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{{Short description|Small pipe organ}}
{{Redirect|Box organ|the portable organ also called a "box organ"|Barrel organ}}

[[File:横浜みなとみらいポジティフオルガン「スージー」全体.JPG|thumb|Laukhuff positive organ in Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall ([[w:JA:横浜みなとみらいホール|ja]]), Japan, 2011, with portative-like pipe and bellows arrangement. On the portative, however, the bellows were operated directly by one of the player's hands.]]

A '''positive organ''' (also '''positiv organ''', '''positif organ''', '''portable organ''', '''chair organ''', or simply '''positive''', '''positiv''', '''positif''', or '''chair''') (from the [[Latin (language)|Latin]] verb ''ponere'', "to place") is a small, usually one-manual, [[pipe organ]] that is built to be more or less mobile. It was common in sacred and secular music between the 10th and the 18th centuries, in chapels and small churches, as a [[Organ (music)#Chamber organ|chamber organ]] and for the [[basso continuo]] in ensemble works.<ref>"Positive organ." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed December 23, 2007. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061023]</ref> The smallest common kind of positive, hardly higher than the keyboard, is called '''chest''' or '''box organ''' and is especially popular for basso continuo work; positives for more independent use tend to be higher.

From the [[Middle Ages]] through [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] the instrument came in many different forms, including processional and tabletop organs that have profited relatively less from the renewed popularity the type in general has enjoyed from the [[Organ reform movement|Orgelbewegung]] onwards.

==History==
{{See|List of European medieval musical instruments#Wind instruments}}
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
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| image2 = Positive Organ, by Tobias Stimmer.jpg
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 | alt2 = Positive organ, 1575 a.d.
 | caption2  = Positive organ, from a German print, circa 1575.

 | image1 = Utrechts-Psalter PSALM-149-PSALM-150 organ.jpg
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 | alt1 = Organ, Utrecht Psalter
 | caption1 = Organ from the Utrecht Psalter, circa 850 a.d.
}}

A well-known instance of an early positive or portable organ of the 4th century occurs on the [[Obelisk of Theodosius|obelisk erected to the memory of Theodosius I]] on his death in AD 395. Among the illuminated manuscripts of the [[British Museum]] there are many [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]] representing interesting varieties of the portable organ of the Middle Ages, including Add. MS. 29902 (fol. 6), Add. MS. 27695b (fol. 13), and [[Cotton MS. Tiberius]] A VII. fol. 104d., all of the 14th century, and Add. MS. 28962 and Add. MS. 17280, both of the 15th century.

In the [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] periods, positive organs were used at many kinds of civil and religious functions. They were used in the homes and chapels of the rich, at banquets and court events, in choirs and music schools, and in the small orchestras of [[Jacopo Peri]] and [[Claudio Monteverdi]] at the dawn of the musical drama or opera.

==Construction==
===Casing===
Many positives, both of the box and 'cupboard' types, can be divided into upper and lower parts to be more easily moved. The lower part then usually contains the bellows, blower and/or treadle, and perhaps a few of the largest pipes. Wheels, [[caster]]s or a custom-made [[hand truck]] are other aids to mobility, which have become vastly more common in modern times.

<gallery heights="200" widths="170">
File:Amiralitetskyrkan choir organ.jpg|Positive organ in [[Karlskrona Admiralty Church]], [[Sweden]]
File:2013 Orgelkids Doe-orgel pijpen plaatsen.jpg|Children in primary school are assembling a do-organ of [[Orgelkids]]
File:FolleJournée2009 ABO orguePositif.jpg|Chest, or box, organ used during [[La Folle Journée]], 2009
</gallery>

===Stops===
Positive organs typically exhibit few [[Organ stop|stop]]s due to their small size and portable nature; a specification of [[Eight-foot pitch|8 ft]] [[Gedackt]] (capped), 4 ft [[flue pipe#Tonal groups|flute]] and 2 ft principal (diapason) is common. Somewhat larger positives may also have a {{frac|2|2|3}} ft or other [[mutation stop]] and/or a small [[Mixture (music)|mixture]], and some have an 8 ft [[reed pipe|reed stop]] (such as a [[regal (musical instrument)|regal]]). Still larger positives may have a 4 ft principal or a second 8 ft stop, the latter often treble-only. More complex examples feature a divided keyboard, which allows each stop to be activated separately in the treble and bass portions of the keyboard. This makes it possible to play a melody and an accompaniment simultaneously on different registrations. Most positives have just one manual keyboard and no [[Pedal keyboard|pedals]], but there are examples with a set of pedal pulldowns or even a pedal stop or two, as well as rarer ones with two manuals.<ref>One example of a two-manual positive at [http://www.gdanskie-organy.com/organs.php?lang=de&loc=oliwa&tab=gallery&sessionid=id1143931239479], accessed October 19, 2010.</ref>

===Wind supply===
Before electricity, positives required either the player or a second person to operate the [[bellows]] in order to supply wind to the instrument, but most modern positives include electric blowers for this purpose.

===Compass and various===
The positive organ differs from the [[portative organ]] in that it is larger and is not played while strapped at a right angle to the performer's body. It also has a larger keyboard (typically 49 notes or more in modern examples, often 45 or so notes with a [[short octave]] in older ones), while a portative may have as few as 12 or 13 notes. The positive is also not to be confused with the [[Regal (musical instrument)|regal]], a small keyboard instrument that contains short-length reed pipes.

However, since the Orgelbewegung revival of small organs, small positives to be played with both hands have also come to be called 'portatives' in many cases, especially when their pipes are arranged without housing in a [[Diatonic and chromatic|chromatic]] row like in the genuine portative.

==Other uses of the term==
The Positive is also a traditional department of a large organ, often placed behind the organist's back and more or less the size of a separate positive organ. In [[England]] it became known as a ''Chair organ'', later to be corrupted into the ''Choir'' division found on [[Romantic (music)|Romantic]] and many modern organs. Also, since the [[Organ reform movement|Orgelbewegung]], the [[German language|German]] term ''Ruckpositiv'' (''Rückpositiv'') can be encountered in English.

==References==
{{EB1911|wstitle=Positive organ}}
{{Commons category|Positive organs|lcfirst=yes}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.newenglandorganbuilders.com/NewOrgans.html Picture of a new 2009 positive organ] available for sale or rent by New England Organbuilders of Connecticut
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311013525/http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?%2FstaticE%2Fpage2599.html Picture of a seventeenth century positive organ] at the Vienna Museum of Art History

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[[Category:Keyboard instruments]]
[[Category:Early musical instruments]]
[[Category:Organs (music)]]