Re: Street Organs and Draaiorgels
By Bob Conant
In a message dated 96-11-10 04:57:26 EST, you write:
>
> Subject: Street Organs & Draaiorgels
>
> Jan, can you tell us more about the differences between the English
> Fairground Organ, the Draaiorgel of Holland, the Drehorgel of Germany,
> and the Military Band Organ such as Wurlitzer sold in America?
>
> What is the draaiorgel tradition of the Netherlands? How does this
> tradition relate to the organbuilders of Belgium and the Black Forest
> of Germany? (I am thinking especially about the master, Carl Frei. :-)
>
> Best regards,
> Robbie Rhodes
>
Robbie,
I am not sure that you have gotten a complete answer to your question so let me take a swing at it. As a previous respondent suggested, it would require a doctoral thesis to completely cover the subject but I will try to be brief.
First, I am not sure that there is an "English" fairground organ. In the early days Chiappa was the only major importer and builder of organs. By far the majority were imported. The English, for whatever reason, seemed to import more Gavioli's, Marenghi's and Mortier organs than other brands. German organs were much less represented. Today the English sound is really the Gavioli sound and even the new large Dean organs sound a lot like Gavs.
So, there are three major types of large organs, the fair organ, the dance organ, and the Dutch street organ. Fair organs were voiced loudly for use outdoors on a fairground or carnival ride. They had to be heard above the sounds of the machinery, above the crowd, and above each other. The German fair organs such as Ruth, Gebruder Bruder, Wilhelm Bruder Sohne and others used violins in the major melody, accompaniment and bass parts (the "large bearded viols" previously referred to). They used open and stopped flue pipes for foundations and reed trumpets and trombones for countermelodies and sub bass. The French organs, however, tended to use clarinets in the melody and reed baritones in the countermelodies. This gave them a different sound. All of these used mixtures in the forte registers which do tend to be piercingly loud (as they were intended to be). Fair organs were originally operated from pinned barrels and then after Gavioli's invention by folding cardboard books. Later organs sometimes used punched paper rolls.
Dance organs are constructed similarly but are voiced more softly for indoor use. They use more registers intended to provide a dance band sound effect. There were registers that were almost always used on dance organs and no others. These include jazz flutes and the like. They did use saxaphones and accordians on the facade. The saxaphones were fake and the sounds were produced by pipes. The accordians were real and were tubed to actually play. Dance organs had heavier bass sections as the music they played was most often used for dancing and it was important to emphasize the beat of the music. The dance organs also used more forms of percussion also to emulate a dance band. This could include maracas, castenets, temple blocks, bells, and other stuff along with several sizes of drums and cymbals. The facades frequently had lighting that shifted with the registration in the music to change colors or to highlight the saxaphone or accordian solo parts. Dance organs were generally operated from folding cardboard books but a few like Bursens used paper rolls. Dance organs can be found all over the western world but were most popular in Belgium and Holland where there are still a few dance halls operating today.
Fair organs and dance organs were discussed first because most of the Dutch street organs or "Pierrements" were not built new but were rebuilt from former fair or dance organs. The street organ industry began in Amsterdam when blind Leon Warnies started the first rental agency for street organs in 1875. These organs developed over a period of several decades until they reached the generalized style with which we are now familiar. Larger organs were cut down and new facades fabricated which lent themselves to being trundled around on a large three wheeled cart. A common scale was the "standardized street organ scale" which was based on the 56 key Limonaire scale. However, many other scales were also used and some of the finest organs us the Frei 72 or 90 key scales. These organs were, of course all hand turned, and a team of two or three people would take them out. One would turn the organ and the other one or two would collect money from the audience.
Carl Frei was a German national who had grown up in Waldkirch im Bresgau, a town in the Black Forest region of Germany and which boasted 9 organ factories. These included all the Bruders, Ruth, Weber and the German branch of Gavioli and the German branch of Limonaire. After WWI, Carl Frei emmigrated to Holland and settled there, marrying a nice Flemish girl in the process. By then he had apprenticed in several of the Waldkirch factories and the Gavioli factory in Paris. While he brought a tradition of German organ building with him, he adapted quickly and soon revolutionized the Dutch street organ design and music. Frei developed the now standard layout of melody violins and bourdons with the bourdons tuned celeste. He used these also in the accompaniments and countermelodies and included such new ranks as the unda maris (waves of the sea) and the bifoons. These ranks and the use of bourdons gives the Dutch street organ the characteristic flutey sound with much use of the tremulant. Frei also arranged much new music picking up on existing themes and developing astonishingly beautiful melodies. His series of serenades are not equaled anywhere else and his compositions deserve even more recognition than they generally get outside of the street organ circles. At the time of WWII, Carl Frei Sr. a German national, was deported back to Germany, along with his family including his son, Carl Frei Jr. The Frei's settled back in Carl's hometown of Waldkirch where, after the war, they resumed the business of building, repairing and providing music for organs. Carl Frei Sr. was a genius at voicing pipes, organizing organs and arranging and composing music. A construction craftsman he was not. Every organ, including my own, which is documented to have been worked on by Carl Frei is a haywired nightmare. He would stick pipes all over the place including under the tops and on the sides of the organ, wherever he could find room. Then he ran tubes all over to connect everything up. The result sounded like heaven but looked like the other place. I have not seen any of Carl Frei Junior's work so I don't know if he inherited this trait from his father or not.
There remains another class of street organ which is different from the Dutch street organ. These are the organs that today we generally classify as monkey organs. They were originally "drehorgels" or "draaiorgels" meaning turning organ and were originally barrel organs that were hand cranked. They range from small hand carried organs to larger ones requiring a cart to carry them. These are still being built today by quite a few manufacturers in England, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium. Organs being built today are no longer barrel organs but are operated by paper rolls or computer chips. Major builders are Raffin and Hofbauer in Germany, and Pell and Dean in England. There are many others and a list is being compiled which will be posted to our list eventually. These organs are commonly 20 note or 31 note and most of the 20 note organs will interchange music although the mechanical spools are sometimes different. However, a few organs are being built which operated on cardboard books (such as by Verbeek and Prinsen in Belgium) and organs with scales as large as 41 or 48 notes are being built by Pell and Dean.
A final note about American organs. The first Dekleist and Wurlitzer organs were imported from Gebruder Bruder and others in Germany. However, they soon began building their own organs. A portion of the American market desired a loud instrument with a fast tempo and Wurlitzer and others catered to this market. These organs generally did not have a countermelody and often used open flue pipes and wooden trumpets in the melody. Violins were used on some organs but were often relegated to support functions. The military band organ is not significantly different from other American band organs. However, a number of companies in America built significant numbers of organs with ranks of brass trumpets and trombones prominently displayed on the front. These replaced the normal wooden versions of the same pipes. They became "military" band organs because of all the brass displayed up front. Other companies such as Gavioli also built organs with a lot of brass pipes showing but they were not generally called military band organs. The Wurlitzers and North Tonawanda's played the same music rolls as their non-brass brethren so they were not musically much different.
There were, in addition, a number of European instruments that were imported by individual parks and showmen so there are a number of Ruths, Gavioli's, Bruders and others that have been in America since new. Also, there were several makers of barrel (monkey) organs that were built primarily in New York City by immigrants continuing their trades in this country. Makers such as Molinari have become quite well known for these instruments.
Trust me, this has been the extremely short version of this very long story. The organ industry was once a significant part of many European (and at least one American) cities. The stories of the lives of the people involved with the industry are fascinating with loves, hates, victories, failures and at least one murder. I hope these notes are of help in sorting out the various types of organs and I invite any corrections or clarifications to what is a very coarse overview of this class of instrument.
Bob Conant
Endicott, NY |
(Message sent Tue 12 Nov 1996, 21:37:13 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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