"Wolkenstayn Portative" – since 1999

Our small, newly renovated, fine organ building workshop in an old farmhouse in the heart of Bavarian Swabia offers plenty of space to realize your wishes for your instrument.

We design und build exclusive, reliable portative organs ("Organetti") in different styles, in small series or individually according to our customers’ wishes.

Due to our personal knowledge and experience with music from the middle ages, we're able to offer absolutely reliable instruments for everyday use as well as for the stage. Our instruments are played all over the world. Following renovations, our small, but very fine organ workshop here in the south of Germany, about 80 km from Munich and Stuttgart, is ready for new adventures.

We offer: building and sale of instruments, consultation, service, lessons, instruments on loan and much more.

Thank you for your interest.

Stefan Keppler

Our organettas are played in:

Argentina Australia Belgium Brazil Chile China Denmark Germany England Finland France Hong Kong Italy Irland Japan Canada Colombia Lithuania Netherlands Norway Austria Poland Portugal Russia Sweden Scotland Switzerland Spain South Korea Ukraine Hungary United States

The word "organ" originated from the Greek word „organon“ as well as the Latin word „organum“, which initially simply meant „tool“ or „instrument“.

It was only in the late Roman times that the word organ started to define this particular musical instrument.

During the migration period (barbarian invasions), the organ disappeared completely in the Occident, surviving only in the Eastern Roman Empire and the Arab world.

In the year 757, Emperor Charles the Great received an organ as a present from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. In order to copy this precious and unusual gift, priest George from Venice, known for his knowledge of antique organ building, was called upon.

Previously a symbol of heathendom, the organ started to be accepted in the Christian churches; the first organs were found in Aachen, Strassbourg and Winchester.

The portatif (latin: portare, to carry) organ, a small, portable organ was used next to other well known types such as the positif and the great organ. The portatif was sometimes also used in churches to accompany the choir, but mainly it was seen as a mundane instrument for traveling musicians. Its vast popularity diminished after a few centuries and then disappeared completely.

Synonyms for portative:

The Positif (latin: ponere, to stand) is a small, stationary organ with one keyboard. It was very popular in the palaces of aristocrats and homes of rich merchants. It was only in the 18th century that it was replaced by the harpsichord. Unlike the portatif, two people were needed to play the positif, one organist playing with two hands and a helper (Kalkant) using the bellows.

Many portatives existed towards the end of the Middle Ages; this is shown in hundreds of more or lesser known paintings and in stone carvings on church portals all over Europe.

Included is a small selection of our collection of pictures.

With your help, we might even establish a „portative museum“ on this website. Please let us know if you are in possession of rare and beautiful pictures. We would really appreciate it!

The many ancient illustrations of portatives point towards several essential characteristics of these instruments:

Range of tone

The instruments usually have a range of around 2 to 2 1/2 octaves in the 2' position, starting approximately at c1. Later, towards the end of the 15th century, larger, deeper 3' instruments with a range of around 2 octaves were also found, starting around g or f.

In early illustrations you can often see the limitation to a diatonic scale, supplemented by the semitones “b”, sometimes also “e flat” or “f sharp”. Towards the end of the 15th century, full chromaticism through the octaves is almost always present.

Chromaticism, which is most common today, offers the advantage of being flexible in the ensemble when transposing into other, non-church keys.

Nevertheless, an instrument built purely in diatonic church tonal terms has the appeal of a large tonal range with minimal weight.

Dimensions

The housing height of the instrument resulting from the 2' or 3' layer is around 80-110 cm, the width of the keyboard and thus the housing is around 35-50 cm.

The depth of the instrument varies a little more; In some cases the keyboard is clearly positioned at almost the full length of the keys in front of the housing, sometimes it is set back significantly under the pipe stick. Together with the bellows attached to the back, this results in a depth of between around 17 and 28 cm.

Frame

Usually richly decorated, the casing is not only a decorative adornment, but is also responsible for the support, protection and melodious sound of the pipes. In most frames, all pipes are simply arranged next to each other in up to 2 (in exceptional frames 3) rows. Possibly . Existing drone pipes were often housed in a “bordun tower,” which gave the instrument an almost cathedral-like appearance.

The pipes

In most illustrations, the pipes (usually principal registers) are in two rows one behind the other.

In historical portatives they are usually made of metal; Initially made from “pure” lead, which at the time was certainly heavily contaminated and therefore quite hard, over time a lead-tin alloy became established. Today's pure lead is so soft that the now common alloy with a high tin content increases the mechanical stability without making the sound too rich in overtones.

With good experience we use an alloy made up of around 80% tin and 20% lead.

From the 15th century onwards, wooden pipes were increasingly used in organ building for various registers. We also like to use wooden pipes for our organetti as a very popular alternative to the metal pipes, which are of course also available. The advantage of a very flute-warm sound is, above all, extremely high mechanical stability (so important for a portable instrument).

We use spruce or cedar for the wooden principals, usually in combination with cherry or maple for the visible side.

Der Balg

Usually 4-7 folded, made of wood and leather, and mounted on the back to pull upwards, it supplies the instrument with the necessary air.

The wind pressure created by pressing down on the bellows is sufficient for playing longer phrases.

This phrasing game is an essential feature of the portative; The player has many options for a varied game thanks to the direct influence on the wind pressure and thus on the sound and dynamics!

In the table positives that developed from the 15th century onwards, in addition to the bellows of the portative, which had been converted into a magazine bellows and which was now provided with a weight to generate the wind pressure, a scoop bellows was used, with which air is constantly supplied, similar to the principle of a bellows-operated bagpipe . Another variant consists of two magazine bellows with weights, which, when wound alternately, also enable continuous play.

Keyboard

By pressing the buttons, a mechanism opens the respective whistle valve, which then supplies the corresponding whistle with air via the wind tunnels.

For obvious, practical reasons, for a portable it is necessary to make the keys easy to play but narrow enough to achieve a narrow design with the relatively large range mentioned. Furthermore, the advantage of narrow keys is that you can span and achieve a large tonal range while playing, which is a great advantage for early polyphony, for example when using an alternating drone technique with the thumb.

Positioning

While the right hand plays, the left hand operates the bellows.

Many illustrations show the use of the portative while sitting, placed on the left thigh; others play the standing game, where it is carried using a strap or cloth hanging around the neck.

Tune

If necessary, our instruments can be easily tuned using the historically proven, standard tuning rings made of parchment paper or metal (metal pipes) or tuning flags (wooden pipes).

The standard tuning is a1=440 Hz.

Other pitches (e.g. 465 Hz) and tunings (Pythagorean etc.) can of course be easily taken into account during construction.

You can also order the pipes to be retunable (e.g. mean-tone Pythagorean).

There is also a transposition device e.g. 415/440/466 Hz.

Please just let us know your wishes.

We would be happy to advise you on this.

Tuning

Below are a few lines on the topic of tunes; namely the type of tuning of the instrument “in itself”. (If you just want to get to your goal quickly and easily, just use a good professional tuner).

But if you enjoy delving a little deeper into the subject matter of the various historical tunes, you are welcome to read on:

The following problem exists with all keyboard instruments: Four fifths in succession (e.g. c'- g'- d''- a''- e''') and then octaves back (here in the example to e') do not produce a pleasant-sounding major third c '- e', but a major third enlarged by the syntonic comma. It is therefore not possible to get both pure fifths and pure thirds within the triads of a key within the chord. In order to improve the purity of the fifth or third, the other interval must be detuned, or both intervals must be intoned impurely.

Until the 15th century, only the fifths were tuned using the Pythagorean tuning. Only the so-called “wolf fifth” was inevitably much too narrow, namely by the measure of the Pythagorean comma. Here the major thirds are so advanced that they are perceived as dissonant. However, in the music of this time it is important to have the fundamental, fifth and octave pure. The third itself was considered dissonant and was therefore avoided. That's why we like to prefer this tuning for our instruments, without wanting to claim that this is the "right" one.

Later the mean tone tuning was preferred; the pure major thirds were the focus of a good atmosphere. This meant accepting several very close fifths.

With the well-tempered tune of the Baroque, a compromise was sought between fifths and thirds in order to be able to play in all keys. There were several types of tuning, the main distinguishing feature of which was how high the third was tuned in relation to the fundamental.

After 1800, equal tempered tuning dominated: all fifths were a little too small and the major thirds were much too wide; In all keys, the third tones are the same distance from the fundamental tone, and all corresponding intervals are tuned the same.