The Organ
Loft
An instrument of breath, mathematics and architecture — built to make a whole building sing.
Interactive organ synthesizer
Choose a stop, then play a key or a study chord. Sound begins only after your gesture.
Study chords
Live frequency spectrum
This is a synthesized study instrument, not a recording of a historic organ. Use the museum's sound control to mute the background score while playing.
The grammar of sacred sound.
Dorian
Gregorian Cantus
A single melodic line moves by steps around a reciting tone. Its freedom follows the Latin text rather than a regular dance beat.
Open fifth
Sacred Polyphony
Independent voices weave around shared words. Palestrina's clarity lets dissonance resolve without obscuring the text.
Major triad
Baroque Chorale
Bach harmonizes congregational melodies with counterpoint, turning a hymn into a compact architecture of voices.
9th c. onward
Gregorian Chant
Monophonic Latin plainchant of the Roman rite, notated in neumes; the root of Western notation.
1098–1179
Hildegard of Bingen
Abbess, mystic and composer of soaring antiphons in the Symphonia.
1525–1594
Palestrina
Missa Papae Marcelli became the model of clear Counter-Reformation polyphony.
c. 1638
Allegri — Miserere
Guarded by the Sistine choir; the 14-year-old Mozart transcribed it from memory.
4th c. onward
Byzantine Chant
The Orthodox tradition sung over an ison drone in eight modes, the Octoechos.
Bach made counterpoint
a form of praise.
In the chorale cantata, a congregational melody becomes the cantus firmus around which other voices move. In the St Matthew Passion, chorus, chorale, recitative and aria create an entire architecture of contemplation.
Enter the Composer & Opera Library →