regal, a small, easily portable pipe organ usually having only a single set, or rank, of reed pipes. The beating reeds are surmounted by small resonators, producing a nasal, buzzing tone. Wind under pressure to sound the pipes is supplied by one or two bellows attached to the instrument and operated by the player or an assistant. The so-called bible regal, of the 16th century and later, can be folded up into the shape of a large book when not in use, hence its name. Regals, widely played in Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, gained popularity as both solo and ensemble instruments. A regal is the instrument specified by Claudio Monteverdi to accompany brass instruments in an infernal scene in his music drama Orfeo (1607), and King Henry VIII of England evidently owned 17 regals of various sizes and pitches.
Regal pipes of varying tone colours found their way into larger pipe organs despite their instability of tuning, caused by the shortness of the resonators. Often the regal stop played a solo line. The vox humana (“human voice”) rank, known in early Baroque organs as well as in organs that were built throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, belongs to the regal family.
Regals are being made in the second half of the 20th century in small numbers to satisfy demands of ensembles devoted to authentic performance of early music. Although the sound reproduction of these reconstructions is considered to be quite authentic, the contemporary regals generally are supplied with electric blowers instead of hand bellows.