Harp & Keyboards · Keyboard instruments
Organ
Pipes of many sizes, grouped into stops and played from several keyboards (manuals) and a pedalboard. The largest and most varied instrument there is.
- Section
- Harp & Keyboards
- Family
- Keyboard instruments
- Classification
- Aerophone · pipes
- Transposition
- None (concert pitch)
- Clefs
- Three staves: two manuals and pedals
- Sounding range
- C1 – C7
Parts of the organ
The console of a two-manual organ; the pipes stand elsewhere and the pedalboard is under the bench. Photo: Orgelhase, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Labels added by Musicians Tools.
Range
Shown for 16′ pedal and 8′ manual stops. A 32′ stop reaches C0, and 4′ and 2′ stops and mixtures sound far higher than written. Playback uses a neutral tone, not the instrument's own sound.
Writing for the organ
- Written on three staves: two for the manuals and one for the pedals.
- Stops are named after pipe length: 8′ sounds as written, 4′ an octave higher, 16′ an octave lower.
- In large, reverberant spaces fast passages blur; write with the acoustic in mind.
- Registration is usually left to the organist. Describe the character you want (“full organ”, “soft flutes”) rather than exact stops.
History
The organ descends from the hydraulis of ancient Greece. Baroque builders such as Arp Schnitger and composers such as Bach brought it to a peak, and in the 19th century French builders like Aristide Cavaillé-Coll created the symphonic organ.
Listen
Key works featuring the organ. Each link opens a YouTube search, so you can pick the recording you like.
- Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
- Janáček – Glagolitic Mass, organ solo
- Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3 “Organ”
- Widor – Toccata from Symphony No. 5