3 ms·

What is up w/ the connection of organs to religion? Couple it w/ a little glia stimulating light and you're off to nirvana...

• blowski 3y ago
  John Calvin would wholeheartedly agree with you.
• analog31 3y ago
  My hunch is that only churches were big enough. Also, religion was a major focus of western music, at least as formally sponsored. I have no doubt that there were parallel developments of folk music, but probably using more portable instruments. Today, tradition. But a lot of churches are using rock bands.
  • NikkiA 3y ago
    Many 'City Hall's in europe have (big) pipe organs, so it's not just religious organisations. But it's the same deal, you need a building with enough space, and space that doesn't need to be taken up with more pressing matters. Some bigger theatres have them, which I guess would be another obvious use of them
• solresol 3y ago
  Nobody knows. It started in about 900AD in monasteries (because the monks were the only people technical enough to maintain and play one) and became part of church tradition a few centuries later. And after a millenium of use, in the late 1980s to early 1990s almost all churches stopped using them.
  • OJFord 3y ago
    > And after a millenium of use, in the late 1980s to early 1990s almost all churches stopped using them. That surely needs a regional or religious tradition/denominational qualifier?
• tgv 3y ago
  Religion has always had music. An organ is cheaper, and more scalable, than an orchestra to accompany mass, in both small and large settings. And apart from the very rich, churches were the only places that could afford an organ.