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A barrel organ (also called roller organ or crank organ) is a France mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of organ pipe housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which are analogy to the Musical keyboard of the traditional pipe organ. A person (or in some cases, a trained animal) who plays a barrel organ is known as an Street organ.
In French names include orgue à manivelle ("crank organ") and orgue de Barbarie ("Barbary organ"); German names include Drehorgel ("crank organ"), Leierkasten ("brace box"), and Walzenorgel ("cylinder organ"); Hungarian names include verkli (from Austrian-German Werkl), sípláda ("whistle chest") and kintorna (from Bayern-Austrian "Kinterne"); Italian names include organetto a manovella ("crank organ") and organo tedesco ("German organ"); the Polish name is katarynka.
However, several of these names include types of for which the music is encoded as book music or by holes on a punched paper tape instead of by pins on a barrel. While many of these terms refer to the physical operation of the crank, some refer to an exotic origin. The French name orgue de Barbarie, suggesting , has been explained as a corruption of, variously, the terms bara ("bread") and gwen ("wine") in the Breton language, the surname of an early barrel-organ manufacturer from Modena, Giovanni Barberi,Jean-Christian Michel. " Histoire des orgues de Barbarie." Official website. or that of the English inventor John Burberry.Gianni Gili, " Mais, où se trouve la Barbarie ?." at musicameccanica.it
The term hurdy-gurdy is sometimes mistakenly applied to a small, portable barrel organ that was frequently played by organ grinders and busking (street musicians), but the two terms should not be confused. Although the hurdy-gurdy is also powered by a crank and often used by street performers, it produces sound with a rosin-covered wheel rotated against tuned strings. Another key difference is that the hurdy-gurdy player is free to play any tune he or she desires, while the barrel organist is generally confined to pre-programmed tunes.
Some also confuse the barrel organ with the steam organ or calliope. In the United Kingdom , particularly those played in the streets, are frequently called barrel organs.
The organ barrels must be sturdy to maintain precise alignment over time, since they play the same programming role as and have to endure significant mechanical strain. Damage to the barrel, such as warpage, would have a direct (and usually detrimental) effect on the music produced.
The size of the barrel will depend on the number of notes in the organ and the length of the tune to be played. The more notes, the longer the barrel. The longer the tune, the greater the diameter.
Since the music is hard-coded onto the barrel, the only way for a barrel organ to play a different set of tunes is to replace the barrel with another one. While not a difficult operation, barrels are unwieldy and expensive, so many organ grinders have only one barrel for their instrument.
There were many larger versions located in churches, fairground organ, , and other large establishments such as sports arenas and theaters. The large barrel organs were often powered by very heavy weights and springs, like a more powerful version of a longcase clock. They could also be hydraulically powered, with a turbine or waterwheel arrangement giving the mechanical force to turn the barrel and pump the bellows. The last barrel organs were electrically powered, or converted to electrical power. Eventually, many large barrel organs had their barrel actions removed and were converted to play a different format of music, such as Book music or Music roll.
At the beginning of the 20th century, large barrel organs intended for use as or were often converted, or newly built, to play or book music rather than barrels. This allows a much greater variety of melodies to be played.
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