building, performance and composition. Instead of
961-578: Was not until the mid-14th century that the action needed to be explored and expanded as finally more pipes were added, as well as the addition of stops , and ultimately multiple cases and keyboards. This continued in the 17th and 18th centuries. No particularly great developments took place in the Classical Period . In the Romantic Period came a new style of organ building. The organ became larger and louder and pneumatically assisted action became