The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more pipe divisions or other means for producing tones, each played with its own keyboard, played either with the hands on a keyboard or with the feet using pedals.
A theatre organ is a distinct type of pipe organ originally developed to provide music and sound effects to accompany silent films during the first 3 decades of the 20th century.
Gabriel Kney is a Canadian builder of pipe organs based in London, Ontario.
Ernest Martin Skinner was one of the most successful American pipe organ builders of the early 20th century. His electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
The symphonic organ is a style of pipe organ that flourished during the first three decades of the 20th century in town halls and other secular public venues, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has roots in 19th-century Europe, and is a variation of the classical pipe organ. It features expanded capabilities, with many pipes imitative of orchestral instruments, and with multiple expressive divisions and organ console controls for seamlessly adjusting volume and tone, generally with electric organ actions and winding. These expansions let the organist approximate a conductor's power to shape the tonal textures of Romantic music and orchestral transcriptions. These organs are generally concert instruments as opposed to church organs. The symphonic organ has seen a revival in the US, Europe and Japan, particularly since the 1980s.
John Burlin Brombaugh is an American pipe organ builder known for his historically oriented tracker action pipe organs.
Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries.
Dobson Pipe Organ Builders is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Lake City, Iowa.
Austin Organs, Inc. is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent Airchest, and many remain in fine playing condition to this day.
William Drake (1943–2014) was the founder of the firm of William Drake, Organ Builder that manufactures pipe organs in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. He held a Royal Warrant as organ builder to HM Queen Elizabeth.
The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City, Philippines, is a 19th-century church organ with unique organ pipes; Of its 1031 pipes 902 are made of bamboo. It was completed after 6 years of work in 1824 by Father Diego Cera, the builder of the town's stone church and its first resident Catholic parish priest.
Orgues Létourneau Limitée of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec is a prominent Canadian builder and restorer of pipe organs. The company was founded in 1979 by Fernand Létourneau, who served as president, owner and artistic director of the firm until 2019. In 2019, Fernand Létourneau sold the company to a long-time employee, Dudley Oakes.
Orgelbau Vleugels is a pipe organ company producing organs in modern design and restoring historic instruments. The workshop is located in Hardheim, Germany. The owner is master pipe organ builder Hans-Georg Vleugels. The company has a history spanning over 150 years.
Manuel J. Rosales, Jr., is an American organ builder whose instruments display a strong synthesis of romantic and contemporary styles. His workshop has built over 30 pipe organs with his notable output including collaborations on the instruments at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Rice University.
The Daniel Kern Manufacture d'Orgues is an organ builder based in Strasbourg, France. New Kern organs have been installed in many churches in France and other countries. In addition, Kern undertakes restoration work on historic organs.
John Langshaw (1725–1798) was an English organist and an organ-builder. Leaving organ cases to others, he specialised in the mechanics, in particular those of chamber barrel organs. He left his native Lancashire to work in London, but returned to Lancashire in 1770.
Orgelbau Mebold is a company building pipe organs in Siegen, Germany. It was founded in 1967 by Hans Peter Mebold, and has been run since 2018 by his son Mathias Mebold. The company builds new organs, restores historic instruments, and specializes in portable small instruments (Truhenorgel).
