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posted by n1 on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the now-thats-what-i-call-music dept.

The United States' oldest municipal pipe organ, the Kotzschmar organ in Portland, Maine resumed operation yesterday. This marked the culmination of a two-year, $2.5 million renovation.

From a report by MPBN:

This weekend marks a landmark occasion for the city of Portland's century-old Kotzschmar organ, as it returns from a lengthy and costly overhaul that supporters hope will keep it going for another 100 years.

Named after Herman Kotzschmar, a German immigrant who became a leading musical performer and educator in early 20th century Portland, the organ was installed at the city auditorium in 1912, a gift from music-loving publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis. The nation's first municipal organ, it was enlarged in 1927.

This Saturday, the Kotzschmar will be center stage for a "comeback concert" at the Merrill Auditorium, having just undergone a two-year, $2.5 million renovation. Cornils - whose been Portland's municipal organist for nearly 25 years — says the improvement is evident.

Pipe organs have a long and varied history. The name "organ" comes the ancient Greek word όργανον (organon) and its earliest predecessors were built in Ancient Greece in the 3rd century BCE.

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[more after the break]
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The first documented permanent organ installation was in 1361 in Halberstadt, Germany. It was the first instrument to use a chromatic key layout across its three manuals and pedalboard, although the keys were wider than on modern instruments. It had twenty bellows operated by ten men, and the wind pressure was so high that the player had to use the full strength of his arm to hold down a key.

The development of the Tubular-pneumatic action lessened the physical burden on the organist. Much time could ensue between the time the key was pressed, the action engaged, and air began flowing through the selected pipes. Imagine trying to play a symphonic piece with variable delays between when you pressed different keys and the resulting sounds emerged from the pipes — and to do so in a way so that the music came through in unison!

Over time, the controls underwent improvements from the original use of mechanical key actions.

The development of pneumatic and electro-pneumatic key actions in the late 19th century made it possible to locate the console independently of the pipes, greatly expanding the possibilities in organ design. Electric stop actions were also developed, which allowed sophisticated combination actions to be created.

I find the history of pipe organs to be quite fascinating. Parallels between organ construction and computer programming abound. The creation of stops to encapsulate the setting of multiple controls at once are logically much like invoking a subroutine. We have memory leaks to worry about in computer programs; they had to deal with leaks of air pressure which could greatly diminish the unit's effectiveness. Then there is the testing that both require at the levels of unit, function, and entire system.

(NOTE: My background in this realm is limited to having heard a few compositions and some reading on the subject. So please accept my apologies for any inaccuracies in the preceding and provide corrections in the comments.)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:38PM (#99330)

    1361
    Parallels between organ construction and computer programming abound
    Organs were some of the first non-weapon high technology.

    It took them generations to get rid of "chiff", a speech defect that affects the attack as the air exits the pipe.
    They figured out how to cut notches in the lip of the pipe and minimize that.
    ...then, something over 40 years ago, Baldwin Inc. -added- a Chiff Generator to the design of their Model 11 electronic concert organ.
    IIRC, that was on the 8' Flute stop on the Swell manual.
    You could dial in as much as you wanted, from something resembling a slight lisp to making the damned thing sound like a xylophone.

    twenty bellows operated by ten men
    Electronic organs were always distinguishable from pipe organs because, having made all that effort to generate that much wind, you would NEVER just dump it in significant volumes.
    (That's the way they get vibrato in a pipe organ.)
    In an electronic organ, they create the vibrato at the tone generator, so even 16-foot, 32-foot, and 64-foot stops have vibrato.
    Dead giveaway. Again, on pipe organs, those pedal ranks with giant pipes (Can you say "Bombarde"? (8Hz!)) NEVER had vibrato.

    had to use the full strength of his arm to hold down a key
    I had heard that it took strength to get it pressed, but, once the static force was overcome, it wasn't a huge chore to keep it depressed.

    the keys were wider than on modern instruments
    Yeah, I had heard about those earliest guys having to use the ball of their fist to get those suckers down.

    electro-pneumatic key actions[...]made it possible to locate the console independently of the pipes
    Before that, there were "tracker" organs with a mechanical linkage from the key to the pipe.
    They were a higher-maintenance affair.
    Some slick salesman convinced my Mom's church to buy one of those monstrosities, maybe saying "authenticity" or some such bullshit.
    I'd like to see their maintenance bill for that thing a generation on now.

    The only "public" organ I was aware of is the one in San Diego.
    Last I heard, it was named after a sugar vendor.
    That thing is OUTSIDE, in a park.
    With changes in humidity and temperature, it must be a bear to keep tuned.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:09PM (#99349)

      s/xylophone/marimba

      -- gewg_

  • (Score: 1) by gawdonblue on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:46PM

    by gawdonblue (412) on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:46PM (#99337)

    I'm a bit confused, do you mean Portland where the nation's oldest cement works is, or Portland which has the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria?

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:04PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:04PM (#99346) Homepage

      To a non-(US)American, It's not even entirely clear which nation this is all happening in.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:48PM

        by richtopia (3160) on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:48PM (#99361) Homepage Journal

        Your comment is funny because the grand parent was in reference to Australia.

        I assume that the article is in the USA, although East or West coast is ambiguous.

    • (Score: 2) by n1 on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:14PM

      by n1 (993) on Sunday September 28 2014, @09:14PM (#99350) Journal

      I have updated the summary for clarity, apologies for the oversight.

      • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday September 29 2014, @03:40AM

        by Reziac (2489) on Monday September 29 2014, @03:40AM (#99447) Homepage

        Thanks for the article and the comparison to computers -- I'd have never thought of that, but it does fit.

        From Wikipedia:
        =====
        By the 17th century, most of the sounds available on the modern classical organ had been developed. From that time, the pipe organ was the most complex man-made device, a distinction it retained until it was displaced by the telephone exchange in the late 19th century.
        =====

        That's amazing in itself.

        We tend to forget how creative and innovative our ancestors were.

        --
        And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday September 29 2014, @07:40AM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Monday September 29 2014, @07:40AM (#99495) Journal

          Are you telling me, seriously, that no one here on Soylent News has read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, in which pipe organs figure largely in the invention of the first computers to break military encryption? I am appalled, and somewhat disappointed. Much as I was with the ending of Neal's novel.

          • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday September 29 2014, @01:47PM

            by Reziac (2489) on Monday September 29 2014, @01:47PM (#99573) Homepage

            I dunno... I'm one of the "no ones" who hasn't read it.

            Prolly cuz I gave the first page a look and couldn't get any further. The writing is fucking awful.

            --
            And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday September 29 2014, @05:54AM

      by davester666 (155) on Monday September 29 2014, @05:54AM (#99475)

      No, the headline is about how they have completed restoring the display case for the liver taken from the very first mayor of Portland, OR, and will now put it back on display.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 28 2014, @08:58PM (#99342)

    I am an audiophile and collect high-resolution lossless audio. I have quite a few releases of various famous organs from around the world being played, including the the Alkmaar organ in Holland being played by Helmut Walcha recorded by the superlative engineers of Arkiv Production in the 1950s. I also have an amateur recording of Alessio Corti on 'Tamburini' Organ of Milan Italy from 2007 (playing Bach Art Of Fugue).

    It would be nice to have an amateur recording of this organ being played! .....a couple of Schoeps Mk2 Microphones, An ADC/Field Recorder, A Laptop Computer ....ask the organist to play "Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" so I can compare to others I have .....release to public filesharing circles as 24/96 FLAC tracks(please) ....THANKS IN ADVANCE +++++++

    • (Score: 2) by Techwolf on Monday September 29 2014, @04:17AM

      by Techwolf (87) on Monday September 29 2014, @04:17AM (#99456)

      Any good sites or downloadable playable files of that song or other good pipe organ songs that can really test the limits of the speakers? I got a Klipsch system on my computer here I like to put it though some work. :-) And being it near Halloween, it the right music to play.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29 2014, @08:39AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29 2014, @08:39AM (#99505)

        Try this custom search ;-) ....................................... http://goo.gl/FpvSYU [goo.gl]

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by juggs on Monday September 29 2014, @04:59AM

    by juggs (63) on Monday September 29 2014, @04:59AM (#99468) Journal

    Bach, J.S. - Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) is, for me at least, unspeakably moving when performed on a well maintained pipe organ with 64' bass pipes (yes 64 feet - that's how it is in pipe organ land). The harmonics and resonance are truly something to be experienced in the flesh.

    I remember as a kid annoying the organist by randomly pulling on the stops and being fascinated how they could work 3 keyboards that could at the pull of a stop go from say a trumpet to a Vox Humana.

    I think of big pipe organs as early synthesisers - all those imitated instruments just a button (stop) away. What we do on a chip now, we did in valves and pipes then.

    It was a big bag of fascination for me being able to get into the gubbins at the back of the organ to actually see how on earth it all worked. I'm not at all surprised they are so expensive to maintain these days, so many moving parts and "consumables" that are forever wearing out. Like the inkjet of musical instruments I suppose. I can only imagine what these things managed to convey to masses of people who couldn't afford to travel to societal hotspots for the latest live orchestra performances.

    Shame we now only really think of them as dusty artefacts in churches with all the negative connotations that may bring.

    • (Score: 2) by gidds on Monday September 29 2014, @01:12PM

      by gidds (589) on Monday September 29 2014, @01:12PM (#99560)

      I think of big pipe organs as early synthesisers

      Interesting observation!  And yes, there's a lot of similarity.

      Perhaps it was only when electric and then electronic synthesisers became available that we stopped seeing pipe-organs as imitators and started appreciating them for their own sound.

      That's certainly what happened with analogue synthesisers: when the DX7 made digital 'FM' synthesis available to the masses, many switched to that, hailing its 'more realistic' sounds; only after a while did people begin to appreciate the old analogue synths for their own unique sound.  When sample-based synths appeared, people left FM behind in the same way.  And so on with virtual modelling and other advances.

      Just as you need the perspective of time to properly judge events, perhaps you need the perspective of technology advances to fully appreciate synths?

      --
      [sig redacted]
    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday September 29 2014, @02:22PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday September 29 2014, @02:22PM (#99589) Journal

      Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 (disputed that he actually wrote it, possibly a violin piece he translated to organ) and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538, aka the Dorian. Both really great pieces and my favorite organist is Karl Richter. He had this stereotypical rigid German appearance but an amazing ability to make the song speak through the organ. He displayed almost no emotion but his playing took care of that.

      • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday September 29 2014, @02:24PM

        by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday September 29 2014, @02:24PM (#99592) Journal

        Ah Crap. The text in the parentheses was in reference to the piece you mentioned, BWV 565. Not BWV 582. EDIT MODE PLEASE!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29 2014, @06:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 29 2014, @06:38PM (#99716)

        Germans Cannot Feel Emotion.
        Putin is similarly afflicted.