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Essay Archive - Early History of the Pipe Organ
Early History of the Pipe Organ
The “king of instruments” has a long history, one which can arguably be traced
to the concept of a collection of “fixed-pitched pipes blown by a single player
(such as the panpipes)” (Randel 583). The first examples of pipe organs with
the basic features of today can be traced to the third century B.C.E. in the
Greco-Roman arena; it is said to have been invented by Ktesibios of Alexander
and contained “a mechanism to supply air under pressure, a wind-chest to store
and distribute it, keys and valves to admit wind to the pipes, and one or more
graded sets of fixed-pitch pipes.” (Randel 583)....
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