Water organ
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The water organ or hydraulic organ (
The hydraulic organ is often confused with the hydraulis. The hydraulis is the name of a Greek instrument created by
On the water organ, since the 15th century, the water is also used as a source of power to drive a mechanism similar to that of the barrel organ, which has a pinned barrel that contains a specific song to be played. The hydraulis in ancient Greek is often imagined as an automatic organ, but there is no source evidence for it.[2]
Hydraulis
A hydraulis is an early type of
Mechanics
Typically, water is supplied from some height above the instrument through a pipe, and air is introduced into the water stream by aspiration (using the Bernoulli effect) into the main pipe from a side-pipe holding its top above the water source. Both water and air arrive together in the camera aeolis (wind chamber). Here, water and air separate and the compressed air is driven into a wind-trunk on top of the camera aeolis, to blow the organ pipes. Two perforated ‘splash plates’ or ‘diaphragms’ prevent water spray from getting into the organ pipes.
The water, having been separated from the air, leaves the camera aeolis at the same rate as it enters. It then drives a water wheel, which in turn drives the musical cylinder and the movements attached. To start the organ, the tap above the entry pipe is turned on and, given a continuous flow of water, the organ plays until the tap is closed again.
Many water organs had simple water-pressure regulating devices. At the
Among Renaissance writers on the water organ, Salomon de Caus is particularly informative. His book of 1615 includes a short treatise on making water organs, advice on tuning and registration, and many fine engravings showing the instruments, their mechanisms and scenes in which they were used. It also includes an example of suitable music for water organ, the madrigal Chi farà fed' al cielo by Alessandro Striggio, arranged by Peter Philips.
History
Water organs were described in the numerous writings of the famous Ctesibius (3rd century BCE), Philo of Byzantium (3rd century BCE) and Hero of Alexandria (c. 62 CE). Like the water clocks (clepsydra) of Plato's time, they were not regarded as playthings but might have had a particular significance in Greek philosophy, which made use of models and simulacra of this type. Hydraulically blown organ pipes were used to imitate birdsong, and musicologists Susi Jeans and Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume have suggested that it was used to create the sounds of the Vocal Memnon.[3] For the latter, solar heat was used to syphon water from one closed tank into another, thereby producing compressed air for sounding the pipes.
Characteristics of the hydraulis have been inferred from mosaics, paintings, literary references, and partial remains. In 1931, the remains of a hydraulis were discovered in Hungary, with an inscription dating it to 228 CE. The leather and wood of the instrument had decomposed, but the surviving metal parts made it possible to reconstruct a working replica now in the Aquincum Museum in Budapest.[4][5] The exact mechanism of wind production is debated, and almost nothing is known about the music played on the hydraulis, but the tone of the pipes can be studied.[6][7] The Talmud mentions the instrument as not appropriate for the Jerusalem Temple.[8][9]
After its invention by the Greeks, the hydraulis continued to be used through antiquity in the Roman world. In the Middle Ages, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire,
By the end of the 12th century
The most famous water organ of the 16th century was at the
Other Italian gardens with water organs were at
In the early 17th century, water organs were built in England;
By the end of the 17th century, however, interest in water organs had waned. As their upkeep was costly they were left to decay and were soon forgotten; by 1920 not one survived (the so-called water organ at Hellbrunn Castle, Salzburg, is a pneumatic organ driven by hydraulically operated bellows).
Their mechanism was subsequently misunderstood until the Dutch engineer Van Dijk pointed out in 1954 that air was supplied to the water organ by aspiration, which was the same method used in forges and smelting works in the 16th and 17th centuries. Aspiration is the process by which air is drawn into an opening into which water flows. For the water organ, a small pipe is arranged so that one end is open to the air and the other extends into a larger pipe that contains flowing water supplied by a stream, pond or stabilizing reservoir. The longer the vertical drop of the water, the more forceful the suction will be and the greater the volume of air sucked in.
The hydraulis of Dion
In 1992, the remains of a 1st-century BCE pipe organ were found at Dion, an ancient Macedonian city near Mount Olympus, Greece, during excavations under Dimitrios Pandermalis. This instrument consisted of 24 open pipes of different height with a conical lower ending. The first 19 pipes have a height from 89 to 22 cm (35 to 8 inches). Their inner diameter gradually decreases from 2 to 1.5 cm. These 19 pipes correspond to the "perfect system" of the ancient Greek music which consisted of one chromatic and one diatonic scale[citation needed]. The pipes No. 20 to 24 are smaller and almost equal in height and they seem to form an extension of the diatonic scale. The conical end of the pipes is inserted in a metal plate. At a point just before the narrowing part of every pipe there is an opening producing the turbulence of the pressurized air and the sound. The pipes are stabilized by two metal plates. The one facing outwards has decorative motifs. The instrument had one row of keys.[16] The lower part of the organ, with the air-pressing system, was missing.
In 1995, a reconstruction project started, and by 1999 a working replica of hydraulis was made based on the archaeological finding and on ancient descriptions. The remains of the ancient hydraulis are exhibited at the
See also
Notes
- ^ McKinnon, James W. (2016). "Hydraulis."Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Oxford: Oxford University Press – via Online Portal to Oxford Music Online.
- ISBN 90-801699-2-7
- ^ Jeans, Susi and Ord-Hume, Arthur W.J.G. "Water organ". L. Macy (Ed.), Grove Music Online Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine (subscription required). Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ Walcker-Mayer, Werner (1972), The Roman Organ of Aquincum, Ludwigsburg, Muiskwissenschaftliche Verlag.
- ^ Zoltán, Horváth. "Aquincum Museum Archived 2007-12-31 at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ "New pipe organ at Cumming First United Methodist Church". Cumming First United Methodist Church, Georgia. Archived from the original on January 22, 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Pettigrew, Richard (March 2002). "About the Ancient Hydraulis". The Archaeology Channel. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
- ^ Talmud Bavli, Erchin, 10B
- ^ "THE MUSIC OF THE BIBLE by J Stainer: Ch.6". www.katapi.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
- ^ Henry George Farmer (1931). The Organ of the Ancients from Eastern Sources. William Reeves Bookseller Ltd. p. 114-116.
- ^ "Constantinople, Hippodrome, Obelisk of Theodosius - Livius". www.livius.org. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
- ISBN 9781904675518.
- ^ Crkvenjakov, Vladimir. "The Obelisk of Theodosius in Constantinople".
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Henry George Farmer (1931). The Organ of the Ancients from Eastern Sources. William Reeves Bookseller Ltd. p. 79-80.
- ^ Henry George Farmer (1931). The Organ of the Ancients from Eastern Sources. William Reeves Bookseller Ltd. p. 127-128.
- ^ Stevens, Clare (September–October 2001). "Dion's Treasure". Choir & Organ: 56.
- ^ "Macdonald D.M. (undated) Building a working model 1st-century Hydraulis" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-10. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
- ^ "Lazos Ch. (1999) The ancient hydraulis of Dion (in Greek language)". Archived from the original on 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
- ^ Lahanas, Michael. "Ctesibius of Alexandria". HellenicaWorld.com. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
References
- Reconstruction of a Roman hydraulis by Justus Willberg and Martin Braun
- Musica Romana: Ensemble for ancient music
- Hydraulis : The Ancient Hydraulis and its Reconstruction
- Hydraulus Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- The Organ in Classic Literature
- The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria: The construction of a hydraulic organ.
- Curious facts from the organ's history
- ACM Multimedia 2005 paper on the hydraulophone
- Shockwave-Animation: Vitruv's hydraulis
Further reading
- Perrot, Jean (1971). The organ, from its invention in the Hellenistic period to the end of the thirteenth century. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-318418-4.
External links
- Hydraulis video (click "The Ancient Hydraulis" in the second paragraph to watch)
- A Bach piece being played on a hydraulophone pipe organ (video) Dead link