Cinema organ

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The Wurlitzer Cinema Organ console in the Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles
Pipe work of a cinema organ (Wurlitzer cinema organ in the Meyer Theater in Green Bay , Wisconsin )
Bass drum with pneumatic mallet in a cinema organ (Wurlitzer cinema organ in the Meyer Theater in Green Bay , Wisconsin )

A cinema organ is a pipe organ as it was used to accompany silent films in cinemas at the beginning of the 20th century . Cinema organs spread from the USA to Europe and around the world, but lost their importance after the introduction of the sound film.

particularities

The invention of the separate, electro-pneumatic control of each individual organ pipe (see multiplex system in organ building) by the English engineer Robert Hope-Jones made it possible to realize many more registers with fewer pipes . The organs could be made compact and inexpensive. Due to the new type of action mechanism , the console could be placed regardless of the position of the pipework. This created the conditions for using these organs in the cinema.

In terms of sound, the cinema organ is supposed to imitate an orchestra and is therefore provided with high wind pressure for the pipes in order to come closer to the orchestral sound. Cinema organs also have chromatic striking mechanisms such as xylophones, sleigh bells or carillon, as well as striking mechanisms such as timpani, drums or tonewoods. In addition, various effect registers were built in to generate noises (telephone bells, steam locomotive whistles , rumbling thunder , hooves).

The console of cinema organs is mostly horseshoe-shaped and often richly decorated. The pedal is usually designed to be radially concave. The registers are not operated by means of manubra, but by toggle switches. Compared to Manubrien there is a space-saving arrangement of the register switches, which are quite numerous due to the use of the multiplex method. Due to the horseshoe shape of the gaming table, all register switches are close to the manuals, which enables fast register changes during the game. With the horseshoe-shaped gaming tables, a standard was also established with regard to the arrangement and colors of the register switches and the assignment of the manuals. The lowest manual is designed as an accompanying manual and is labeled "Accomp" (English abbreviation for "Accompaniment"). It therefore mainly contains 8 'and 4' registers. For reasons of sound, there are no loud 16 ′ registers and aliquot registers with the exception of a fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′. The next higher manual contains practically all registers that are generated from the existing rows of pipes, including mostly a fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ and a third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′. Other aliquots, mixtures and other mixed voices as well as octave registers higher than 2 ′ occur only sporadically in large instruments. With two-manual organs this manual is called "Solo" (solo work) or "Great" (main work), with three- or more manual organs always "Great". The pedal contains 16 ', 8' and 4 'registers. 32 'pedal registers are rare. Registers in higher registers are not required because it is unusual to perform a treble or alto solo part on the pedal of a cinema organ. The register switches for the pedal are on the far left. Next to it are the register switches for the lowest manual. The register switches for the top manual are on the far right. For each manual and for the pedal, the register switches are arranged from left to right from low to high registers, i.e. v. l. No. 16 ′ 8 ′ 4 ′ ( 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 2 ′ 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′). The register switches are colored for quick visual differentiation of fundamentally different timbres. The colors of the register switches are usually white for labial registers and chromatic hammer mechanisms, yellow for labial beat registers, red for lingual registers and black for coupling. Cinema organs usually contain several tremulants, the use of which contributes significantly to the typical cinema organ sound. In addition to a tremulant that affects all pipes, there are tremulants that only affect individual rows of pipes and thus all registers generated from this row of pipes. Often for reasons of space, but also for reasons of sound, the contra octave is omitted from some rows of pipes. A 16′-register generated from such a row of pipes only sounds from key c 0 (English: "tenor c"). Such 16 'stops are not found in the lowest manual or in the pedal. On the register switches for such registers there is often the additional inscription "Tenor c" (abbreviation: "Ten. C" or "Tc").

By using the multiplex method, cinema organs manage with comparatively few rows of pipes. The basis of the typical cinema organ sound is the tibia (clausa), a wide-bored flute with a very full sound, mostly made with wooden pipes, from whose pipe row all registers "Tibia" from 16 'to 2', with aliquotextensions also fifths 2 2 ⁄ 3  'and thirds 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ can be won. Depending on the size of the organ, there are also labial rows of pipes, principal (open) diapason, open flute, Gedackt (medium or narrow scale), one or more bowing voice (s) and a floating string, as lingual rows of pipes trumpet, vox humana (with its own tremulant) and other rows of pipes with different cup constructions (oboe, bassoon, clarinet, shelf-like).

Manufacturers and models

A resident organist at El Capitan Cinema in Hollywood plays the Mighty Wurlitzer, originally produced in 1929 for the Fox Theater in San Francisco , before each film is shown .

There were several well-known manufacturers, followed by the brands represented in Germany.

Wurlitzer

The American Rudolph Wurlitzer Company built cinema and theater organs from 1914 to around 1940. The larger and better-known type The Wurlitzer-Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra , known as The Mighty Wurlitzer , was designed by Robert Hope-Jones and produced as a "one-man orchestra" for background music for silent films. The smaller type was a combination of a small organ and piano that was common at the time, on which the player could change instruments while playing. In terms of sound and technology, Wurlitzer instruments were leading in Germany at that time. Ready-to-play instruments can be found in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin and the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt.

Welte & Sons

Welte & Söhne built numerous cinema organs in the USA from 1914 and began building these instruments in Germany from 1922.

  • Locations of cinema organs Welte & Sons

Oskalyd cinema organs

Oskalyd organs ( Oskalyd is an art term composed of the names Oskar Walcker and Hans Luedtke) were produced in cooperation between 1923 and 1931 by the organ building companies EF Walcker & Cie , Sauer and P. Furtwängler & Hammer . The Oskalyd organ had, depending on the model, two to 20 stops and an effect stop. A total of 120 instruments were produced, which corresponds to a market share of around 40% in Germany. The instrument in Heidelberg Castle , which was once ready to play , was dismantled and stored in 2007 due to construction work on the building. In 2014 the instrument was moved to the Valley Organ Center .

Radio organ

In 1927/1928 the Stuttgart-based company Orgelbau Friedrich Weigle built a radio organ for the studio of the Frankfurt broadcaster. In 1930 the Munich transmitter had a Weigle organ with three manuals and 50 registers installed in its broadcasting hall, and in the same year the Berlin transmitter had a Weigle organ with a mobile console and 30 registers.

While the organs from Weigle concert hall organs were also intended to be used in conjunction with the orchestra, the funk organ from M. Welte & Sons in Freiburg i. Br. The cinema organ comes into play as a solo instrument. In 1930, this special form of the radio organ was created as the last cinema organ from Welte for the Nordische Rundfunk AG Hamburg (NORAG), a forerunner of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). This multiplex organ was not in the room in which it is intoned , but designed for the microphones of the radio recordings. It is still at its original location in the world's oldest radio studio that is still in use.

In 1940, the Rieger brothers built an organ designed for broadcasting practice in the newly built broadcasting hall in the broadcasting studio of the Reichsender Breslau .

JD Philipps

The Frankfurter Musik-Werke factory JD Philipps und Sons built a multiplex organ for the Babylon cinema in Berlin in 1929. Besides the radio organ of the NDR, it is the only cinema organ in Germany that is still operated at the original location.

literature

Historical literature

  • Hans Erdmann , Giuseppe Becce : General handbook of film music. With the collaboration of Ludwig Brav. Schlesinger, Berlin-Lichterfelde, Leipzig 1927.
  • Reginald Whitworth: The Cinema and Theater Organ. Musical Opinion, London 1932.
  • Ernö Rapée : Motion picture moods for pianists and organists: a rapid-reference collection of selected pieces; adapted to fifty-two moods and situations arr. by Erno Rapée, Schirmer, New York 1924. Reprint: Ayer, North Stratford, NH 2002, ISBN 0-405-01635-2 .
  • John Stepan Zamecnik : Sam Fox Films Use Music. 31 issues with different titles. Cleveland, Ohio, Berlin 1919–1928.
  • George Tootell: How to Play the Cinema Organ. A Practical Book by a Practical Player. Paxton, London 1927.

Modern literature

  • Michael Donald: Memoirs of the theater organ. Cinema Organ Publications, Brighton 1956.
  • John W. Landon: Behold the mighty Wurlitzer: the history of the theater pipe organ. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1983, ISBN 0-313-23827-8 .
  • Karl Schütz : Theater and cinema organs in Vienna. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-7001-1788-4 .
  • Karl Heinz Dettke: Cinema organs and cinema music in Germany. Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 1995, ISBN 3-476-01297-2 .
  • Karl Heinz Dettke: Cinema organs: contemporary installations in Germany. With contributions by Dagobert Liers. Bochinsky, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-923639-18-X .
  • Karl Heinz Dettke, Thomas Klose: Cinema and theater organs: an international overview. Tectum, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-8288-8265-X .
  • Bärbel Dalichow: The Welte cinema organ - The Welte cinema organ. Filmmuseum Potsdam, Potsdam 2009, ISBN 978-3-9812104-1-5 .

Web links

Commons : Cinema organ  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The New York City Organ Project
  2. ↑ James Lewis: The Welte organ in America: an installation list . South Freeport, ME, Ascensius Pr., 2012
  3. ↑ Chronology of a rain that thundered to an end. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 12, 2012 ; Retrieved April 12, 2012 .
  4. ↑ New entry from the silent film cinema. In: mk online. Sankt Michaelsbund Diözesanverband München und Freising eV, January 20, 2014, accessed on April 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Gustav Schödel: A new term in organ building: The radio organ . In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau , Vol .: 51, Leipzig, 1930–1931, pp. 23–25
  6. ^ Gerhard Dangel: History of the family and the Welte house . In: Automatic musical instruments from Freiburg into the world - 100 years of Welte-Mignon : Augustinermuseum Freiburg, 2005, p. 143
  7. ↑ Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau Vol. 63, 1942, No. 5/6, p. 32
  8. ↑ Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau Vol. 63, 1943, No. 9/10, p. 57 (Disposition)
  9. ↑ List of titles in the SWB