Reed Organ
REED ORGAN
Introduction
The reed organ is a keyboard instrument that operates by bellows that blow wind past free-floating reeds. A free floating reed doesn’t change pitch by increasing or decreasing the wind pressure and is therefore ideal to express dynamics by the sheer on troll of the pumping/pedaling action of the feet. The faster you pump, the louder the reed organ gets, and vice versa. Also known by the names of harmonium, pump organ, parlor organ, melodeon, seraphine, lap organ, psalmenpomp, Physharmonica, Zungenorgel, Cottage Organ, House Organ, Æoline, Æelodicon, Aérophone, Mélophone, Mélodion, Organino, et. al.
Technical details
Most pressure wind type reed organs were built in Europe, although the American builder Aeolian made many Vocalion models with two manuals and an independent pedal with its own keyboard. Suction type organs were mainly built in the United States, but European makers later followed suit as well. Since they were cheaper to build, lighter than pianos, and didn’t need tuning, many found their way well outside Europe and North America. Many also found their way into the homes since it was an instrument that reminded people of church organs or keyboard instruments in popular singing groups.
Reed organs, or American organs, as they are called in the United States, became very popular, and many factories sprung up in the 2nd half of the 19th century, that mass produced these instruments.
Original Invention by Kratzenstein for Scientific Research
The free floating reed was developed in 1778 by Christian-Gottlieb Kratzenstein (1723-1795) as part of a plan to construct a human speech machine that could mimic the vowels of human speech for scientific research. He may have worked together with organbuilder Franz Kirschnick and his assistant Georg Christoffer Rackwitz. At any rate, a small 2-octave reed instrument was sent to the Academy of Science in St. Petersburg, Kirschnick then decided independently to use these kinds of reeds in his instruments, such as pianoforte/organ combinations (called claviorganum), and possibly in an instrument called the orchestrion, an automatic player or barrel type organ, around 1781. This year can thus be seen as the first time free floating reeds were employed as a new kind of organ stop. As far as is known, it was not applied to any classic pipe or church organ at that time. Rackwitz , Johann Gabrahn, also working in St. Petersburg, also started to make claviorganums. The news of this new type of instrument quickly spread to Germany, where, possibly among others, Strohmann and Abbe Vogler further developed these types of instruments.
Early Developments
The tremendous dynamic range of the reeds with windpressure, from very soft and nearly inaudible (a feature not possible with classic pipe organ reeds) to quite loud mimicked the dynamic range of the then still new pianoforte as an organ. This type of dynamics was exactly what performers and composers were looking for, and the music of Beethoven and Berlioz testify to the new kind of massive dynamic range approaches that were becoming very popular.
In 1810, Gabriel Joseph Grenié of Paris applied for a patent for his “orgue expressif” and was thus the first to introduce the reed organ in his country. Apparently, he had seen an instrument built by Kratzenstein 30 years earlier at a friend’s house, around 1770, which led to his own application of the operating principle. This may have been the one Kratzenstein sent to the Academy in St. Petersburg, which was consequently sent to someone in France. Another countryman, Sébastian Érard, also experimented with free reeds. In ca. 1814, Eschenbach of Königshoven in Bavaria invented a keyboard with vibrators, called the Oragno-Violine. In 1816 Schlimbach of Ohrdurf improved it and called it the AEoline. A continuous wind instrument was made by Voit of Schweinfurt, ca. 1817 and he it the AEolodicon. In 1818 Anton Häckel of Vienna, built a diminutive AEoline used co-jointly with a pianoforte, and called it the Physharmonica, which apparently caused quite a stir. Professor Payer took this bellows-harmonica with him to Paris in 1823, and several imitations of it were made, such as the Aerophone by Christian Dietz ca. 1829. In 1836, Fourneaux may have made a 16’ foot or octave deep register, and in 1837, someone made what was called a Melophone. Many people started to make similar instruments, added their own improvements and inventions to it and called by a large variety of names, such as Aeolidon (which had bent tongues), Adelphone, Adiaphonon, Harmonikon, Harmonine, Melodium, Aeolian, Panorgue, Poikolorgue, Seraphine (England, keyboard harmonica, but not a harmonium, as it didn’t have channels for the tongues/reeds).
In 1832 Aristide Cavaille-Coll, who later became a world famous pipe organ builder went to stay in Toulouse to study mathematics. When Rossini came in this city to present the opera "Robert le Diable", Aristide got an extraordinary chance to demonstrate and explain about his recent invention to this famous musician. This instrument named "Poikilorgue (varying organ)" was a variation of the harmonium which produced an effect of "expression (crescendo, decrescendo etc.)" with a single set of free floating reeds and a single set of bellows driven by a foot pedal. It had another foot pedal which does not drive the bellows but compress and regulate the air of reservoir connected to them. Surprised with the intelligence and imagination of the young Aristide, Rossini suggested him strongly to go up to Paris, the capital of France. Thanks to him who was kind enough to write some letters of introduction for the eminent persons in the capital, he got started for Paris in 1833 with his elder brother Vincent and his father Dominique. Without the help of Rossini, Cavaille-Coll may not have become as famous as he eventually did.
Around 1837, in England, Kirkman & White of London started to build small pressure-winded predecessors of the harmonium, and called it a Seraphine. One surviving sample has a single set of reeds within a mahogany case. One of its two pedals supplies the air pressure while the second operates a muting device. Its reeds speak rather slow and its wind system is difficult to operate smoothly.
Alexandre, who would also become a major builder in France, invented a major improvement in the dynamic range of the instrument, called the expression.
Builders all over Europe invented many types of methods to make improvements to his basic concept of the harmonium.
In the United States around this time, we also see the beginnings of reed organs, as several builders in the New England region started to make small lap organs with free-floating reeds, which operated on wind pressure as well.
Application in Pipe Organs
Although the application of this type of reed was guaranteed in the manufacture of the American reed organs, both of wind pressure and wind suction types, they were also employed by church organ builders in Germany (especially in the period from 1860-1890: Walker, Ladegast en Steinmeier employed them), France (after Cavaille-Coll, by Mutin and Merklin), Swiss builders like Rinckenbach, Stiehr and Callinet in the Elzas (their 16’ pedal stops called Ophicleide instead of Posaune), in Belgium made popular by such builders as Schijven and Loret, and in the Netherlands they were made by the Van Dam firm, F.C. Smits, Van Oekelen and Kam. They fell in disfavor at the Advent of the Organ Reform Movement and the Neo-Baroque movement that followed it, but have become popular again since the late 20th century. In all these cases, the construction was like the typical organ reed: a shallot, a resonator box and a resonator shallot.
Some organs (known examples exist in Germany, Holland and Switzerland) also have harmonium stops whereby the construction is just as in a harmonium and work with wind pressure; they have no resonator boxes nor shallots. (See article entitled Harmonium).
Other Applications
Early free floating reed instruments did not always have a keyboard, but buttons to activate certain pitches, they were small, and this consequently led to the invention of a portable instrument with multiple fold bellows and reeds that would speak when the air was going in or out. This led to the development of the modern accordion which also became extremely popular worldwide and still flourishes today. Accordions have either keyboards or pushbuttons, and are sill being made today around the world, as form of light entertainment, such as during dances. The accordion is most often associated with the polka, but there are many more musical forms that are popular.
Why reed organs became very popular
Towards the end of the 18th century, with the advent of the pianoforte (the name of this piano already expresses its dynamic range, from soft to loud), as well as the symphonies written in the Rococo and Classical Period, the need for instant dynamic range in one instrument grew tremendously, and was one of the reasons the harpsichord soon fell into disfavor. Never before had an organ in the home been affordable, let alone one with a dynamic range. In the 18th and 19th centuries there existed in many affluent homes a small pipe organ, yet, these were expensive, heavy, not maintenance-free, and they took up a lot of space.
The reed organ also was a favorite (over a piano) for small churches which could not afford a pipe organ. In the 19th century in the United States, many small churches were built and the reed organ was instrumental especially with congregational singing.
In addition, it was favored for home music-making alongside the piano and in much later times in the cinema and movie theatres as a means of musical interludes and interpretation prior to sound films.
The Estey Story
The Estey firm was founded in 1846 by Jacob Estey in Brattleboro, Vermont, and made reed organs from 1850 till 1955, and was the company that outlasted all the other American companied and made more organs than anyone else as well, as their factory grew to a large complex of more than 8 buildings. Around 500,000 reed organs were produced in total. The isntrumentrs ranged form small portable field orgns, popular with chaplains in wars (used until the Korean War) to large 2-manual and pedal reed organs, which ahd to be umped by an asisstant, for use in small chruches, chapels and larger homes. Estey's reed organs were of good musical and consturction quality and many can still be found worldwide.
While continuing to build reed organs, they also engaged the Roosevelt-trained Philadelphia pipe organ builder, William E. Haskell (1865-1927), to open a pipe organ department in 1901. During the next fifty-nine years, the company built and rebuilt 3261 pipe organs, and with one exception, all of the Estey instruments had tubular-pneumatic or electro-pneumatic action. Many of these orgasn found their way in large estate homes.
Official Instrument for the new Japanese Elementary Public Schools
According to the Reed Organ Club Japan, founded in August 1996, the history of the reed organ in Japan goes back to the 1860s when some reed organs were being introduced by Christian missionaries for use in services. The Yamaha piano builder was one of the pioneers in Japan to build reed organs. The elementary school education system in Japan was started in 1872. Later, the government of modern Japan chose the reed organ as the official instrument to accompany singing during the obligatory music classes. Other builders followed after Yamaha, such as Nishikawa and Kawai.
The reed organ also became the leading spirit of Japanese modern music called Shoka (Japanese <Lied>) prepared for music education in elementary schools. Both pupils and teachers had to become familiar with western music, whose harmonic structures were not earlier known. The American protestant church hymn service (unison singing accompanied by a reed organ) is believed to have been the model of Japanese modern music. A series of hymn melodies were chosen and given new Japanese texts (i.e. to praise the Emperor, admire the splendor of nature, etc.). A new generation of Japanese composers like Rentaro Taki, Kousaku Yamada, and others seemed strongly influenced by Shoka and used the reed organ to compose and enrich the repertoire of Shoka. Japanese language also met a turning point in style. Leading poets eagerly wrote the texts for the Shoka melodies. In this way, Shoka became one of the highest points of Japanese music repertoire in the first half of the 20th century.
After enjoying a golden age for more than 50 years, the reed organ’s popularity started to decline. Radio, television and music records became the new way of becoming familiar with music. Shoka was soon considered out-of-date. Economical development created the market for both pianos and electronic organs, produced by the same manufactures who made the reed organs. As Japanese homes were small, the reed organ was taken out to make way for the piano, which did become the new status symbol. It soon disappeared from the schools as well. Yamaha, the last manufacture of this instrument in Japan, stopped production in 2001.
==The United States == The Centennial Organ
In 1876 the Prince firm had been in existence for 30 years, and it was also the first Centennial of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. To celebrate, a grand international fair, the Centennial Exposition, was held at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The Americans were able to display their new industrial might and technological achievements. Ten million visitors saw the telephone, typewriter, air brake, reaper and internal combustion engine for the first time.
Included was the highly popular American reed organ. George A. Prince & Co. of Buffalo exhibited its latest model, the "New Centennial Style Organ," conceived and designed specially for introduction to the nation at the Centennial Exposition.
The Centennial Organ weighed a hefty 365 pounds and featured "eleven stops, with Ivory Plates and Ivory Fronts to Keys," including "full organ knee stop and orchestra swell." It was housed in a 5-foot-2-inch "elegant walnut case in extra oil finish," with ornaments tipped and striped in gold bronze, its overall design characterized by flat rectangular and triangular panels with marquetry, inlay and shallow carving.
Claiming that the new organ was "vastly superior to any reed organ ever made," the catalog said the instrument "permitted close imitation of an entire orchestra. Sounds could be simulated of the clarinet, flute, saxophone, cornet, violin, bassoon, violoncello, etc., either singly in solo or in ensemble to produce the 'orchestra' effect."
In retrospect, Prince had introduced the larger reed organ that became popular not only in the United States, but which eventually till the advent of the first World War also swept Europe and Japan. Many factories sprang up all over the United States, Europe and Japan, making large suction type reed organs. Two major companies in the United States, Estey and Mason & Hamlin also became dominant players in the field.
Canada
The American organ was built in Canada as early as 1865 by R.S. Williams and soon afterwards by W. Bell, D.W. Karn, and many other companies. It had enlarged, vertical bellows and was encased in a solid desk-style cabinet, with drawstops over the keyboard. Until the 1870s it remained fairly simple in design and was less than four feet in height.
By the late 1870s, however, demand had grown and competition among manufacturers was increasingly keen; in Ontario, companies such as Dominion (Bowmanville), Doherty (Clinton), and Thomas (Woodstock) entered into the production and assembling of reed organs. As a result, factories grew in size and number, though many were merely parts and assembly shops. While most were located in Ontario and in southern Quebec, a few could be found in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and in Victoria, BC.
Equipment became more sophisticated and later instruments were built with more complex actions and elaborate case designs. Gradually the methods of voicing the reeds became less individual. Many such instruments resembled High Victorian furniture rather than organ consoles.
Cheaper, lighter, and requiring less maintenance than pianos, reed organs were at their most popular ca 1870-1910, and public demand was increased by highly exaggerated newspaper advertisements. Most models were intended for home use, though some were found in auditoriums. As early as the 1870s larger companies manufactured some two-manual models for church and orchestra use. In most instances these lacked foot pedals and required two operators - a player and someone to pump the handle located on one side of the instrument. Like single-manual reed organs, these had less individuality of sound than pianos or pipe organs.
During the height of their popularity, thousands of reed organs were produced each year. Several manufacturers also built pianos and in this period reed organs and pianos often looked much alike. Some of the larger companies established factories and agencies in England and Australia. The advent of other forms of music-making and entertainment (the player piano after 1901 and, later, the gramophone and radio) led to a decline in popularity, and by the 1930s even the larger builders had sold their businesses or switched to dealing exclusively in pianos and/or gramophones. Only Sherlock-Manning continued to build Doherty reed organs until the 1950s.
Fortunately, many individual instruments have survived and may be found in private homes and in museums such as Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto; the Brome County Historical Society, Knowlton, Que; the Bruce County Historical Museum, Southampton, Ont; the Fort Malden National Historic Park Museum, Amherstburg, Ont; the Ontario Pioneer Community Foundation, Kitchener, Ont; the Organery, a collection assembled by Jan van der Leest of Truro, NS (see Instrument collections); the Trent River Museum, Trent River, Ont; the Western Development museums in Yorkton and Saskatoon, Sask; and the Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Calgary.
Among experts on reed organs in Canada in the 1980s were William L. Keizer of Ottawa, Tim Classey of Toronto, and Jan van der Leest of Truro, NS.
The United Kingdom
A flourishing industry of reed organ builders sprang up in the United Kingdom, and were exported to other commomwealth nations.
Reed Organ Builders in Canada and the United Kingdom
Acadia Organ Co, Bridgetown, NS, fl 1878-82
C.W. & F.M. Andrus (Andrews?), Picton, Ont, fl 1857
Andrus Bros, London, Ont, ca 1859-74
Annapolis Organs, Annapolis, NS, fl 1880
John Bagnall &Co, Victoria, BC, 1863-85 (harmoniums by 1882)
Bell Organ and Piano Co (name changes), Guelph, Ont, 1864-1928
Daniel Bell Organ Co, Toronto, 1881-6
Berlin Organ Co, Berlin (Kitchener), Ont, fl 1880
G. Blatchford Organ Co, Galt, Ont, fl 1895; Elora, Ont, fl 1896
Abner Brown, Montreal, fl 1848-74
Canada Organ Co, London, Ont, ca 1865-?
Canada Organ Co, Toronto, 1875
Chute, Hall & Co, Yarmouth, NS, 1883-94
Compensating Pipe Organ Co, Toronto, fl 1900-10
Cornwall, Huntingdon, Que, before 1889-95 (see Pratte)
Cowley (or Conley?) Church Organ Co, Madoc, Ont, fl 1890
Dales & Dalton, Newmarket, Ont, fl 1870
R.H. Dalton, Toronto, 1869-82?
Darley and Robinson (see Dominion Organ and Piano Co)
W. Doherty & Co, Clinton, Ont, 1875-1920 (later owned by Sherlock-Manning Co)
Dominion Organ and Piano Co, Bowmanville, Ont, 1873-ca 1935
Eben-Ezer Organ Co, Clifford, Ont, 1935
Gates Organ and Piano Co, ca 1872-82 Malvern Square, NS; 1882-after 1885 Truro, NS
Goderich Organ Co, Goderich, Ont, fl 1890-1910
A.S. Hardy & Co, Guelph, Ont, fl 1874
John Jackson and Co, Guelph, Ont, fl 1872-3, 1880-3?
D.W. Karn Co, Woodstock, Ont, ca 1867-1924
J. & R. Kilgour, Hamilton, Ont, ca 1872-88 as dealers, 1888-99 as piano and organ company
McLeod, Wood & Co, Guelph, Ont, fl 1869-72; later R. McLeod & Co, London, Ont, fl 1874-5
Malhoit & Co, Simcoe, Ont, fl 1875
Charles Mee, Kingston, Ont, fl 1870
John M. Miller (later Miller & Karn and D.W. Karn), Woodstock, Ont, fl 1867
Mudge & Yarwood Manufacturing Co, Whitby, Ont, 1873-?
New Dominion Organ Co, Saint John, NB, fl 1875
William Norris, North York, Ont, fl 1867
Ontario Organ Co, Toronto, 1884
Oshawa Organ and Melodeon Manufacturing Co, 1871-3 (see Dominion Organ and Piano Co)
Pratte, Montreal, 1889-1926 (harmoniums built ca 1912)
Rappe & Co, Kingston, Ont, ca 1871-ca 1887
J. Reyner, Kingston, Ont, ca 1871-ca 1885
Sherlock-Manning Organ Co, London, Ont, later Clinton, Ont, 1902-78 (reed organs built 1902-1950s)
J. Slown, Owen Sound, Ont, fl 1871-89
David W. & Cornelius D. Smith, Brome, Que, 1875-?
Smith & Scribner, Chatham, Ont, fl 1864-5
Frank Stevenson, North York, Ont, fl 1867
Edward G. Thomas Organ Co, Woodstock, Ont, 1875-?
James Thornton & Co, Hamilton, Ont, fl 1871-89
Toronto Organ Co, Toronto, 1880
William Townsend, Toronto, fl late 1840s, Hamilton 1853-5
Uxbridge Organ Co, Uxbridge, Ont, fl 1872-1909
S.R. Warren and Son, Toronto, fl 1878-ca 1910
Elijah West, West Farnham, Que, fl 1860-75
Thomas W. White & Co, Hamilton, Ont, 1863-after 1869
R.S. Williams &Sons, Toronto, ca1854-ca 1952 (reed organs built in 19th century only)
Wilson & Co, Sherbrooke, Que
Wood, Powell & Co, Guelph, Ont, fl 1883-4
Woodstock Organ Factory, Woodstock, Ont, fl 1876 (see D.W. Karn)
Author Tim Classey, Helmut Kallmann
Bibliography
Christian Ahrens, Das Harmonium, 1996.
R.F. Gellermann, The American Reed Organ and the Harmonium, 1997.
R.F. Gellermann, The International Reed Organ Atlas, 1998.
Christian Ahrens en Jonas Braasch, “Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein: de uitvinder van de orgelregisters met doorslaande tongen.” Het ORGEL 99 (2003), nr. 4, pp. 32-37.
Websites
http://www.karg-elert-archive.org.uk/
http://www.harmoniumvereniging.nl/
http://www.harmonium-museum.nl/
http://www.d1.dion.ne.jp/%7Eorgan/
http://home.epix.net/%7Ecshannon/
http://www.india-instruments.de/pages/glossar/g-harmonium.html#anfang
http://wnyheritagepress.org/features/melodeon.html
http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/reviews/aboutr.html
http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/reviews.html
http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/main.html
http://www.reedorganclub.jp/roc/e/mainframe.e.htm
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~one-well/organ05.htm
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/harmonium.html
http://www.bridgewater.edu/philo/philo96/knupp.html
http://www.harmoniummuseum.ch/harmoniummuseum/harmoniummuseum1.htm
http://www.reedsoc.org/Publications/publications.htm
http://www.karg-elert-archive.org.uk/page2.html
http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/0408/
Adri de Groot 19:49, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
