You could lift up the bellows, and rush to the other side to play for a few seconds, then rush back and lift the bellows again. Rinse and repeat like a madman for an impressive and captivating performance. Add in some comedy and it's Mr. Bean playing the Apfelregal.
Communication between the player and the bellows operator is important. At my local church, the player would sometimes randomly stop playing to make the operator jump while he was trying to put his full weight on the bellow, saying something like "This happens when you put too much force into it!". It was a rude discipline measure, but eventually the got along.
@@Testgeraeusch I don't get it. The bellows man just lifts the weight on top of the bellow, right? It will just fill the bellow (suck air inside) regardless of what the player is doing?
@@AkwkyAkass On a huge organ, the man has to stomp down a large wooden pedal to lift the weight. If the player stops playing, the pressure inside both bellows builds up as the air can no longer excape throught he pipes, creating a similar effect to when you want to step down a staircase and suddenly hit the hard ground instead. You stumble, and maybe fall, and additionally the bellow will bounce back if the man opeating it has put his full weight into it.
@@peterwaldner3755It's a reed instrument, isn't it? The Äpfel are resonance cavities? Very cool to hear and to look at. The bellows fellow doesn't let the bellows fall far before he lifts them. They almost seem oversized for the task. Do you have another video where you discuss this horn, sowie Rezepte für Apfelknödel? (Certainly something useful was done with the insides of the apples during construction! 😜)
@@77thTrombone This type of reeds is very sensitive to pressure changes, which made it howl (much like bagpipes) if bellows did not move very evenly. That's why they needed 2 to keep pressure constant.
If I live to be 100, I will never understand how I get here on RU-vid… Watching bricklaying, old Victorian Britain, ice cream making, a cat playing a piano, then this!
Ancestor of the great organs of bach's time. And a step on from the bagpipes. Really interesting to see, and hear. Life, and music, before electricity!
@@tomowenpianochannel Perhaps a theme for a science-fiction story with a parallel universe??? The instrument has a pleasant, unusual sound (to my tin ear).
@@joshuakuehn I can't figure out what sort of exchange is happening. Is the Apfelregalist scorning him for doing it wrong? Praising his consistency? Or is there something more?
I am a keyboard player, and I approve this video. What a beautiful reproduction, of this unique instrument. It has a special sound, that is nicely recorded and displayed here. Thanks very much to the craftsmen who made it, and the nice people who uploaded this video, to share with us. Best wishes for your continued success. Love, from America.
I wonder what the renaissance era audience would have looked like, their clothing, mannerisms, and response to the music. So intriguing. Thank you for this delightful music.
I saw the entry for this instrument on the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, but I had never seen one played! This is an incredible piece of organ building, made only more perfect by the skill of the organist.
@@taylordiclemente5163 Exactly! For all he knows, she's got gifts he'd appreciate more than the finest "turn of phrase." It's also true that German culture and that of the English were full of both hardships and full on celebrations involving religious feasts and late night partying. I'm sure some got very inebriated. (Buzzed.)
Amazing, this instrument seems to be a distant relative to harmonium (reed organ) that travelled to the East from Europe, became more portable and took a significant place in some styles of Indian classical music. I didn't know that this group of instruments in full size is still being operated. Such an intricate skill to play it! The cooperation between the player and the bellow operator is also remarkable! Thank you for this!
This instrument is a recent reproduction of an old instrument, made by an organ builder from Austria. The video description says, that he had only a picture of the organ and that picture was made in the year 1519 with the technique of wood engraving (that wood engraving resulted in a print plate which could be used to print the picture together with letters on a page). So it is a very rare instrument. (The organ builder who reconstructed this Apfelregal recently (orgelbau-koegler) has made several church organs, and I am guessing - it's just a guess, that he might have had some additional information how Apfelregals were made, what kind of pipes were used for them. And with his knowledge about pipe organs he could build this Apfelregal reconstrution - that's my guess).
Do you mean the Sheng (笙) or Yu (竽) as the distant relative to reed organs? If so, it's very curious how modern free reeds instruments underrated resonating pipes, unless organ-like ones with beating reeds. There's some Hohner Claviola working somewhat, using free reeds either.
Meine Tochter lernt gerade zu Hause diverse, auch mittelalterliche Instrumente kennen. Eigentlich sollten die Kinder laut Lehrplan einen Wandertag machen, um verschiedene Instrumente live zu hören, aber der fällt unter den gegebenen Umständen natürlich aus. Ich bin sehr dankbar, dass so viele Musiker das Weltpublikum übers Internet teilhaben lassen an ihrem Spiel. Wir hören zwar viele Film- und Computerspielsoundtracks, in denen oft außergewöhnliche Instrumente vorkommen, aber das Instrument zu sehen, während es gespielt wird, ist nochmal was vollkommen anderes. Ich wollte Sie nur wissen lassen, dass Sie uns den erschwerten Alltag in der Kriese erleichtern und mich dafür herzlich bedanken.
Wunderbar! This is completely unrelated, but I am learning German and I loved reading your comment and picking out what I could understand 😊 Thank goodness for translators and dictionaries for the rest! But anyway. I agree that seeing the instruments that create those unique sounds is a real treat. And I do really love the passion that so many musicians have for their art that they go out and find or recreate these lost instruments to share with us!
Judging by the organ’s sophisticated sound and appearance, I would guess it modeled after 16th century instruments at the earliest. The bellows are amazing. It is a treat to hear and see such an instrument played so well. Thank you You Tube for this surprise!
Besten Dank für Ihr positives Feedback! Es war mir ein veritables Vergnügen und eine helle Freude, dieses außergewöhnliche Instrument im Konzert zu bespielen und zum Klingen zu bringen.
@@afordjones The harmonium works well though - ever since the first caveman blew on a blade of grass between his thumbs, so musical instruments have been around in all their weird and wonderful glory. :-))
@@peterwaldner3755 I watched you play twice to be certain I'd really "absorbed" your artistry and that of your assistant. I am very appreciative, and I learned a lot about an interesting instrument. I made a humourous comment earlier about my musical masochism, but with no intention to be rude. I'm just a country "rube." Thank you for the"Uplift, Angel Hands!" Lisa Rae Rousseau
Wouw that is something very different. Never heard and seen a instrument like this one. The sound is a huge surprise and puts me back to the 15 century, thats the feeling I have. Really a very beautiful sound and its pure enjoyment listening to it. Thank you for charing.
I've been very critical of the RU-vid algorithm, so credit where it's due, this was a great recommendation. I didn't want to listen to the whole thing as music, but I love that YT allows me to hear a lovingly restored very old instrument.
AFAIK keeping it in tune was the most difficult task to make a regal instrument (which reeds swing asymmetrical and so howl by wind pressure change). That's why it took so long to make usable harmonium and harmonica (which reeds swing symmetrically but lack that sawtooth timbre).
Super! Endlich mal ein Instrument, welches den Ursprung der Orgel dokumentiert und zeigt, dass Zungenstimmen die ersten Orgelregister waren und sich am Instrumentarium der damaligen Zeit orientierten, um sie auf der Orgel zu imitieren! Bravo!
I watched a video of David Munrow and a consort of racketts, and the next day this video pops into my feed! I had heard of the regal but not the apfelregal. What a glorious instrument and beautifully played. Well done!
The gentleman pumping the bellows is truly an artist by ensuring and regulating the pitch and temperament of the Apfelregal. If one were to be too hasty or lackadaisical with the bellows, it would be categorically disastrous.
Wunderschoen! Ich moechte gerne "Innsbruck ich musz dich laszen" auf diesem tollen Instrument hoeren. Gruesze aus dem Land vom organist Johannes Sweelinck 🙂
A sound from a different world. In the olden days one had to work for their music: build it, tune it, & play it. Am mush the wiser for doing this myself.
@@deanospimoniful It's German so probably the story is: "It looks like a shelf of apples." (Seriously if you learn German you'll see what I mean. 😅 Hilarious example: the German word for nipples translates to "breast-warts" so go figure.😂)
I have 100 kazoos, two bellows and my wife and daughters are visiting her parents in the next village this weekend… what to do, what to do… But seriously, this is an incredible instrument. The tone and voice is melodious.
@@gehirndoper In theory, this pipe is indeed of the regal class. This type of pipe depicted is called apfelregale to seperate itself from its father pipe due to its apple-like resonator. To this day, it is one of the oldest form of regal class. www.organstops.org/a/Apfelregal.html