Tracing Seven Hundred Years of Organ Registration 1300 – Present ---SCW (2010)
Tracing Seven Hundred Years of Organ Registration 1300 – Present ---SCW (2010) . portions used for ALCM Conference workshop, “This, That, Neither, or Both,” June 2012, Bethlehem, PA, So, this all started when a student asked me questions about Spanish music about which I had not a clue . just think what would happen if they asked me about something really complicated!! _________________ 12 th century Theophilus, a monk, documented an organ that contained an ensemble of pipes speaking in octaves and fifths known as a Blockwerk , literally a ‘block of sound’ from which individual ranks could not be separated. 14 th and 15 th centuries – Late Medieval Organs Multiple manuals and split-chest systems enabled separating the Principal ranks from the higher Mixture sounds. By the 14 th century, there were pedals, fully chromatic keyboards, and tripartite façade arrangements accommodating large ‘bourdon’ or ‘tenor’ pipes. By the 2 nd half of the 14 th century, there was the addition of secondary manual and pedals on separate actions and wind chests. For organs built c. 1350-1400 (which can be translated to modern organs): >simple organ would be a Blockwerk of Mixtures, probably based on 4-foot pitch >double organ would add an octave lower at 8-foot pitch >RH would probably feature a decorative treble voice on the Blockwerk sound, while the LH on the ten lowest keys would sound the tenor on sustained Principals >the organ could be played so that only the ten tenor keys of the main manual were doubled an octave lower >4-foot Principal stops on a separate manual is an option >8-foot plenum for the tenor on one keyboard with other voices on the 4’ plenum Organ built in 1361, renovated in 1498, described by Praetorius: >two upper manuals were called Diskant with 22-note chromatic compass >third manual or Bassklavier had 12 keys from B to b >pedal had the same one-octave compass The Principal chorus of inseparable registers is the most heavily documented type of late- medieval organ.
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