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Before there was electricity how did organists....

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  • Before there was electricity how did organists....

    ....ever get in enough practice? Were boys expensive in those days?

  • #2
    Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



    Here is an article from 1931 that sums up the situation in the Americas of a century ago: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...7711-3,00.html




    An organist could have(and should have) done a considerable amount of their practicing on a piano.

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    • #3
      Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

      Some organs still have a little bell, disguised as a register knob with the label "calcantenrüf" or so. This was used to get the attention of the boys working the bellows. And water motors were also used. And I have read about an organ that was driven with a gasmotor.

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      • #4
        Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



        Or this:







        The same fellow when asked to pump for a Widor symphony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40 [:D]

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        • #5
          Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



          Pedal pianos were common (Schumann wrote pieces for the pedal piano) and, before that, pedal harpsichords with 2 manuals (and pedal clavichords - the baroque equivalent of headphones!).



          I have just got a home organ - an Allen Chapel which I'm very pleased with.  



          Stephen Barber

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          • #6
            Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

            How far back are you talking? In the beginning, water was used, which was free! Then too, I've read somewhere that prisioners were used to pump the bellows! Their labor too was free, though they'd not agree with that!

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            • #7
              Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

              how many bellows operators did it take to operate a big cathedral organ such as at Notre Dame before water or electric motors?

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              • #8
                Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



                [quote user="NYCFarmboy"]how many bellows operators did it take to operate a big cathedral organ such as at Notre Dame before water or electric motors?[/quote]There were six pumpers at Notre-Dame. Rollin Smith in "Louis Vierne - The Organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral" states:




                Whenever the full compement of men could not be rounded up, the excuse was heard: "Monsieur Vierne, there's only three of us this morning; the octaves-graves won't be needed..."




                [:)]




                I seem to recall seeing eight treadles at Saint-Sulpice, but one source mentions ten.

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                • #9
                  Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

                  Did pumpers cost a lot in those days? Did they have working rights?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



                    No idea if it was expensive. Organists often had to pay them from their gages.



                    The water motors I mentioned were not used in the early days of the organ, that was something else. Those water motors were used around 1850 when electricity was still too new. Look here for an idea: http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/POWER/waterengine/waterengine6.htm

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                    • #11
                      Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



                      [quote user="Greg"]Did pumpers cost a lot in those days? Did they have working rights?[/quote]Check out the link I posted earlier in this thread - it goes into some detail about wages earned by pumpers in the US.




                      As far as pay in European cathedrals, it amounted to a small pittance. The pumpers at Notre-Dame were indigents rounded up from the streets below;they were not afforded manyrights or privileges.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

                        [quote user="soubasse32"]

                        [quote user="Greg"]Did pumpers cost a lot in those days? Did they have working rights?[/quote]Check out the link I posted earlier in this thread - it goes into some detail about wages earned by pumpers in the US.




                        As far as pay in European cathedrals, it amounted to a small pittance. The pumpers at Notre-Dame were indigents rounded up from the streets below;they were not afforded manyrights or privileges.



                        [/quote]



                        Thanks Soubasse 32, an interesting article. I think the pumpers should come back to help stop global warming. Perhaps we could chain some of the rather more rotund persons of our society to the organ pumps to give them a bit of exercise too. [:D]

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                        • #13
                          Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....



                          Brilliant idea!




                          You know... all those stairmasters, rowing machines and stationary bicyclesin gyms should be hooked up to the electricity grid. [*-)]




                          I saw a program that described how sidewalks of the future will be rigged to capture all the energy of people walking.




                          Fascinating.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

                            Just think of all the power you could get out of a Cross Country team[:D].

                            But there is after all a reason that the vast majority of pipe organs are electrically blown. I'd hate to be a poor sap who would be pressed into service pumping Senator Richards monster in Atlantic City, or Rodman Wanamaker's pet beast, or for that matter any large organ (here defined as really anything over three manuals). I can just see Subby coming up with some example to point out like a tiny 5m organ, or a mega-huge one manual organ.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Before there was electricity how did organists....

                              interesting question there....what is the SMALLEST (number of 8' ranks) 5 manual organ that is known of?

                              (for this discussion leave out any digital hybrids as I'm sure there is probably a 1 rank 50000 stop digital something somewhere).

                              Comment

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