# | Cím | Abstract | Folyóirat | Oldalszám |
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Újabb adatok az aquincumi orgona (Kr. U. 228) mûködésének kérdéséhez |
abs.
New Information on How the Aquincum Organ (228 A. D.) Worked
Melinda Kaba The Aquincum organ was discovered in 1931 during the foundation works of a building from the debris layer of the cellar of a house that had been destroyed by fire in ancient times. From the bronze parts that survived either intact of with minor scratches (with the exception of the pipes that had sustained severe damage) the excavator, Lajos Nagy and architect János Kalmár prepared the plans of a working reconstruction of the original organ. The model was built by Angster, an organ manufacturing company in Pécs, Hungary. Based on several independent studies and his own research, Werner Wacker-Mayer had a new, diatonic model built in his own factory in Stuttgart, Germany in 1969. As an important part of the instrument (that could have proved the function of the air pumped into the pipes and of the air tank that is responsible for the even flow of the air) had been destroyed, two researchers, János Minárovics in Budapest and Jenõ Szonntagh in the USA came to the conclusion on the basis of their tests, research and experiments carried out independently of each other that the bellshaped pnigeus, a fragment that had earlier been believed to have been the lip of a bronze dish had actually been part of the hydraulic organ. The Aquincum organ is still the only organ surviving from Roman times. According to the inscription of the bronze plaque, which lay intact on the surface at the time the excavation began the instrument was bestowed to the collegium centonariorum (the firefighters’ command) by Gaius Iulius Viatorinus in 228 A. D. During the excavations of the organ the stone coffin of an ancient singer and organ player, Aelia Sabina was unearthed. In the heart-stirring epitaph her husband commemorated his beloved wife who in all likelihood used to play this instrument. |
2001., 39. évf. 1. szám | 19. - 26.o |