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The pipe organ (Greek ὄργανον, órganon) is a musical instrument that produces sound by admitting pressurized air through a series of pipes. Pipe organs range in size from portable instruments with only a few dozen pipes to very large organs with tens of thousands of pipes, causing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to name it the "king of instruments." The pipe organ is also the origin of the phrase "to pull out all the stops"—meaning to make every effort or "to give it all you've got".

The organ has been described as one of the oldest musical instruments, as its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 3rd century BC. The basic elements of a pipe organ are pipes (the sound-producing objects), placed on a chamber (called a windchest) that stores air under mechanically-produced pressure (referred to as wind), where access of the air to the pipes is controlled by a keyboard. Because of its constant wind supply, the organ is capable of sustaining sound for as long as the key is depressed, in contrast to other keyboard instruments, such as the piano and harpsichord, whose sound decays as the key is depressed. The organ also boasts a substantial repertoire, with music available spanning a period of over 400 years. (more...)