On the Pipe Organ

Exactly a week ago I set out upon the epic task of reading "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" which I finished in the same day, as I liked it a great deal. Something occurred to me, however, and it struck me as being quite odd.

Captain Nemo, who seems to be a very interesting chap to know if you aren't in his way of vengeance, happens to play the organ (how he fit it on a submarine, giant though it may be, I would be quite interested in learning). To my own organ-interested senses this is a perfectly natural thing, and yet I am struck that whenever one hears of the organ these days it is in direct connection with some sort of villain. Ignoring the obvious (our lovely opera-house-dwelling friend by the name of ________) there seems to be a connection between the organ (presumably not the organ played with soft flutes) and villains or extremely withdrawn heroes.

Of course, if I can hear the organ played with a million and a half reeds, then I'm quite happy, no matter who's playing (heroes v.s villains; I wouldn't like to hear a pianist playing with it--it usually ends up all clunky).

A relative admits that she associates the organ with the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the big Cathedral, et al, ad infinitum. And, of course, there is the fact that almost everyone on the earth has visions of bad guys when Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor starts playing (in spite of the fact that in Bach's time D minor was not considered a 'sad' key in the least).

There is something about the organ that causes people to associate it with villains. This could be due in part to the fact that some organists do indeed lurk in shadows and play at the wee hours of the night, but somehow I doubt it. Now, I shall be fair to all the organ-playing bad guys--the organ is awesome. And they tend to play it well. It's not their fault. Though, indeed, I think a far more evil villain would be one that plays the organ badly.

It could be due, in part, to the monstrously large and fantastic sound that the organ gives off, or the visions and thoughts and emotions that are betrayed when one plays it (After all, music is the most expressive form of what-have-you imaginable). The organ has a very emotional nature, making it the most dangerous of all instruments. Whether this is related to its literary use in connection with lurking heroes or otherwise shady villains is unknown to me; at any rate I'll leave that to people who are good at theorizing with that kind of thing (someone ought to do a psychological profile of people for a paper and see if there is any particular reason that organists tend to have a flair for the dramatic, which they do in, mostly, silence with the exception of the reeds at 2 AM when most people are trying to sleep*).

The ending word is: If bad guys play the organ, all it means is that they have good taste.

The Author, who has written a story containing over 150 uses of the term 'pipe organ', is not responsible for any playing of the organ in the middle of the night that may occur after the reader gets insomnia and can't fall asleep. The Author also is not responsible for any grumpy neighbors that may come over to one's house and unplug the speakers to one's electronic organ. Or, if one happens to be lucky enough to have a pipe organ in one's living room, the angry mob might then shove socks down the pipes of the 8' and 4' pipes.

*The author spent last night lying awake until about 2 AM, during which time she could have listened to the whole of Bach's organ works, but instead decided to listen to her perennial Lullaby (which, she insists, is the greatest song written [for tenor] in musical theatre, but that's irrelevant).