Recent Organ Design Innovations and the 21st-century - Stichting ...

pressure. 19 The European “discovery” of the free reed at the end of the 18th century led to the
invention of the expressive harmonium by Alexandre Debain in the 1840s and later perfection by Victor
Mustel. 20 Additionally, free reeds were incorporated by organ builders, including Walcker Orgelbau, as
expressive stops in the early 19th century. Later in the century, Italian organ builder Giambattista
Guiseppe De Lorenzi adapted some of the concepts of the concert harmonium to the pipe organ,
building an organ with similar expressive capabilities in 1878. The system, called the “Fonocromico,” is
built around a keyboard suspended by springs wherein a swell box is opened through the application of
significant weight to the keyboard after the key has reached the bottom of its motion. Additionally,
each key is capable of dynamic expression by means of doubled ranks. Each pitch in a rank consists of
two pipes, the valve for the second of which opens after the key is depressed a certain distance beyond
the activation of the first. 21
During a 1999 symposium in Biel, Switzerland, the discussions Glaus had been having among his
colleagues concerning flexible wind and the expressive organ led to the initiation of a four-year research
project, linking the School of Music in Bern-Biel, the College of Engineering and Architecture in Biel, and
the Zürich School of Music. 22 In addition to Glaus, the research group was to include Peter Kraul, an
organ builder based in Germany with an interest in flexible actions; Johannes Röhrig, a Swiss organ
builder specializing in experimental pipe construction; and Daniel Debrunner, a professor of electric
control technology at the College of Engineering and Information Technology in Biel/Burgdorf.
The ongoing project’s stated areas of study include exploration of issues of flexible wind systems
in conjunction with sensitive mechanical keyboard actions; proportional valve technology and innovative
19 Robin Blanton, “The Stein Claviorganum, and the Construction of Art in the Late 18th Century,” (Paper
presented at the Research Symposium of the Göteborg International Organ Academy, Göteborg, Sweden, August
2009). 20 Though new to Europe, free reeds had been used for hundreds of years in the mouth organs of East Asia.
21
Michael Eidenbenz, “Swell Shutters, Wind Swells, and Other Swell Engines: the Historical Pursuit of Organ
Expressivity,” in Fresh Wind, 93.
22
Michael Eidenbenz, “From Test Rig to Instrument: the Chronology of a Research Project” in Fresh Wind, 66.
18