![Lisa Alvarado Kongsberg Jazzfestival 2019 (194515)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Lisa_Alvarado_Kongsberg_Jazzfestival_2019_%28194515%29.jpg)
The pump organ is a type of
free-reed organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. The idea for the free reed was imported from China through Russia after 1750, and the first Western free-reed instrument was made in 1780 in Denmark.
More portable than
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
s, free-reed organs were widely used in smaller churches and in private homes in the 19th century, but their volume and tonal range were limited. They generally had one or sometimes two
manuals, with
pedal-boards being rare. The finer pump organs had a wider range of tones, and the
cabinets
A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...
of those intended for churches and affluent homes were often excellent pieces of furniture. Several million free-reed organs and melodeons were made in the US and Canada between the 1850s and the 1920s, some of which were exported.
The Cable Company,
Estey Organ
Estey Organ Company was an organ manufacturer based in Brattleboro, Vermont. The company was founded in 1852 by Jacob Estey, who bought out another Brattleboro manufacturing business. At its peak, the company was one of the world's largest organ ...
, and
Mason & Hamlin
Mason & Hamlin is a piano manufacturer based in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1854, they also manufactured a large number of pump organs during the 19th century.
History 19th century
Mason & Hamlin was founded in Boston, Massachusett ...
were popular manufacturers.
Alongside the furniture-sized instruments of the west, smaller designs exist. The portable, hand-pumped harmonium or samvadini is a major instrument on the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
developed by Indians to meet local needs. The craftsmen created a harmonium that a single person could carry, with added microtones.
History
During the first half of the 18th century, a
free-reed mouth organ
A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.
Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, an ...
called a sheng was brought to Russia.
[ That instrument received attention due to its use by ]Johann Wilde Johann Wilde was an 18th-century German violinist and musical instrument inventor. He is best known for inventing the nail violin in 1740. He is also credited with the introduction of the Chinese '' sheng'' mouth organ to the Court of St. Petersbur ...
.[ The instrument's free-reed was unknown in Europe at the time, and the concept quickly spread from Russia across Europe.][ ]Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein
Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein (30 January 1723, Wernigerode – 6 July 1795, Copenhagen) was a German-born doctor, physicist and engineer. From 1753 to the end of his life he was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he served as ...
(1723–1795), professor of physiology at Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, was credited with the first free-reed instrument made in the Western world, after winning the annual prize in 1780 from the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.[ According to ]Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Erich ...
, Kratzenstein suggested that the instrument be made, but that the first organ with free reeds was made by Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler
Abbé Vogler
Georg Joseph Vogler, also known as Abbé Vogler (June 15, 1749 – May 6, 1814), was a German composer, organist, teacher and theorist. In a long and colorful career extending over many more nations and decades than was usual at the t ...
in Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
.[ The harmonium's design incorporates free reeds and derives from the earlier regal. A harmonium-like instrument was exhibited by Gabriel-Joseph Grenié (1756–1837) in 1810. He called it an ''orgue expressif'' (expressive organ), because his instrument was capable of greater expression, as well as of producing a ]crescendo
In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...
and diminuendo
In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...
. Alexandre Debain
Alexandre-François Debain (6 July 1809 – 3 December 1877) was a French inventor who developed the harmonium
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The ...
improved Grenié's instrument and gave it the name harmonium when he patented his version in 1840. There was concurrent development of similar instruments. Jacob Alexandre and his son Édouard introduced the orgue mélodium in 1844. Hector Berlioz included it in his Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes, published in Paris by Schoenberger, 843?or 844? in an « Instruments nouveaux » section on pp. 290-92, and in the 1856 reprint, found on pp. 472-77 in Peter Bloom's critical edition published by Bärenreiter, Vol.24, in Kassel and New York, 2003. Berlioz also wrote about it in several subsequent journals (Bloom, p. 472, nn. 1 & 2). He used it in 1 work: L'enfance du Christ, Part 1, scene vi, where it is off stage. When he conducted it in Weimar on 21 February 1855, it was played by Franz Liszt (Bloom, p. 474, n. 3).A mechanic who had worked in the factory of Alexandre in Paris emigrated to the United States and conceived the idea of a suction bellows, instead of the ordinary bellows that forced the air outward through the reeds. Beginning in 1885, the firm of Mason & Hamlin
Mason & Hamlin is a piano manufacturer based in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1854, they also manufactured a large number of pump organs during the 19th century.
History 19th century
Mason & Hamlin was founded in Boston, Massachusett ...
, of Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
made their instruments with the suction bellows, and this method of construction soon superseded all others in America.[
]
The term melodeon was applied to concert saloons in the Victorian American West because of the use of the reed instrument. The word became a common designation of that type of resort that offered entertainment to men.
Harmoniums reached the height of their popularity in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were especially popular in small churches and chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
s where a pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
would be too large or expensive; in the funeral-''in-absentia'' scene from Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
's ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the nov ...
'', the protagonist narrates that the church procured a "melodeum" (a conflation, likely intended by Twain for satirical effect, of the names "melodeon" and "harmonium") for the occasion. Harmoniums generally weigh less than similar sized piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
s and are not easily damaged in transport, thus they were also popular throughout the colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
of the European powers in this period not only because it was easier to ship the instrument out to where it was needed, but it was also easier to transport overland in areas where good-quality roads and railways may have been non-existent. An added attraction of the harmonium in tropical regions was that the instrument held its tune regardless of heat and humidity, unlike the piano. This "export" market was sufficiently lucrative for manufacturers to produce harmoniums with cases impregnated with chemicals to prevent woodworm
A woodworm is the wood-eating larva of many species of beetle. It is also a generic description given to the infestation of a wooden item (normally part of a dwelling or the furniture in it) by these larvae.
Types of woodworm
Woodboring beetle ...
and other damaging organisms found in the tropics.
At the peak of the instruments' Western popularity around 1900, a wide variety of styles of harmoniums were being produced. These ranged from simple models with plain cases and only four or five stops
Stop may refer to:
Places
*Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facilities
* Bus stop
* Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...
(if any at all), up to large instruments with ornate cases, up to a dozen stops and other mechanisms such as couplers
Coupler may refer to:
Engineering Mechanical
* Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device
** Janney coupler
** SA3 coupler
** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars
* Quick coupler, used in constru ...
. Expensive harmoniums were often built to resemble pipe organs, with ranks of fake pipes attached to the top of the instrument. Small numbers of harmoniums were built with two manuals (keyboards). Some were even built with pedal keyboards, which required the use of an assistant to run the bellows or, for some of the later models, an electrical pump. These larger instruments were mainly intended for home use, such as allowing organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
s to practise on an instrument on the scale of a pipe organ, but without the physical size or volume of such an instrument. For missionaries, chaplains in the armed forces, travelling evangelist etc., reed organs that folded up into a container the size of a very large suitcase or small trunk were made; these had a short keyboard and few stops, but they were more than adequate for keeping hymn singers more or less on pitch.
The invention of the electronic organ
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...
in the mid-1930s spelled the end of the harmonium's success in the West, although its popularity as a household instrument had already declined in the 1920s as musical tastes changed . The Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
could imitate the tonal quality and range of a pipe organ whilst retaining the compact dimensions and cost-effectiveness of the harmonium as well as reducing maintenance needs and allowing a greater number of stops and other features. By this time, harmoniums had reached high levels of mechanical complexity, not only through the demand for instruments with a greater tonal range, but also due to patent laws (especially in North America). It was common for manufacturers to patent the action mechanism used on their instruments, thus requiring any new manufacturer to develop their own version; as the number of manufacturers grew, this led to some instruments having hugely complex arrays of levers, cranks, rods and shafts, which made replacement with an electronic instrument even more attractive.
The last mass-producer of harmoniums in North America was the Estey company, which ceased manufacture in the mid-1950s; a couple of Italian companies continued into the 1970s. As the existing stock of instruments aged and spare parts became hard to find, more and more were either scrapped or sold. It was not uncommon for harmoniums to be "modernised" by having electric blowers fitted, often very unsympathetically. The majority of Western harmoniums today are in the hands of enthusiasts, though the instrument still remains popular in South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
.
Modern electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...
s can emulate the sound of the pump organ.
Acoustics
The acoustical effects described below are a result of the free-reed mechanism. Therefore, they are essentially identical for the Western and Indian harmoniums and the reed organ. In 1875, Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...
published his seminal book, ''On the Sensations of Tone'', in which he used the harmonium extensively to test different tuning systems:
"Among musical instruments, the harmonium, on account of its uniformly sustained tone, the piercing character of its quality of tone, and its tolerably distinct combinational tones, is particularly sensitive to inaccuracies of intonation. And as its vibrators also admit of a delicate and durable tuning, it appeared to me peculiarly suitable for experiments on a more perfect system of tones."
Using two manuals and two differently tuned stop sets, he was able to simultaneously compare Pythagorean
Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to:
Philosophy
* Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras
* Ne ...
to just
Just or JUST may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Just (surname)
* Just (given name)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm
* "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead
* "Just", a song from the album ''Lost and Found'' by Mudvayne ...
and to equal-tempered
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, w ...
tunings and observe the degrees of inharmonicity
In music, inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (also known as partials or partial tones) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency ( harmonic series).
Acoustically, a note perceived to have a singl ...
inherent to the different temperaments
In psychology, temperament broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.
Some researchers point to association of temperam ...
. He subdivided the octave to 28 tones, to be able to perform modulations of 12 minor and 17 major keys in just intonation without going into harsh dissonance that is present with the standard octave division in this tuning. This arrangement was difficult to play on. Additional modified or novel instruments were used for experimental and educational purposes; notably, Bosanquet's ''Generalized keyboard
Generalized keyboards are musical keyboards, a type of isomorphic keyboard, with regular, tile-like arrangements usually with rectangular or hexagonal keys, and were developed for performing music in different tunings. They were introduced by Rob ...
'' was constructed in 1873 for use with a 53-tone scale. In practice, that harmonium was constructed with 84 keys, for convenience of fingering. Another famous reed organ that was evaluated was built by Poole
Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...
.
Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Amo ...
also used the harmonium to devise a method for indirectly measuring frequency accurately, using approximated known equal temperament intervals and their overtone
An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
beats. The harmonium had the advantage of providing clear overtones that enabled the reliable counting of beats by two listeners, one per note. However, Rayleigh acknowledged that maintaining constant pressure in the bellows is difficult and fluctuation of the pitch often occurs as a result.
In the generation of its tones, a reed organ is similar to an accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
or concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front.
The ...
, but not in its installation, as an accordion is held in both hands whereas a reed organ is usually positioned on the floor in a wooden casing (which might make it mistakable for a piano at the very first glimpse). Reed organs are operated either with pressure or with suction bellows. Pressure bellows permit a wider range to modify the volume, depending on whether the pedaling of the bellows is faster or slower. In North America and the United Kingdom, a reed organ with pressure bellows is referred to as a harmonium, whereas in continental Europe, any reed organ is called a harmonium regardless of whether it has pressure or suction bellows. As reed organs with pressure bellows were more difficult to produce and therefore more expensive, North American and British reed organs and melodeons generally use suction bellows and operate on vacuum.
Reed organ frequencies depend on the blowing pressure; the fundamental frequency
The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'', is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. In ...
''decreases'' with medium pressure compared to low pressure, but it ''increases'' again at high pressures by several hertz for the bass notes measured. American reed organ measurements showed a sinusoidal oscillation with sharp pressure transitions when the reed bends above and below its frame. The fundamental itself is nearly the mechanical resonance
Mechanical resonance is the tendency of a mechanical system to respond at greater amplitude when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system's natural frequency of vibration (its ''resonance frequency'' or ''resonant frequency'') close ...
frequency of the reed. The overtones of the instrument are harmonics
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
of the fundamental, rather than inharmonic, although a weak inharmonic overtone (6.27''f'') was reported too. The fundamental frequency comes from a transverse
Transverse may refer to:
*Transverse engine, an engine in which the crankshaft is oriented side-to-side relative to the wheels of the vehicle
*Transverse flute, a flute that is held horizontally
* Transverse force (or ''Euler force''), the tangen ...
mode
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
, whereas weaker higher transverse and torsional
In the field of solid mechanics, torsion is the twisting of an object due to an applied torque. Torsion is expressed in either the pascal (Pa), an SI unit for newtons per square metre, or in pounds per square inch (psi) while torque is expressed ...
modes were measured too. Any torsional modes are excited because of a slight asymmetry in the reed's construction. During attack, it was shown that the reed produces most strongly the fundamental, along with a second transverse or torsional mode, which are transient.
Radiation patterns and coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...
effects between the sound box and the reeds on the timbre appear not to have been studied to date.
The unusual reed-vibration physics have a direct effect on harmonium playing, as the control of its dynamics in playing is restricted and subtle. The free reed of the harmonium is riveted from a metal frame and is subjected to airflow, which is pumped from the bellows through the reservoir, pushing the reed and bringing it to self-exciting oscillation
Self-oscillation is the generation and maintenance of a periodic motion by a source of power that lacks any corresponding periodicity. The oscillator itself controls the phase with which the external power acts on it. Self-oscillators are therefor ...
and to sound production in the direction of airflow. This particular aerodynamics
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
is nonlinear
In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...
in that the maximum displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...
in which the reed can vibrate is limited by fluctuations in damping forces, so that the resultant sound pressure is rather constant. Additionally, there is a threshold pumping pressure, below which the reed vibration is minimal. Within those two thresholds, there is an exponential growth
Exponential growth is a process that increases quantity over time. It occurs when the instantaneous rate of change (that is, the derivative) of a quantity with respect to time is proportional to the quantity itself. Described as a function, a q ...
and decay
Decay may refer to:
Science and technology
* Bit decay, in computing
* Software decay, in computing
* Distance decay, in geography
* Decay time (fall time), in electronics
Biology
* Decomposition of organic matter
* Tooth decay (dental caries) ...
in time of reed amplitudes .
Repertory
upA Victorian-era pump organ
The harmonium was considered by Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Erich ...
to be an important instrument for music of Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
(1750s-1900), which "vibrated between two poles of expression" and "required the overwhelming power and strong accents of wind instruments".[
Harmonium compositions are available by European and American composers of classical music. It was also used often in the folk music of the Appalachians and South of the United States.
Harmoniums played a significant part in the new rise of Nordic folk music, especially in Finland. In the late 1970s, a harmonium could be found in most schools where the bands met, and it became natural for the bands to include a harmonium in their setup. A typical folk band then—particularly in Western Finland—consisted of violin(s), double bass and harmonium. There was a practical limitation that prevented playing harmonium and accordion in the same band: harmoniums were tuned to 438 Hz, while accordions were tuned to 442 Hz. Some key harmonium players in the new rise of Nordic folk have been ]Timo Alakotila
Timo Alakotila is a Finnish composer, arranger, and musician born 15 July 1959.
Career
Timo Alakotila's range of music styles stretches from Finnish folk music of the '' pelimanni'' style over some jazz influences to more or less Finnish s ...
and Milla Viljamaa
Milla Viljamaa (born 1980) is a Finnish musician and composer known for her creative works in various fields ranging from Folk music, folk, tango music, tango and chamber music to theatre, opera, and film productions. She plays for example in th ...
.
In the Netherlands, the introduction of the harmonium triggered a boom in religious house music. Its organ-like sound quality allowed Reformed families to sing psalms and hymns at home. A lot of new hymns were composed expressly for voice and harmonium, notably those by Johannes de Heer
Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John (name), John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes (given name), Ioannes''), itself ...
.
Western classical
The harmonium repertoire includes many pieces written originally for the church organ
Carol Williams performing at the United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.">West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.
...
, which may be played on a harmonium as well, because they have a small enough range and use fewer stops. For example, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
's Fantasia in C major for organ BWV 570 is suitable for a four-octave harmonium.
Other examples include:
*Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
. ''Altenberg Lieder
Alban Berg's ''Five Orchestral Songs after Postcards by Peter Altenberg'' (German: ''Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskarten von Peter Altenberg''), Op. 4, were composed in 1911 and 1912 for medium voice, or mezzo-soprano. They are considered a ...
''
*William Bergsma
William Laurence Bergsma (April 1, 1921 – March 18, 1994) was an American composer and teacher. He was long associated with Juilliard School, where he taught composition, until he moved to the University of Washington as head of their music ...
. ''Dances from a New England Album, 1856'' for orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
. It includes parts for melodeon
Melodeon may refer to:
* Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion
*Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ
*Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston
* Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...
(movements I-III) and harmonium (movement IV).
*William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He ...
. ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' for orchestra, choirs, and soloists, includes parts for melodeon
Melodeon may refer to:
* Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion
*Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ
*Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston
* Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...
, harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
, and harmonium.
*Anton Bruckner
Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...
. '' Symphony no. 7'', an arrangement for chamber ensemble, prepared in 1921 by students and associates of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
for the Viennese Society for Private Musical Performances
The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German, the ) was an organization founded in Vienna in the Autumn of 1918 by Arnold Schoenberg with the intention of making carefully rehearsed and comprehensible performances of newly composed musi ...
, was scored for two violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s, viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
, cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
, bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
, clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
, horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
, piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
4-hands, and harmonium. The Society folded before the arrangement could be performed, and it went without premiere for more than 60 years.
*Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay (3 August 1838 – 24 November 1889) was an English composer known principally for songs and his music written for the stage.
Although from a musical family, for 16 years Clay made his living as a civil servant in HM Treasury ...
. ''Ages Ago
''Ages Ago'', sometimes stylised as ''Ages Ago!'' or ''Ages Ago!!'', is a musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay that premiered on 22 November 1869 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration. It marked the b ...
'', an early work that features a harmonium part (libretto by W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...
).
*Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
. ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' ( L. 86), known in English as ''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'', is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was composed in 1894 and first performed ...
'', a chamber ensemble arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
.
*Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
. ''Five Bagatelles'' for two violins, cello and harmonium, Op. 47 (B.79).
*Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
. ''Sospiri, Adagio for String Orchestra'', Op. 70 (scored for harp or piano and harmonium or organ). ''Vesper Preludes''.
*César Franck
César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium.
He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...
. The final collection of pieces popularly known as L'Organiste (1889–1890) was actually written for harmonium, with some pieces with piano accompaniment.
* Alexandre Guilmant
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Cantor ...
, author of many duos for piano and harmonium, including:
** ''Symphonie tirée de la Symphonie-Cantate "Ariane"'' (Op. 53)
** ''Pastorale A-Dur'' (Op. 26)
** ''Finale alla Schumann sur un noël languedocien'' (Op. 83)
*Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
. ''Hin und zurück
' (Back and forth) is an operatic 'sketch' (Op. 45a) in one scene by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer. It acts as a parody of conventional opera tropes featuring a coloratura ariette, a jealousy duet, and a terzet for ...
'' (''There and Back''), an operatic sketch that uses a harmonium for its stage music.
*Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Sigfrid Karg-Elert (November 21, 1877April 9, 1933) was a German composer in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for pipe organ and reed organ.
Biography
Karg-Elert was born Siegfried Theodor Karg in Oberndorf am Neckar, ...
. Various works for solo harmonium.
*Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...
. ''Early Music'', an album that has several pieces featuring harmonium.
*Henri Letocart
Victor Jean Félix Henri LetocartArchives of the Hauts-de-Seine online, 7/2/66 act #39, view n°12, without mention of death (6 February 1866 – 1945) was a French organist and composer.
Biography
Born in Courbevoie, Henri Letocard was the son ...
(1866–1945). 25 pieces for harmonium, Premier cahier.
*Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
. ''Symphonie zu Dantes Divina Commedia, Movement II: Purgatorio''
*Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
. '' Symphony No. 8''
*George Frederick McKay
George Frederick McKay (June 11, 1899 – October 4, 1970) was a prolific modern American composer.
Biography
McKay was born in the small frontier wheat farming town of Harrington, Washington. His family later moved to Spokane, where he att ...
. ''Sonata for Clarinet and Harmonium'' (1929) (also adaptable to piano or violin)
*Martijn Padding
Martijn Padding (born 24 April 1956) is a Dutch composer and educator.
Padding was born in Amsterdam, and was taught by Louis Andriessen (composition), Geert van Keulen (instrumentation) and Fania Chapiro (piano). He also studied sonology at the U ...
. ''First Harmonium Concerto'' (2008) for harmonium and ensemble
*Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
. ''Petite messe solennelle
Gioachino Rossini's ''Petite messe solennelle'' (Little solemn mass) was written in 1863, possibly at the request of Count Alexis Pillet-Will for his wife Louise to whom it is dedicated. The composer, who had retired from composing operas more ...
'' is scored for twelve voices, two pianos and harmonium.
*Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
. The '' Barcarolle, Op. 108'' is scored for piano, harmonium, violin and cello.
*Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
**''Herzgewächse'', Op. 20, for high soprano, celesta
The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...
, harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
and harmonium.
**''Weihnachtsmusik'', for two violins, cello, harmonium and piano.
*Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic plurality (a mixture ...
** '' Chamber Symphony''
** ''Vom ewigen Leben''
*Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
. ''Ariadne auf Naxos
(''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work' ...
'' an opera (libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...
) that employs a harmonium in the orchestration of each of its versions. It requires an instrument with many stops, which are specified in the score.
*Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
. "Manfred Symphony
''Manfred'' is a ''"Symphony in Four Scenes"'' in B minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 58, but unnumbered. It was written between May and September 1885 to a program based upon the eponymous 1817 poem by Byron, coming after the composer' ...
", fourth movement
*Louis Vierne
Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...
. 24 Pièces en style libre pour orgue ou harmonium, Op. 31 (1913)
*Anton Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
. ''Five Pieces for Orchestra op.10''
*Alexander Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.
Biography
Early life
Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton ...
** ''Six Maeterlinck Songs''
** ''Lyric Symphony
The ''Lyric Symphony'' (german: Lyrische Symphonie), Op. 18, was composed by Alexander von Zemlinsky between 1922 and 1923 and received its premiere in Prague on June 4, 1924, under the composer's direction.
The work is in seven connected movemen ...
''
Artists
* Krishna Das, American kirtan
Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...
singer, composer and recording artist
*Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan
Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan ( ur, ) (December 25, 1952 – September 7, 2003) was a Pakistani musician, who played the harmonium in Qawwali music. He was also a member of a well-known family of Qawwali musicians, the Qawwal Bacchon gharana (Delhi g ...
, Pakistani qawali
Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
performer, composer and recording artist
* Mariana Sadovska, Ukrainian singer, composer and recording artist
*Radie Peat, singer and musician of Lankum
Lankum are a contemporary Irish folk music group from Dublin, consisting of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch, Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat. In 2018 they were named Best Folk Group at the RTÉ Folk Music Awards, while Radie Peat was named Bes ...
Western popular music
Harmoniums have been used in western popular music since at least the 1960s. John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
played a Mannborg harmonium on the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' hit single "We Can Work It Out
"We Can Work It Out" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first issued as a double A-side single with "Day Tripper" in December 1965. It also appeared on the 1966 US release '' Yesterd ...
", released in December 1965, and the band used the instrument on other songs recorded during the sessions for their ''Rubber Soul
''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work ...
'' album. They also used the instrument on the famous "final chord" of " A Day in the Life", and on the song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles for their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written and composed primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
...
", both released on the 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. The group's hit single "Hello, Goodbye
"Hello, Goodbye" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single in November 1967, the group's first re ...
" and the track "Your Mother Should Know
"Your Mother Should Know" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1967 EP and LP, ''Magical Mystery Tour''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Titled after a line in the 1961 film '' A Tast ...
" were both written using a harmonium.
Many other artists soon employed the instrument in their music, including; Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
on the title song "Chapter 24
"Chapter 24" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1967 album ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, ''Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd''. It was the second song recorded for the album ...
" of their first album ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, gu ...
'' in 1967, Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
on his 1973 album ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'' is the sixth studio album by English musician Elton John. Released in January 1973 by DJM Records, it was the first of two studio albums he released in 1973 (the second was ''Goodbye Yellow Brick R ...
'', 1976's ''Blue Moves
''Blue Moves'' is the eleventh studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released in October 1976. It was John's second double album (after ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'') and the first to be released by his own label, Rocket Records ...
'', the 1978 album ''A Single Man
''A Single Man'' is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Acad ...
'', and 1995's '' Made in England''. German singer Nico
Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...
was closely associated with the harmonium, using it as her main instrument, during the late 60s and 70s, on albums such as ''The Marble Index
''The Marble Index'' is the second studio album by the German musician Nico, released in November 1968 on Elektra Records. The avant-garde sound introduced in the album—a stark contrast with her folk pop debut, '' Chelsea Girl'' (1967)—was th ...
'', ''Desertshore
''Desertshore'' is the third studio album by German musician Nico. It was released in December 1970 on the Reprise label.
Recording
''Desertshore'' was co-produced by John Cale and Joe Boyd. Unlike its predecessor ''The Marble Index'' it incor ...
'' and '' The End...''.
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...
employed the harmonium on his 1968 album ''The Hurdy Gurdy Man
''The Hurdy Gurdy Man'' is the sixth studio album (seventh overall) by Scotland, Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the US in October 1968 (Epic Records BN 26420 (stereo)), but not in the UK, because of a continuing contract ...
'' where he played it in droning accompaniment on the song "Peregrine", and where it was also played on his song "Poor Cow" by John Cameron.
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
of King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
played a pedal harmonium borrowed from lyricist Peter Sinfield
Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson, whose debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the first and mos ...
on the title track that progressive rock band's 1971 album ''Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
''.
More recently Roger Hodgson
Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson (born 21 March 1950) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’ ...
from Supertramp
Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending pro ...
used his harmonium on many of the group's songs including "Two of Us" from ''Crisis? What Crisis?
''Crisis? What Crisis?'' is the fourth album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1975. It was recorded in Los Angeles and London – Supertramp's first album to have recording done in the US.
A remastered CD version of the album ...
'', "Fool's Overture" from '' Even in the Quietest Moments...'', the title track to their 1979 album ''Breakfast in America
''Breakfast in America'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US ''Billboard'' hit singles: "The ...
'' and "Lord Is It Mine". Hodgson also used a harmonium on "The Garden" from his 2000 solo album '' Open the Door''. Greg Weeks
Greg Weeks is an American singer-songwriter based in Philadelphia. His music has been described as folk, acoustic, psychedelic and experimental. He is best known as a founding member of the Psychedelic folk, psychedelic folk-rock band Espers (ba ...
and Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
have both used the instrument on their recordings and live performances.
The Damned singer Dave Vanian
David Vanian (born David Lett, 12 October 1956) is an English rock musician, and lead singer of the punk rock band the Damned. Formed in 1976 in London, the Damned were the first British punk band to release a single, release an album, have a ...
bought a harmonium for £49 and used it to compose "Curtain Call", the 17-minute closing track from their 1980 double LP The Black Album. In 1990, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).
Depeche ...
used a harmonium on a version of their song "Enjoy The Silence". The Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
used a harmonium on "Neptune's Daughter" from their 1994 album ''Promenade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
''. Sara Bareilles
Sara Beth Bareilles (, ; born December 7, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She has sold over three million albums and over 15 million singles in the United States. She has earned various awards and nominations including nin ...
used the harmonium on her 2012 song "Once Upon Another Time".
During the 1990s the Hindu and Sikh-based devotional music known as kirtan
Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...
, a 7th-8th century Indian music, popularly emerged in the West. The harmonium is often played as the lead instrument by kirtan artists; notably Jai Uttal
Jai Uttal (born June 12, 1951) is an American musician. He is a Grammy-nominated singer and “a pioneer in the world music community with his eclectic East-meets-West sound.”
Biography
Uttal grew up in New York City and lived in a home filled ...
who was nominated for a Grammy award for new-age music
New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation technique, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecs ...
in 2004, Snatam Kaur, and Krishna Das who was nominated for a Grammy award for new age music in 2012.
In the Indian subcontinent
The harmonium arrived in India during the mid-19th century, possibly with missionaries or traders. The instrument quickly became popular there: it was portable, reliable and easy to learn.
The harmonium is popular to the present day, an important instrument in many genres of Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi music
The music of Bangladesh spans a wide variety of styles. Bangladesh claims some of the most renowned singers, composers and producers in Asia. Music has served the purpose of documenting the lives of the people and was widely patronized by the rul ...
. For example, it is a staple of vocal North Indian classical music and Sufi Muslim
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
Qawwali
Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
concerts. It is commonly found in Indian homes. Though derived from the designs developed in France, the harmonium was developed further in India in unique ways, such as the addition of drone stops and a scale-changing mechanism. In Kolkata, Dwarkanath Ghose of the Dwarkin
Dwarkin formally known as Dwarkin & Son, founded in 1875, was an Indian enterprise for the sale of Western and Indian musical instruments based in Kolkata, and focused on the development of the hand-held harmonium.
History
Dwarkin & Son was foun ...
company modified the imported harmony flute and developed the hand-held harmonium, which has subsequently become an integral part of the Indian music scene.
Dwijendranath Tagore
Dwijendranath Tagore (11 March 1840 – 19 January 1926) was an Indian Bengali poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendr ...
is credited with having used the imported instrument in 1860 in his private theatre, but it was probably a pedal-pumped instrument that was cumbersome or possibly some variation of the reed organ. Initially, it aroused curiosity, but gradually people started playing it, and Ghose took the initiative to modify it. It was in response to the Indian needs that the hand-held harmonium was introduced. All Indian musical instruments are played with the musician sitting on the floor or a stage, behind the instrument or holding it in his hands. In that era, Indian homes did not use tables and chairs. Also, in Western music, which is harmonically based, both a player's hands were needed to play the chords, thus assigning the bellows to the feet was the best solution; in Indian music, which is melodically based, only one hand was necessary to play the melody, and the other hand was free for the bellows.
The harmonium was widely accepted in Indian music, particularly Parsi and Marathi stage music, in the late 19th century. By the early 20th century, however, in the context of nationalist movements that sought to depict India as utterly separate from the West, the harmonium was portrayed as an unwanted foreigner. Technical concerns with the harmonium included its inability to produce slurs, gamaka (playing semi-tone between notes) and meend
In Hindustani music, meend (Hindi: मीण्ड, ur, ) refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, sarangi and other plucked str ...
(slides between notes) which can be done in instruments like Sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
and Sarod
The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...
,[ and the fact that, as a keyboard instrument, it is set to specific pitches.][ Unlike a stringed instrument, its pitches cannot be adjusted in the course of performance.
The inability to slide between notes prevents it from articulating the subtle inflections (such as andolan, gentle oscillation) so crucial to many ragas. Being set to specific pitches is a different musical concept than the Indian ]svara
Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...
, which doesn't focus on specific pitches, but a range of pitches.[ The fixed pitches prevent it from articulating the subtle differences in intonational color between a given svara in two different ragas.][ For these reasons, it was banned from ]All India Radio
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All a ...
from 1940 to 1971;[ a ban still stands on harmonium solos.
On the other hand, many of the harmonium's qualities suited it very well for the newly reformed classical music of the early 20th century: it is easy for amateurs to learn; it supports group singing and large voice classes; it provides a template for standardized raga grammar; it is loud enough to provide a drone in a concert hall. For these reasons, it has become the instrument of choice for accompanying most North Indian classical vocal genres, with top vocalists (e.g., ]Bhimsen Joshi
Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi BR (; ; 4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), also known by the honorific prefix Pandit, was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka, in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the '' khaya ...
) routinely using harmonium accompaniment in their concerts. However, it is still despised by some connoisseurs of Indian music, who prefer the sarangi
The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...
as an accompanying instrument for khyal
Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfor ...
singing.
A popular usage is by followers of the Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
faiths, who use it to accompany their devotional songs (bhajan
Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...
and kirtan
Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...
) respectively. There is at least one harmonium in any gurdwara
A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...
(Sikh temple) around the world. The harmonium is commonly accompanied by the tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల ...
as well as a dholak
The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The instrument is about 45 cm in length and 27 cm in breadth and is widely used in ''qawwali'', '' kirtan'', '' lavani'' and '' bhangra''. The drum has two differ ...
. To Sikhs, the harmonium is known as the ''vaja'' or ''baja''. It is also referred to as a ''peti'' (literally, box) in some parts of North India and Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
. The harmonium plays an integral part in Qawwali
Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
music. Almost all Qawwals use the harmonium as their sole musical accompaniment. It has received international exposure as the genre of Qawwali music has been popularized by renowned Pakistani musicians, including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi music, Sufi devotional music. ...
. There is some discussion of Indian harmonium makers producing reproductions of Western-style reed organs for the export trade.
Vidyadhar Oke
Vidyadhar Oke (b 1952) is an Indian doctor, musicologist, harmonium player, and astrology consultant, who has done research in the use of shrutis (microtones) in Indian classical music and created a unique 22-shruti version of the harmonium.
...
has developed a 22-microtone harmonium, which can play 22 microtones as required in Indian classical music. The fundamental tone (Shadja
Shadja is the first svara out of the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Shadja is the long form of the syllable सा. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Shadja is pronounced as Sa (notation - S). It is a ...
) and the fifth ( Pancham) are fixed, but the other ten notes have two microtones each, one higher and one lower. The higher microtone is selected by pulling out a knob below the key. In this way, the 22-shruti harmonium can be tuned for any particular raga by simply pulling out knobs wherever a higher shruti is required.
Bhishmadev Vedi is said to have been the first to contemplate improving the harmonium by augmenting it with a swarmandal
The ''swarmandal'' ( hi, स्वरमण्डल ), ''surmandal,'' or Indian harp is a plucked box zither, originating from India, similar to the qanun that is today most commonly used as an accompanying instrument for vocal Indian classica ...
(harp-like string box) attached to the top of the instrument. His disciple, Manohar Chimote, later implemented this concept, also making the instrument more responsive to key pressure, and called the instrument a ''samvadini''—a name now widely accepted. Bhishmadev Vedi is also said to have been among the first to contemplate and design compositions specifically for the harmonium, styled along the lines of "tantakari"—performance of music on stringed instruments. These compositions tend to have a lot of cut notes and high-speed passages, creating an effect similar to that of a string being plucked.
In 1954, Late Jogesh Chandra Biswas first modified the then-existing harmoniums, so it folds down into a much thinner space for easier maneuverability. Before that, if the instrument was boxed, it used to need two people to carry it, holding it from either side. This improvisation became a generic design in most harmoniums since then and was coined with the term "Folding Harmoniums".
The Shruti box
A shruti box (sruti box or surpeti) is an instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, that traditionally works on a system of bellows. It is similar to a harmonium and is used to provide a drone in a practice session or concert of In ...
, a keyless harmonium used only to produce drones to support other soloists.
Types
In the view points of preservation of cultural properties, maintenance and restoration, the pump organs are often categorized into several types.[
][
][
]
Historical instruments
File:横浜みなとみらいポジティフオルガン「スージー」全体.JPG, ''cf. Positive organ
A positive organ (also positiv organ, positif organ, portable organ, chair organ, or simply positive, positiv, positif, or chair) (from the Latin verb ''ponere'', "to place") is a small, usually one-manual, pipe organ that is built to be more o ...
(small pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
with bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
)''
File:Portative.jpg, ''cf. Portative organ
A portative organ (from the Latin verb , "to carry"), also known during Italian Trecento as the , is a small pipe organ that consists of one rank of flue pipes, sometimes arranged in two rows, to be played while strapped to the performer at a ri ...
(portable pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
with bellows)''
File:Bibelregal1988ME I.JPG, '' Regal'' without pipes (beating reed
Reed or Reeds may refer to:
Science, technology, biology, and medicine
* Reed bird (disambiguation)
* Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times
* Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales
* Re ...
organ, without pipes after the 16th century)
File:8 key accordion.JPG, ''cf. '' ( invented c.1822/1829)
Early instruments
File:Musee des Ursulines de Quebec 010.jpg, [ (invented in 1810 by , Paris)
File:Reed Organ (Physharmonica) MET DP227017.jpg, Portable or folding:] Physharmonica
The physharmonica is a keyboard instrument fitted with free reeds, a kind of harmonium much used in Germany in the early 20th century.
Description
The physharmonica resembles a small harmonium, but is differentiated from it by having no stops, be ...
[ (invented in 1818 by ]Anton Haeckl Anton Haeckl was a musical instrument builder in Vienna, who built the first physharmonica in 1818. Two of his instruments from 1825 (refs. Inv. Nr. 19.480 (20 white keys) and Inv. Nr. 38.956) can be seen in the Vienna Technical Museum.
The physhar ...
, Vienna)
File:Seraphine MET 225316.jpg, Seraphine (invented in 1833 by John Green, London)
File:Harmoniflute, Technisches Museum Wien.jpg, Portable or folding:
(introduced in 1855)
Harmonium
Harmoniums are pressure system free-reed organs.
File:Harmonium Debain - c.1865.jpg, Flattop harmonium (c. 1865) by Alexandre Debain
Alexandre-François Debain (6 July 1809 – 3 December 1877) was a French inventor who developed the harmonium
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The ...
, a French inventor of the harmonium (patented in 1842)
File:Orgue-Célesta.gif, with Celesta
The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...
, by , Paris (1890)
File:Orgues-mélodium d'Alexandre père et fils.jpg, and Orgue-mélodium (invented in mid-19th c. by )
File:Pakistani Qawwali Harmonium.jpg, alt=Portable harmonium: Indian harmonium or Guide-chant rPortable harmonium: ''Indian harmonium'' or ''Guide-chant'' is often played with the various ''raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...
s'' of Indian classical music
Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...
.
File:Organeum Harmonium.jpg, Chapel harmonium
File:Organeum, Weener - 15.JPG, Two manual with pedal harmonium by (1911)
File:MIM Orthotonophonium Schiedmayer.jpg, Orthotonophonium (1870s/1914)
File:CIMA mg 8380.jpg, Player harmonium (1888–1903, disc-type)
Suction reed organs are vacuum system free-reed organs.
Melodeons and Seraphines
File:Rocking Melodeon MET D3198 89.4.1194.jpg, [ or ''lap organ''][ ][ (available a]
PDF
File:Seraphine reed organ, by James A. Bazin, Canton MA, 1835, bird's eye maple, rosewood - Old Colony History Museum - Taunton, Massachusetts - DSC03905.jpg, Seraphine[ of the United States (ca.1835 by James A. Bazin, MA)
File:Melodium (23986253000).jpg, ''Portable melodeon'' ][ or ''lyre-leg melodeon'' ][
File:New Haven Melodeon, Mission Mill Museum.jpg, ''Piano-style melodeon'']
[ (c.1867)]
See images
1
2
3
4
5
6
See also
Treat & Linsley
s
File:Sunday School Organ in Barratt's Chapel Museum, Frederica, Delaware.jpg, Folding reed organ[ (19th century)
File:Geo. Woods Melodeon.JPG, Flattop reed organ:] ''melodeon'' or
''American reed organ''
File:American Organ Odilienberg 1.jpg, Parlor organ:[ ''melodeon'' or ]
''American reed organ'' [
File:Harmonium in St Peter's Church, Normanby by Spittle (geography.org.uk 2622275 2ed0d039).jpg, Chapel organ][
File:Piano case reed organ, removed a front panel, preparing for Noise Boundary music ensemble.jpg, Piano case reed organ]
[
File:Estey Phonorium. (front).jpg, Two manual with pedal reed organ][ (pipe-top)
File:Alleyorgan.jpg, '']Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
reed organ'' (1868/1871)
by Joseph Alley
File:"Autophone" Organette MET MUS483A.jpg, ''cf.'' mechanical instrument, Organette
The Organette was a mechanical free-reed programmable (automatic) musical instrument first manufactured in the late 1870s by several companies such as John McTammany of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Autophone Company of Ithaca, New York, the Auto ...
in 1878
(electrically blown / electronic organs)
File:Harmophon koestler 2.jpg, Electrically blown reed organ
File:Magnus electric chord organ (free stand, wood, 3oct, 6maj, 6min, 3stop, vib).jpg, Electrically blown reed chord organ
Chord organ is a kind of home organ that has a single short keyboard and a set of chord buttons, enabling the musician to play a melody or lead with one hand and accompanying chords with the other, like the accordion with a set of chord buttons ...
(1960s)
File:Wurlitzer Model 44 Electrostatic Reed Organ.png, Electrostatic-pickup reed organ (1930s–60s)
File:Gulbransen Organ, Museum of Making Music.jpg, ''cf. Electronic organ
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...
(1939–)''
Related instruments
* Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
* Shruti box
A shruti box (sruti box or surpeti) is an instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, that traditionally works on a system of bellows. It is similar to a harmonium and is used to provide a drone in a practice session or concert of In ...
* Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
References
External links
The Reed Organ Society
The Reed Organ Home Page
of John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University
Top Harmonium Makers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed Organ
Keyboard instruments
Organs (music)
Sets of free reeds