Technique behind the Theatre Organ part 1
Not many people are familiar with the theatre organ. Only when experiencing it live do you become impressed by such an imposing instrument. However, there is much interest in how such an instrument actually works. We have heard some things about it, for example the tremulants which provide the tremulous character of these instruments. But what does a complete overview look like?
What is the story behind the design and how complicated is it?
When the Asta organ was constructed in the Circustheater in October 1984, a member of the team, Andries Scholtze, made a clearly annotated folder containing data and exceptional illustrations showing the technique originally used when building that organ. These data and illustrations will be adapted and used and the following articles are of course published with permission.
The Asta organ was originally built in 1930 and was one of the largest theatre organs in the Netherlands having four manuals, one large pedal and more than 20 rows of pipes (‘ranks’).
Its reconstruction in Scheveningen provided the opportunity to get to know and appreciate the electrical control system. Ingenious circuits were already being used at the time and these were used to construct a kind of ‘computer’ with memory presets. This may sound complicated but is actually quite logical and it provided the answer to the demand for organs to imitate an entire orchestra.
This provided for many possibilities in a relatively small space! The technique used for the following reconstruction in Steenwijk looks very different now. Much was either lost during years of storage or could no longer be used. Most of the pneumatics have been replaced by electrical controls and a MIDI system has been fitted.
Although the demand for such organs is a thing of the past, the interest is very much alive and there are still people who spend a lot of their free time and energy on preserving the remaining organs.
Originally, the theatre or cinema organ was intended as an accompaniment for silent films, providing music and special effects. The arrival of films with sound changed this and people started using the organ as a concert instrument. All kinds of orchestral voices: flutes, trumpets, clarinets, oboes, string instruments, drums, tubular bells plus the ‘devices’ for the silent film effects are present. There is a control system, the console, derived from church organs. As for church organs everything works on wind and so an extensive control system is needed to ensure that it all works at the correct air pressure. Electrical switching technology literally provides the contact between the keys and the instruments of the orchestra.Of course, this can only work if a skilled and talented organist is present who can bring the entire orchestra to life together with an appreciative audience to enjoy the music.
