[0:05]Pipe organs are among the oldest instruments in the Western world. They go back to the ancient Greeks. They predate pianos and were the world's most complex human-made machines until the steam engine was invented. Today we associate organs with church music. But during the Roman Empire, pipe organs were used as entertainment in gladiatorial fights, something we don't do here at St. Paul's. They were installed in cathedrals beginning in the Middle Ages and concert halls in the 19th and 20th centuries. St. Paul's organ was installed here in 2017 by the Noack Organ Company. They originally built it in 1989 for a church in Boston. Because I had played that instrument throughout the 90s, it became so clear that that was an ideal instrument for St. Paul's Chapel. We brought this instrument to New York and re-engineered it to fit into our existing historic wooden case. What you see is just the case. Most of the instrument isn't visible. This case has housed six different organs since it was built in 1802. There are 2,156 pipes in this organ and over 5,000 mechanical elements.
[1:33]When I play a key, it triggers a series of mechanical actions that open a valve under a pipe. Air, generated by an electric motor, enters that pipe, producing a tone that is constant in pitch and volume until the key is released.
[1:53]Each keyboard is called a manual and corresponds to a different division of pipes. Here, the top one is the swell, the middle the great, and the lower one is the choir. The pedalboard also controls a section of pipes. Let's take a look inside the organ case. This is the ground level where the manuals, pedals, and stops on the outside connect mechanically to the inside through wooden trackers and where the motors, blowers, and tall pedal pipes live. On the second level are rows of choir division pipes in the front half and the swell division pipes behind them in the back. At the top level, we find the great division pipes.
[2:44]These are the stops. When I pull a stop, I'm choosing a rank, which is a whole row of pipes with the same musical quality. So we can see that there are stops on either side of the keyboards here. When you pull one stop, what you do is you signal an entire row of pipes inside the organ case. So each one of these stops actually uh, represents 56 pipes, one for each, uh, note on the keyboard. Um, and if you don't pull stops, you actually don't get any sound. So pulling a stop, for instance, a harmonic flute, or a oboe, gives you a wide range of possibility. I could be playing a melody with my right hand, accompanying with my left hand on another manual, playing the bass with my left foot, and adjusting the swell shades inside the organ with my right foot.
[3:48]When you come to Pipes at One on Thursday, or any of our services, you'll hear a variety of music and composers represented. Listen for the stop choices and how expressive this very complicated instrument, which is basically like a full orchestra, can be.
