A comprehensive dictionary of organ stops - Allen Organ Studio of ...

122 DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS.
no means ineffective. Mixtures frequently comprise a Quint rank in the
upper portions of their compass. For Pedal Quint see Acoustic Bass.
Quint Coupler.
In the organ at St. John, Birkenhead, in which Mr. Hope-Jones first
developed his embryonic tonal ideas and electrical appliances, was inserted
a Manual Quint Coupler by means of which the Swell organ could be
coupled to any manual at the pitch of a fifth above unison (quint).
Judiciously employed, the Quint Coupler was instrumental in the production
of many curious and by no means displeasing effects. Herr Stahlhuth, of
Aix-la-Chapelle, has a 1 so experimented with the Quint Coupler. On the
pedal organ a Quint Coupler has frequently been employed for the
production of mock 32 ft. effects (see Acoustic Bass).
•Quintalophon— 32 ft. tone.
The name applied to a three-rank Acoustic Bass stop at N6tre Dame
Cathedral, Montreal, (Casavant).
Quintflote—A Quint of light-toned Flute pipes.
Quintaton—Quintadena. In mediaeval specifications, variously
Quintaten, Quintaden, Quinta-ed-una, Quintitenens. A stop varying
as much in tone and construction as in the supposed derivation of
its names. Allihn is of opinion that it may be derived from the
late Latin, Quintadenare, (Fr. Quintadiner). Others advance
(Lat.) Quintam Tenens = holding the fifth (Lat.) Quinta ed (et)
una = fifth and unison. (Lat.) Quinta a tono = fifth from the tone.
Probably alt these derivations are correct, repiesenting distinct names.
The Quintaton is a stopped pipe, the distinctive feature of which is
that its first harmonic (the twelfth or octave fifth) is prominently developed.
The pipe thus has the effect of speaking two separate notes simultaneously.
Albeit they are so perfectly blended, and the average ear is so accustomed
to synthesing harmonics with the fundamental as constituting one single
musical note, that many people are unable, at first hearing, to distinguish
two notes. Some worthy persons profess to be unable to tolerate the
Quintaton because it incessantly gives rise to a succession of consecutive
fifths. Prima facie the objection is rather chimerical, for all pipes speak
consecutive fifths {i.e., twelfths), stopped and string-toned pipes more
brazenly than others. Used in combination, the Quintaton, when viewed
from this aspect, stands on precisely the same footing as the plain Gedeckt
or Gamba. How wide indeed is the gulf fixed between the modern
academical mind and the primitive organum of our forefathers ! Nor
is
the use of this stop for solo purposes open to any serious objection. We
must, in point of fact, admit the vital distinction between the consecutive
fifths of the harmonic series as producedfrom one pipe, and those emanating
from two or more pipes, voices or other tone generating agents, each with
: