Program notes
The documentary series, Une histoire de la musique à travers ses instruments (A History of Music Through its Instruments), takes a look at the history of the instruments used in Western music. Here, you can find out more about the organ.
The organ is certainly one of the oldest instruments that is still played today. Whatever the model, the number of keyboards and pipes, mechanically it is always exactly the same: there are bellows, keys, pipes and a varyingly complex transmission system that opens and closes the valves, allowing the notes to be played. Traces of the first organ date back to the third century BC. The Greeks and Romans were great organ builders. Their expertise was passed on to the people of the Middle East. Since the Middle Ages, organs have been primarily made in Europe.
Organs can be equipped with an automatic playing system. It was the first to benefit from this invention, much to the astonishment of its contemporaries. It was operated mechanically, using a cylinder studded with as many pins as notes to play. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven composed a lot of pieces for this instrument.