管风琴

浏览

压迫气体经由一系列音管产生乐音的键盘乐器。管风琴包括所有乐器中最大和最复杂的种类,音域和音色最广而设计变化最大,还有最古老的曲目和最混杂难懂的历史。最简单的管风琴包含一排管子,分别连至单一的键。它们排列在气室之上,气室藉着一套阀而连至键盘,并由电子或机械方式启动的风箱。演奏者拉出所谓音栓的钮,使其他整排的音管连动。它使用二类独特的音管:哨管(开放式和闭合式)藉着引导气体至管中的孔缘而发出声音,簧管则经由管中金属薄片傍着一个固定突出物振动而发出声音。不同的形状和材料会产生不同的音色。大型管风琴可能拥有五个或更多的排键或键盘,每个键盘独立控制着一群音管。大部分的管风琴也有脚踩的踏板。大型管风琴的音管长度可能从约2.5公分~10公尺不等,造成巨幅的九个八度音阶。最早的管风琴(西元前250?年)是希腊的水风琴,其中风由水压调节。风箱式管风琴出现於7世纪左右。到10世纪管风琴已经与教堂发生密切关系。随着管风琴普及起来,不同地区追求着不同的调式构造和音色理想。巴洛克式德国管风琴非常适合复音音乐,而法国品味的各种音色归结於卡瓦耶-科尔的巨大「管弦乐式」管风琴。亦请参阅harmonium。

organ

Keyboard instrument in which pressurized air produces notes by means of a series of tuned pipes. Organs include the largest and most complex of all instruments, with the widest range of pitch and timbre and the greatest variety of designs, as well as the oldest repertoire and the most involved history. The simplest organs consist of a single rank of pipes, each corresponding to a single key. They are arranged over a wind chest connected to the keys by a set of valves and fed with a supply of air by electrically or mechanically activated bellows. By pulling out knobs, called stops, the player engages new ranks of pipes. Two distinct types of pipes are used: flue pipes (both open and stopped) produce sound by directing air against the edge of an opening in the pipe, whereas reed pipes sound by means of a thin metal tongue inside the pipe that vibrates against a fixed projection next to it. Different shapes and materials produce a variety of tone colors. A large organ may have five or more banked keyboards, or manuals, each of which controls a distinctive group of pipes. Most organs also have pedalboards played with the feet. A large organ's pipes may vary in length from about 1 in to 32 ft (2.5 cm-10 m), resulting in a huge nine-octave range. The earliest organ (c. 250 BC) was the Greek hydraulis, in which the wind was regulated by water pressure. The bellows-fed organ appeared around the 7th century AD. The organ became firmly associated with the church by the 10th century. As organs became widespread, different regions pursued different modes of construction and sought different tonal ideals. The baroque German organ is ideally suited to polyphony, while the French taste for variety of timbres eventuated in A. Cavaille-Coll's vast “orchestral” organs. See also electric organ, harmonium.