JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
THE ORGAN AND THE FOUR ELEMENTS
The concept of the four elements was popularised by Aristotle. It had been known to the Egyptians and Chaldeans, and was to become integral to Christian symbolism, astrology, medieval Alchemy and a variety of 19th/20th-century spiritual practices.The four Aristotelian elements are Earth, Water, Air and Fire.
The ancients were not so stupid as to believe that the literal physical basis of matter is comprised thus. Nature itself, however, is curiously suggestive in this respect, for matter does tend to present itself to the senses in four guises: as solids, as liquids, as gases, and as electro-magnetic phenomena (corresponding to the elements of earth, water, air and fire respectively). And to survive, man needs earth (food), air, water and fire (warmth).
The number four is, in any case, a significant one. There are four seasons of the year. There are four quarters: East, West, North and South. The name of the Hebrew God has four letters. The number four symbolises the completion of creation, stability. To the Greeks it represented order as opposed to chaos. We still speak of something being 'four-square'. Thus the number four represents both the creation and the creator.
In mystical terms, the four elements are the basis of, as well as the life behind, the material universe. They are woven into the mythologies of many cultures.
The four holy creatures of Christianity correspond to the four elements- lion (fire), man (air), eagle (water - the higher analogue of Scorpio) and bull (earth).
In Jungian psychology the four elements represent distinct types and characteristics: intuition (fire), thinking (air), feeling (water) and sensation (earth).
There are two active elements - fire and air - and two passive elements - water and earth. They may be characterised (partially and incompletely) as follows:
Fire: intuitive, enthusiastic, having faith, spirited.
Air: intellectual, theoretical, detached, objective.
Water: emotional, fluid, self-contained, sensitive.
Earth: physical, practical, persistent, conservative.In the end, the elemental system is just that - a means of classification, of analysing and understanding reality. As such it has proved useful for several thousand years, but no intelligent proponent of the system would wish to make a dogma of it. It is merely a means to an end.
The four classes of organ-tone correspond to the four Western elements thus:
Principals: Air Flutes: Earth Strings & Undulants: Water Reeds: FirePrincipals correspond happily with Air (the intellectual, objective element) in their unimitative nature and their objective tone - for many people "the church organ sound".
It is possible to argue that the flutes - some evocative of mouth-blown instruments - should be assigned to the element Air. However, in considering the tone of stopped flutes, and the use of wood in pipe construction, and the typical harmonic spectrum of - say - an 8ft. Clarabella or Melodia, it seems to be appropriate to assign them to Earth.
Strings and undulants, used musically in passages of hightened personal emotion, correspond to Water.
Reeds, particularly trumpet and chorus reeds, produce the most fiery sounds in the organ and thus correspond to the element of Fire.
It is interesting to note what tonal effects are most prominent in a full organ sound. With 17th and 18th-century South German/Austrian instruments (such as those of Gabler) it was a mass of mixturework. The effect may have been sparklingly brilliant, but it is best classified as Air rather than Fire. (See below, however, the Chinese elemental system, in which Principals are given to the element Metal - aptly symbolic of the steely effect of some mixturework.) With many organs from the last part of the 20th-century, the climactic stops are a few loud reeds, often placed en chamade in the front of the organ. This barrage of fire might well be described as scorching the ears.
Other traditions count a different number of elements, which also correspond effectively to the classes of organ tone.
The five elements of the Chinese tradition thus:
Principals: Metal Flutes: Earth Strings & Undulants: Water Brass Reeds: Fire Woodwind Reeds: WoodThe five elements of the Tibetan and Indian traditions thus:
Principals: Ether Flutes: Earth Strings & Undulants: Water Brass Reeds: Fire Woodwind Reeds: AirAs the organ is a Western instrument, it is perhaps the Western system which is of the greatest importance. Interesting and suggestive results can be obtained with the Eastern systems, however.
Each element may be subdivided into four parts, reflecting the influence and inherence of the other elements upon and within it. This too corresponds to divisons of organ-tone.Within the elemnt of Air (principals):
Air: Metal principals Earth: Wood principals (and metal principals with high lead content) Water: Geigens & Montres Fire: Metal principals with high tin contentWithin the element of Earth (flutes):
Air: Open flutes; metal flutes Earth: Stopped & chimneyed flutes; wood flutes Water: Harmonic Flutes Fire: Tapered flutesWithin the element of Water (strings & undulants):
Air: Dulcianas Earth: Fiffaros, rich-toned strings Water: Mild-toned strings Fire: Keen-toned stringsWithin the element of Fire (reeds):
Air: Oboes, Vox Humanas Earth: Close-toned brass-reeds, Dulzians, Krummhorns Water: Clarinets, Regals Fire: Free-toned brass-reeds, SchalmeisAn alternative, and perhaps a better system for Fire might be:
Air: Free-toned woodwind reeds Earth: Close-toned brass-reeds Water: Close-toned woodwind reeds Fire: Free-toned brass-reedsAs a practical example, take the element of earth and its sub-category of stopped flutes (earth of earth). Earth is the most 'humble' of the four elements, and earth of earth especially so. It is no coincidence that the familiar tone of the stopped flute is the most mournful, penitential and unassuming of all the organ's timbres.
These classifications and correspondences of mine have no particular authority; they are merely the result of my experiences and perceptions. Others may decide differently.
There are other interesting, symbolic ways of seeing the tonal structure of organs. There is the question of pitch; we can construct a tonal 'ladder' from the highest pitches to the lowest, and this too corresponds to the elements:
1/2 ) 2/3 ) Fire 1 ) 1 1/3 ) 2 ) 2 2/3 ) Air 4 ) 5 1/3 ) 8 ) Water 10 2/3 ) 16 ) 21 1/3 ) Earth 32 ) 64 )
Finally, there are the correspondences between colour and sound. These are always subjective, and many people do not perceive them at all. Here are a few of my own:
Green: geigen, salicional, lieblich gedact, cor anglais, gemshorn, horn, serpent, gamba, gemshorn, harmonics mixture (with tierce and septieme).
Yellow: claribel flute, harmonic claribel flute, aeoline, erzähler.
Orange: waldhorn, vox humana.
Red: tuba, fugara, harmonic trumpet, tibia, furniture.
Purple: french horn.
Brown: bourdon, nason flute, bassoon, corno di bassetto, nachthorn, rohr flute.
White: celestina, orchestral flute (Willis 3).
Pink: orchestral clarinet, wald flute.
Blue: philomela, posaune.
Dark Blue: dulzian.
Silver-Grey: Dulciana.
Black: doppel flute, diaphone, 32ft. bombarde.
Julian Rhodes
July 1999 - January 2000