Some time before the beginning of the seventeenth century the organ had acquired nearly the entire variety of tone that it has ever had. The mechanism was rude, no doubt, and the voicing perhaps imperfect. The tuning was by the unequal system, throwing the discords into remote keys as much as possible. In Michael Praetorius' "_Syntagma Musica_," the great source of information upon this part of the history (published at Wolfenbuettel, 1618), he describes a number of large organs. Among them he mentions the organ in the Church of St. Mary at Danzig, built in 1585, having three manuals and pedal; there were fifty-five stops. The balance must have been very bad, since there were in the great organ three stops of sixteen feet, and only three of eight feet. There was a mixture having twenty-four pipes to each key, besides a "zimbel" in the same manual, having three ranks. Praetorius also gives many other specifications of large organs of three manuals, some with dates, some without. They belong mostly to the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the number indicates unmistakably the interest awakened in this part of the musical furnishing of the large churches. Many points in these organs were imperfect, but the foundation had been laid, and the general character of the subsequent building settled. There was also a beginning of virtuosity upon the organ, but this will come up for consideration at a later point in the narrative. [Illustration] [Illustration: Fig. 46. SCULPTURED HEAD OF COLUMN, FOUND IN THE RUINS OF THE ABBEY OF ST. GEORGE, AT BOSCHERVILLE, IN NORMANDY. ELEVENTH CENTURY. (1) Three-stringed viol or rebec. (2) Two persons playing the organistrum, a stringed instrument vibrated by means of a circular bow or wheel, like the hurdy-gurdy. (3) Pandean pipes. (4) Apparently a small harp. (5) Psaltery. (6) Rotta or crwth. (7) Acrobat. (8) Harp. (9), (10) Instruments of percussion, perhaps bells.] Book Third. THE Dawn of Modern Music. THE BEGINNING OF FREE EXPRESSION IN SONG, OPERA, ORATORIO AND FREE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. CHAPTER XVII. CONDITION OF MUSIC AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.