OLDEST PLAYABLE ORGAN IN THE WORLD Part 1 | Diane Bish at Valère Basilica in Sion, Switzerland
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- Опубліковано 1 січ 2011
- Diane Bish talks about and plays the oldest playable organ in the world.
A clip from "New York Times", Paul Hoffman:
"One of the more unusual attractions of the Swiss canton of Valais is a 600-year-old organ, believed to be the oldest functioning organ in the world. It is housed in an 800-year-old fortress-church on a hill in Sion, the capital of the Canton.
"The organ, built in 1390 and most recently restored in 1954, is mounted on a wooden pulpit jutting out like a ship's bow from the rear wall of the Romanesque-Gothic church, once the Cathedral of Sion and one of Switzerland's most haunting edifices."
Organ Specifications:
(10 Ranks, 8 registers)
Pedal
Bass II
Manual
Principal 8
Octaf 4
Copl 4
Quint major 2 2/3
Superoctaf 2
Quint minor 1 1/3
Mixtur II
This video looks older than that organ..
This was actually funny
I liked how she talked about how 'in those days' the TV equipment was heavy and I'm like 'there was time *before* this video?'
Very clever!
Eighty-ish..... isn´t it?
“666”Likes?
This single organ is older than the USA.
tbh not hard to beat
the US is relatively new
My violin is older than the USA.
*as the average American, please dont mention our newness*
The country, as such (USA), is relatively new, but it is actually the oldest surviving republic in the world. There have, of course, been civilizations in North America for many thousands of years, including pyramids larger than those in Egypt. Those that count North America as a new place are only counting its population by Europeans and discount what happened here before Stonehenge.
Oh yeah?
Well, the USA happens to be home to the world's largest chicken wing at the Hooters in Madeira Beach, Florida.
It's like a fairy tale.
An ancient organ, in a castle in the sky.
My heart soars, with each note played.
Yes! we are Europe, and proud of our heritage.
@@marcellogenesi6390 Groovy, there is much to be proud of.
bro wrote a haiku
See what happens when man preserves instead of destroying? Hmmm, we should learn from this...
ElfHighMage this is when man burnt people on stakes and gave stds to their sisters. Yeah. Real beautiful
trijigon-watch the news, that's still happening.
BUT WE HAVE TRUMP!
Alex Danco Please. Don't remind us.
But this organ was a good thing. Preserve organs.
That has to be the sweetest and most beautiful sounding pipe organ I've ever heard. It's just amazing, and given that it's the oldest working organ, makes it even more special.
It does have a great sound but all of the notes are 1/2 step sharp. Does that have something to do with a historical temperament?
Benjamin Foster I don't doubt it. That may have even been the local standard at one time. Tuning was like time used to be before the railroad and time zones added standardization.
Thank you for the explaination!
Gekkigami: Actually, so do some organists...
Temperament is different than tuning.
but does it interface with midi
Bluetooth?
Bahahahahahaha!!!
Wi-Fi.
yes, with world oldest Romanesque-Gothic MIDI :)
Not just USB port, but the drivers does not receive updates since the year 1200's
It's amazing to be able to listen to an organ that was built when the Byzantine Empire still existed.
So that's what he meant by Roman times
My father grew up in Italy at a parish that was similar in age. I showed him this video & he happily remembers as an altar boy having to pump the bellows on the ancient organ during Mass while the organist would pull down on the manual stops just like here, usually during High Mass.
I like how the keys look like the teeth of some of the oldest people I know.
Marie-Claire Chapman hahaha
Marie-Claire Chapman 😂
well, the keys are most likely ivory, so it makes sense lmao
It's made of their boner.
😂😂😂
It just blows my mind to think that something is centuries old and is still in working condition. I know it's been restored but still, it's just amazing!
there arent many crafts left, where the creation outlives it's creators. but fine musical instruments are above absolescence.
I can't help but wonder about the extent of the restoration. At some point, if you replace every single part (and yes, I can tell that that has not happened here!), is it really the original instrument any more? I assume that they really did restore as much as possible the original parts, only using new parts when absolutely necessary.
@@prependedprepended6606 What you just said is the Ship of Theseus thought experiment.
@@redfaldas7524 Thank you, I've never heard of this, but I knew that this had to have been thought about many times during the ages!
If they need more popsickle sticks 5:15 i have a whole drawer full.
Holy shit! If the organ is 600 years old, how old is the church? These things were built to last!
Michael Persico you’re a miserable person aren’t you
@@jcadoo couldn't say it better👍👍👍
@@jcadoo Nope, just someone stating the obvious.
@@jackstrawfromwichita6168 This organ was build in the 1390, has more than 600 years...
@Michael Persico
Neither the video nor the discussion here were about religion. We were talking about a piece of our culture.
The organ in its modern form is well over a thousand years old, yet I argue that it's the absolute, unsurpassed pinnacle of human instrument-making.
Salvatore Shiggerino I
What about the kazoo?
warhamsterful 😂
Vuvuzuelas disagree.
Without a doubt
No wonder the organ is considered the King of Instruments. For over 700 years this instrument has been the pinnacle of music played to generations of worshipers . The diversity of sounds that we hear from these organs are a delight to the ear. My love for organ music began as a young chorister in our church in northwest London. We had a wonderful old organist who delighted us at choir practice with an impromptu warm up , bellows initially were hand blown, kept us on our mark as choristers were on occasion sent below to man the pumps . Oh what delight it was .,
❤
Whoever restored and voiced that organ did a superb job! It has such a marvelously bright, clear, and sweet sound. My dad was an organist. He'd have loved this instrument!
Never mind Bach and Mozart, that organ was old when the Tudors came to power. The Black Death was in living memory when it was built. And it still plays.
I am listening to an instrument built over 500 years ago, wow!
playing this instrument must have been a thrill of a lifetime, it would be for me....
There is something magical about old technology, from cars to music instruments.
Indeed. Especially old cars.
I look forward to the day when vehicles we internal combustion engines become quaint curiosities around which people where masks and use caution because of all of the toxic combusted petrochemical waste they produce. They are so dirty, smelly and loud, and require a ridiculous amount of maintenance.
@@inkyguy We're at odds then, because I dream of a world where people stop trading in their freedom and ambition for the illusion of safety. A world where people strive to stretch the boundaries of human curiosity, rather than hide themselves away in fear of anything that could potentially be dangerous. A world where people aren't afraid to get dirty, loud, and smelly in the pursuit of their dreams.
@@gnarlysoundscapes7210 i totally agree👍👍👍
That keyboard definitely looks very old, I'm amazed it can be played with the keys wobbling around like that.
She is a very good player which helps
What a wonderful voice it has
After 700 years it still can sing beautifully for it's people . Awesome 😊
I like classical organ a lot .
It sounds so much sweeter in tone than most modern organs. I was struck by how soothing it sounded, compared to the blasting, mighty musical roar more modern organs tend to produce. I actually prefer this old style!
choir: umm can we buy a new organ
church: no the organ is still fine
the organ:
A functional organ in a fortress church on the peak of a mountain that has been there since before the discovery of the new world. I want the full story of that place.
Vikings came to North America 500 years before Columbus.
And many many churches before even 14th century survive in Europe
@@KristinkaAranova and left nothing.....
Isabel Fuentes not true. They found Viking artifacts and a Viking ship in an Arizona desert where a river used to be
I always found it somewhat amusing that they only discovered the Americas in their search for shipbuilding lumber. The general lack of quality ship timbers in Norse lands, as well as the use of those ship timbers, directly led to the discovery of the American continents.
That must’ve been a technological MARVEL of its time.
Not really, the organ was first invented by a Greek engineer in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. Nearly 1000 years older than the oldest remaining organ XD I'm sure that one was not as advanced as this 14th century organ, however.
Sounds so fresh and honest , like birds in a blue sky
When they're on the ground, birds lie a lot.
This organ’s timbres are incredible! Much sweeter and colourful than the modern counterparts. I’ve come back again and again to this clip just to listen to these ancient, beautiful pipes.
Bach, himself, could have played this organ...
SEBAS K he just meant its so old it was around back then
And Bach probably thought “Who wants to play that 300 year old relic? Give me one in the cutting-edge equal temperament!”
Unfortunately I did not. I was stuck in Leipzig my whole life.
Johann Sebastian Bach your whole life? Oh really now, what about the köten Years? Lüneburg? Lübeck? Got ya there!
@@bronktug2446 haha, good one my friend.
The bellows are shown at 7:30. Also when the player adjusts the stops while playing 5:42 5:51 6:24 you can hear it. All the "funny noises" of old organs are explained. Fantastic!
Humans are interesting creatures. One minute they make lovely music, the next they make war and destroy everything in sight. Go figure!
Each one is unique, quite often those making lovely music are not those waging war.
How Steven, so deep
Might be a prerequisite for both. I mean u can't have the lovely music from a creature who doesn't also make war. Sad but it might be true.
Steven Yourke War isn’t made, it naturally begins when humans exist due to their opposition of ideas through ambitions.
that's so deep bro
Just amazing. What an instrument to have survived all these years...centuries! We can hear music from 500 years just as it sounded to the people listening in the cathedral. Spectacular.
And just think that despite that they all heard much better music than what comes on the radio nowadays!
Only if you play it like they did back then, decay also causes changes of sound over time. Historically informed performance is a thing and there's companies that will make decently accurate baroque and renaissance instruments as there's lots of orchestras that like to play that way.
Also there are working replicas built of a greek hydraulis organ from 300BC. Sounds even more amazing.
The sound is a product of the mechanism and the space in which it is housed. The configuration of that cathedral and its enclosing materials play a large part in the resultant sound.
Half the sound of a pipe organ is the building.
@ImNotMad ButUR what does sound quality mean to you?
@@joannarose5659 Half of the pipe organ is the building. The building and the instrument are one.
The sound quality of this thing is amazing...
Did she say that television equipment from the 1400's was heavy?
+Donald Blake of course!
i think she was referring to the camera equipment they used to tape this video, was shot easier than 2011 and was probably not the digital cameras of the time
Yeah man, haven't you seen the Flintstones? lol
:D lol
@andrew j wolf I couldn't help thinking that if they had trouble with the camera equipment, can you imagine carrying the parts of the organ up the hill? Not to mention the stones used for the building!
Wow! Since I was a child loved this wonderfully powerful instrument, and now I see an old one and enjoy the amazing sound of it. God please do not let me die without learning to play one.
*****
Thanks! I will be glad to ask :)
Judith Alejandra Have you taken it up yet? It's a really rewarding experience.
start to play!!!
I hope you have started playing! Organ is super fun to play!
I am doing the same pray as you have done here, that God do not let me die before I play one of those beauties ❤️
In South Spain, at Garrovillas de Alconétar (Cáceres) is the oldest currently in use in Spain and among the oldest in the world. It was built in 1555.
It is in perfect state of conservation and use and is part of the Renaissance music festival every year
Being about 60 years after Columbus reached the Americas, while this organ was begun around 100 years before.
When you realise that this is as old for Mozart as mozart to us
Mozart? Try Bach.
@@88keysperfeel1ng9 Perhaps you misread his comment?
That is some beautiful french by the host.
French is naturally beautiful, trust me. Or should I say, 'was'. These days it's so watered down.
How is it watered down?
he speaks normally
@@lepredator189 Les ievnes de ces iovrs deſtrviſent en effet le françois monſieur. Dans le bon vievx temps, tout eſtait bien mievx.
Eh bien...
I've been there to listen and it sure is a special sound. I have a recording from a concert played on that organ by a Dutch musician. Wonderful experience.
Wow! Nice when was this? And whom was the organist?🤔 I love the young Dutch organist Gert van Hoef!
Me too
May i ask who that recording was by?
What was his name?
Could you please post it on UA-cam? I think me and many more would love to be able to see it
Magnificent sounding organ, and beautifully played. I would have never guessed that the oldest playable organ would also be one of the best sounding! Thanks
This organ along with the stops being used sounded cute. Something about it is just ever-so-pleasing.
What a treat to hear something built before America was founded. And the church itself is perfect for the instrument itself to sing.
Long, long before America was founded and a hundred years before Columbus bumped into the Americas on his way to the West Indes.
What a time to be alive. I can sit in my family room eating cereal and at any moment I can hear the oldest playable organ be played. Thanks for posting this :)
I misread this as the "Oldest Playable Organist..."
No, sir. The lady is the oldest pliable organist in the world, which means she has retained the glorious flexibility of her youth.
Greg McAusland That organist might be lonely up in that fortress. He might be all right with being played. 😂
Don't be mean mr. Greg!
Ahahahahahahhjajah
Greg McAusland 😂😂 I’m just trying to enjoy the sound then I read this
idk why youtube recommended me this
It's 2020.
ye...
Because talent, great music, ancient instruments and churches, cultural heritage and beauty never go out of fashion?
Here I am on this good shut in watching it on a quarantine Saturday morning...🤦🏾♀️🤣
@@gunnarthorsen Very true and I agree with you Gunnar Thorsen.
Wow! Awesome comment! Original, hilarious, and relevant! Here's your medal.
Toccata No.14 by Michaelangelo Rossi
I can't find a better version on UA-cam than this played by Diane
Very nice clear sound - remarkable. The keyboard shows the age but the sound does not! It shows the TLC required and how it pays off!
You are kidding.
Most of the pipes were replaced, only 14 are original.
Many thanks to you and to Mr. Wenger for showing
us, your fans, this ancient pipe organ. And Ms. Bish
for your beautifully done rendition.
It's pretty amusing that she speaks to him in English and he responds to her in French and they understand each other perfectly.
That's Switzerland. It'll be the U.S. in about fifty years. Ninety percent will speak English and Spanish and the other ten percent will be paranoid.
La beauté de la communication.
Agreed. :)
StivenCabrera3 because he, like many French, are too snobbish to stoop to English
Diane Bish studied organ in France for several years. I believe she understands and speaks it well...
Incredible that this organ, still able to sound with such precision, clarity and sweetness, was heard when Christopher Columbus was alive! Ms. Bish plays it very well. The instrument is itself a work of genius technology. The town of Sion is connected by very old, but consistent and living oral traditions surrounding the Holy Grail, which was said to have been guarded in a high mountain fortress.
Diane Bish is a world-renown American organist, composer, conductor, as well as executive producer and host of “The Joy of Music” television series.
It's a nice sentiment to know when you hear a pipe organ in a Cathedral/Basilica today it's so close to what people in the 1400s were hearing for music... and it was probably almost the only music they heard back then.
Listening to her play, & looking at the period artwork. That was probably the height of entertainment in the 1400's
trespire
Organs were cheaper than a full orchestra.
trijigon You realize the swastika was (still is, just not as common) originally a symbol of peace in Hinduism?
How ignorant, that's not the swastika the Nazis used.
Clone225 For native Americans in Arizona it symbolizes the sun. Too bad the Nazis ruined it.
Very interesting how even though it's 600 years old it's still tuned to A 415. I didn't know they used baroque-style tuning back then!
600 years later it looks beautifully worn. It would be awesome to know every person that ever touched it...
I would love to play this organ someday. What a way to worship Him.
Organ is amazingly rare, not like other instruments that can easily picked up by nowadays audio equipment. But, organ sound span is so wide and it almost always meant to played so loud you could feel the vibration in your body. You might never fully experience it until you hear in person
4:15 In Portugal and Spain we can find a specific type of organ that were built only in these two countries on XVII/XVIII centuries - are called "Iberian Organs". They also have the short octave, as this organ of Sion, and have other special caracteristics; for example, the keyboard is divided in two parts and we can have a registration on the left hand and another to the right hand, don't have pedals and have the "Horizontal Registers", as the "Trombeta Real", "Clarão", "Corneta de Batalha"...
The best part of this among all the best parts is her choices of pieces to play. So much breadth of repertoire she knows!
This should be brought to the world as a heritage site of beauty and the most beautiful sounding organ that exits .🇬🇧👌
@db0956 She activated the manual to pedal coupler which allows the manual to be playable by the feet. Because this is a mechanical instrument, keys move together while coupled. When she activated this coupler, it connected the manual to pedal which makes the pedal that she plays with her feet cause the same key on the manual to also play. This is also known as "Phantom key movement." On electro-pneumatic organs, keys don't have to move together because there are no mechanical linkages.
Xbox: we build our consoles to last forever.
Gothic engineers: hold my beer...
Thank you so much, Diane. The stops have marvelously brilliant vocalizations. Wouldn't it be fascinating if it were possible to identify all the persons who have left fingerprints on the keys, over the years?
In those days of the bellows action, it would be a royal community commitment just to play a simple hymn.
Amazing.
Tom
The sound reverberating up through the bell tower gives extraordinary acoustics!!
This organ has definitely been touched and not restored to its original design. It plays with the modern tuning, (using √12 to calculate the frequency of the next note) which means the pipes must've been tampered with. In the old tunings, you wouldn't hear the "wowowow" sound like you do at 2:09 because old tunings used perfect intervals to build their instruments. (We don't use old tunings today because you can only play in one key with them.)
war on music, like how everything now is 440hz instead of 432, reason being it was healing energy, organ was good for the organs, they'd rather have us buying death pills. its all satanic rebellion.
Luke Morrison you’re joking right?
@@elliotmadethis lol nope
@JakeTheGearHeart - are you a kid or just another "smart guy" ? Don't comment subjects you obviously and utterly don't understand.
@@morrisl7 432Hz is pseudoscience, pure numerology. Watch the two Adam Neely videos about it. And it has nothing to do with temperament.
This is truly amazing, thank you for posting this. Wow, a real timemachine and really fantastic to hear such an old instrument, the king of instruments. And it sounds beautiful to! Thank you Diane Bish.
The oldest organ manual looks like it is going to break apart very soon under the virtuoso fingers :-)
This is absolutely fascinating. And just imagine having the ability to adapt to an instrument like this. No electronic contrivance will ever match a sound like this
Because the cathedral itself plays a huge part in the reverb
Man even the building itself is its own gem :)
Beautiful organ as well
As always instruments always get better sounding with age If you take care of them
*Simply ethereal, sublime and otherwise very deeply moving!* 🎶🎵💜🎵🎶
OH WOW... It's so nice to see Ms Bish still going and flowing. I use yo watch her tv show playing aroung the world when I was a kid many years ago.I grew to be an organist as well Oh no not a pipe organist I play the B3Hammond organ lol
Une sonorité tellement joyeuse et si merveilleusement joué. Merci.
Thanks for the historical information on this old pipe organ as it was
so interesting. I think the important thing here is that it has been preserved these many years..... Last May I think I saw this beautiful castle on the hill in Sion traveling to Montreux on the Swiss train.
I wonder how much of the organ is original. Surely much of it has been replaced, because repair can only go so far. Nevertheless, it is amazing that it has been preserved for so long.
@@WCM1945 As long as the bulk of the pipes and the wind table is original I'd say it qualifies, those are the heart of the organ. Even the console could be replaced and it would sound just the same. Organs were routinely added to, removed from and moved around whenever a church was enlarged or some other big change was made. Quite a few of the remaining organs in the world do not live in their original homes and if they do you can bet that at least some ranks were added or changed, sometimes even new manuals added.
Good that they are able to preserve the pipe organ.
We have to keep this knowledge going.
Damn, that Bish knows how to play.
yeah she can lay it down.
Ye she do be vibin that hooka
@@zenasm.savage1999 truth .
@Michell Montes its a pun dude her last name is bish
Only 1400's kids remember this.
old good times :D
Oh, the voices of this instrument! It just brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing
This is so wonderful!
I have been playing keyboards since I was in diapers, LOL.
This lovely video, brings tears of joy, every time I watch it.
Thanks so much, to Diane Bush and her crew, for making it, and to you for posting it here, for us to enjoy.
It's "Bish"; by the way...I only correct because if you meet another organist and refer to her as Diane Bush, you might never get a keyboard gig again.
This is NOT the "Prelude by Frescobaldi", but Toccata XIV by Michelangelo Rossi (~1602-1656).
Go check out the Noel "Grand Jeu et Duo" by Daquin, number 10 of his 12 Noels for Organ
If you like it, check out the other 11, all similarly delightful, yet completely different.
The music suits older organs.
ArsPolonica I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed! it's a lovely piece.
Thank you for clarifying. I was looking for the name of the piece.
Why is this in my recommend section...in 2020 lmao
They couldn't recommend this to you in the 15th century xd
Perhaps because it´s timeless!
Yes, how dare they suggest something historical. We only want to learn about things that happened today! Not before I was born! Who cares about that? No one. ALL MUST CONCENTRATE SOLELY ON MY GENERATION. And nothing more. The younglings have spoken.
Thank you, Diane, quite the great treat to witness this instrument and it's history. What a sweet sound it has, great depth to this story.
Great instrument, what a wonderful sound! Thanks for this piece of history.
People underestimate the wondrous culture and music of the middle ages.
oh thank you i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow wow wow! For being that old & still playable is just amazing to me even before restoration plus never heard an organ sound this good! Yes proves that things in the old days were made better & made to last just like my antique cash registers for instance they still work even when not being restored so this organ fascinates me!
Thank you for sharing this amazing educational documentary. Such charm and wonderful personality of the host and guest in this interview. Love the sound of the Renessaince music on the organ and amazing musicianship of the organist.
its a good thing that switzerland became a neutral country in ww2, it helped to save this magnificent organ.
It also helped save all the gold the nazis and other fascists governments took from the people.
And the law firm of the Dulles brothers used Switzerland as a hub to transport important nazis to the US after wiping their archives and personal history.
@@j.vonhogen9650 Operation Paperclip.
1400s television equipment is quite cumbersome
@ImNotMad ButUR You should see the cars, the Cugnot is cumbersome as all getout, but it can travel at the light speed of 3 miles per hour. :-)
A wonderful sounding organ and wonderful acoustics to complement it!
Amazing!!! Beautiful!!!
Who would put "thumbs down" on this video? Are you mad? Whats not to like?
Maybe someone was just dissatisfied with the technical showcase of the instrument
lovers of rap crap put this down.
UA-cam comments can be a vile vipers' nest oftentimes. :(
@@RedPop4 very very true, they do get ripe sometimes, keyboard warriors have nothing better to do :-)
Wow, that sure gives us hope for our organ at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Fowlerville, MI! Ours is only as old as I am (installed in 1974) and isn't played very much as of 2014, despite having a 1950s era refurbished Wicks Console installed in 2005! What I find amazing about the 1390 organ is its pureness of tone particularly for having only one (shorter than most) manual and pedal board as well as the purely mechanical stop lever action! It appears to be that only the blower for the wind chest was electrified, but just to be on the safe side, they left the bellows intact, so music could be played in the event of a power failure! (Two people would have to be trained to rhythmically pump the bellows, however if they needed to)!
Love this presentation & music. Thank you for doing this.
these are the sweetest purest notes ive ever heard
wow it sounds really great.
Also, this organ doesn't seemed to be tuned to A=440, which I love because it feels that much more authentic.
nsmc99 it is most likely tuned to A=432 Hz.
Asronomīs369 nope much more likely 415 or 395 or somewhere therabouts. 432 has no significant historical precedence and derves no purpose other than wierd new agey bullcrap
I am a South Korean guy enjoy watching Battleground and computer games on youtube. Why am I here?... anyhow it's amazing to see organ older than most of clavichord.
Amazing sound... and brilliantly played.
OK, it's cool that it's so old and still playable. But did they /never/ clean the keys? Is it really necessary to play on top of 500 years of someone else's finger-jam?
This organ retains less than 90 original tubes in three stops, the rest is dated 1718, so thousands of other organs are older in the world!
I guess, it's tempered, which nothing was before Bach.
As a piano player I would kill to see that organ and play it. It's so fascinating and the sound is so pure