Organ

The organ is a keyboard instrument with one or more manuals, and usually a pedalboard. In contrast to most other keyboard instruments, the organ's sound output is continuous and constant for as long as a key is depressed. more...

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Unlike the piano or clavichord, the volume of the sound does not depend on how hard the key is struck, though some modern instruments are touch-sensitive. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the Western musical tradition, with a rich history connected with Christian liturgy and civic ceremony.

The most well-known type of organ is the pipe organ, so named because it produces its sound through pipes, although many people simply refer to it as the "organ". Another type is the electronic organ, which does not have pipes and propagates its electronically-produced sound through one or more loudspeakers. There are many other instruments that fall under the category of "organ"; see below.

A musician who plays the organ is an organist. The organ repertoire encompasses a wide variety of styles and eras; the most famous composer of music for the organ is Johann Sebastian Bach.

Pipe organs

See the main article at pipe organ for details on history and construction.

The pipe organ is the grandest musical instrument in size and scope, and has been around in its current form since the 14th century. Along with the clock, it was considered one of the most complex man-made creations before the Industrial Revolution. Organs (the "pipe" designation is generally assumed) range in size from a single short keyboard to huge instruments which can have over 10,000 pipes. A large modern organ typically has three or four manuals with five octaves (61 notes) each, with a two-and-a-half octave (32-note) pedalboard.

Organs vary widely in design and in sound according to geography and time. In north Germany during the Baroque era, organs were built in such a manner that each division was readily apparent from the case design. The Hauptwerk (main-work) would be in the center of the case, with the Oberwerk (over-work) above and the Rückpositiv (back-positiv) on the balcony rail at the organist's back. The pedal division was usually set up in towers set at either side of the main case. This design is now called the Werkprinzip. Each division would routinely house complete principal and flute choruses and at least one reed stop. Meanwhile, in France, the separate divisions of the organ would not be evident from the case. Furthermore, the placement of stops followed a system whereby each division served a single musical purpose: the Grand orgue (great organ) would contain a complete principal chorus from 16' up through a high-pitched mixture, while the Echo division might have nothing more than a five-rank cornet stop from middle C up. And during the early twentieth century in America, organs were built to play transcriptions of orchestral literature. This required that each division be home to several stops designed to imitate orchestral instruments and that most of the divisions be enclosed in swell boxes, enabling the organ to create seamless crescendos and diminuendos.

Read more at Wikipedia.org