Positive Organ
The positive is a small type of organ with a single manual that can be moved around for performances or religious music or secular chamber music. The organ can generally have a handful of pipes and is not as small as the portative organ, which has a single rank of pipes and, as its name suggests, is meant to be very easily transported.
The organ is housed in a rectangular softwood case with six gilt wood panels set into the four sides. The keyboard has forty-nine keys and there are six stops. The larger ranks of pipes are mounted diagonally within the case and two leather straps are pulled to pump the organ. The instrument has three music racks that fold up from the top of the instrument, one for the keyboard player, and one on either side of the instrument to be used by singers or instrumentalists in the performance of chamber music.
The organ is housed in a rectangular softwood case with six gilt wood panels set into the four sides. The keyboard has forty-nine keys and there are six stops. The larger ranks of pipes are mounted diagonally within the case and two leather straps are pulled to pump the organ. The instrument has three music racks that fold up from the top of the instrument, one for the keyboard player, and one on either side of the instrument to be used by singers or instrumentalists in the performance of chamber music.
Artwork Details
- Title: Positive Organ
- Date: 17th century
- Geography: Germany
- Culture: German
- Medium: Woods, metal alloys, leather and various materials.
- Dimensions: 164cm x 105cm x 105cm
- Classification: Aerophone-Organ
- Credit Line: Gift of Fenner Douglass, and Purchase, Rose M. Badgeley Bequest, The Howard Bayne Fund, Mrs. Vincent Astor, Ann Eden Woodward Foundation, Ursula Corning, Newton Donner and Howard Phipps Jr. Gifts, Eleanor Patterson Bequest, Bequest of Dorothy S. Swenson, by exchange, Rogers Fund and funds from various donors, 1978
- Object Number: 1978.6
- Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments
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Veit Langenbucher
Samuel Bidermann
ca. 1625
German
1760–90
Johann Wilhelm Haas
late 17th century
Andreas Naeplaesnigg
1790
Jacob Schmidt
ca. 1710–20
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