3. USE AND REPERTOIRE
‘Venit organo in Franciam’ (The organ comes to France) – said the report when the Emperor Constantine V offered a wind-blown, lead-piped organ to the French king, Pepin the Less in 757. So the organ, which had been used earlier in the noisy tournaments of the gladiators at the circus, now appeared in Western Europe, first just as a tool to teaching singing. To adjust it to the more frequent use, its apparatus was modified and it became larger. The organ appeared in the royal courts, where the kings started to employ organ builder monks and they ‘borrowed’ organists from each other.
The modifications on the organ, that had found its final place in the church from the 13th century, were urged by two needs: to play it easier and to introduce it to the liturgy. They tried to build smaller and lighter keys, and a new mechanical system provided even wind-supply. They manufactured new types of pipes and invented various systems for scaling the pipes and adjusting their tonality. They made portable small organs (portatives and regals) and they built positives (choir organs) to have mobile instruments in smaller places.