Orgue expressif

Orgue expressif (Fr.) (Ger.: Expressionsorgel), free-reed keyboard instr. invented by Gabriel-Joseph Grenié of Paris in 1810, the first keyboard instr. to be furnished exclusively with free reeds, and a forerunner of the harmonium. It had a single register, with a 5-oct. compass, F1-f3, and 4 bellows worked by 2 pedals. The “expression” was controlled by a stop establishing an intermediary connection between bellows and wind chest. After Debain had patented the word harmonium, other Fr. makers…