Wie Donner?

Gedanken zur Perzeption von Orgelklang im Mittelalter

Abstract

From the 10th century onwards, organs increas­ingly found their way into the great abbey and cathedral churches of the West. Mechanically complex and extremely costly, these technical marvels aroused great astonishment in all those who saw and heard them. Sources describing such instruments do not usually comment on their sound. When they do, what they say about the sound of the organ is symbolically overloaded and difficult to interpret. In this article, the tension between individual and institutionally shaped symbolic sound perception will be explored on the basis of mostly Latin sources from the late Middle Ages. The focus will be on narrative sources.

Keywords Organon; Organ Sound; Alternatim Practice; Blockwerk Organ; Organum