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

Subbass—See Bourdon.
DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS. 147
Su.o-Bourdon.—See Bourdon.
Super-(Lat.) = above.
A prefix synonymous with Octave.
SupePOCtave—The octave above the octave. A name for
the Fifteenth.
The Octave Coupler is sometimes rather misleadingly named Super-
octave Coupler.
Swell Box.
Although not an organ stop, the Swell box nevertheless exerts so great
an influence on organ tone that a few brief remarks relative to it would
seem to be essential to the realization of that comprehensive treatment of
tonal matters to which this work aspires. The swell box is a wooden box
in which are enclosed certain stops of the organ. The front is provided
with shutters capable of being opened by a pedal on the sa,me principle as
a Venetian blind,* by means of a pedal operated by the performer. At
Worcester Cathedral Mr. Hope-Jones employed a brick swell box, and at
other churches boxes of lath and plaster. There is also a box lined with
cement at the Monastic Church, Einsiedeln, Switzerland, introduced at
the suggestion of His Grace the Abbot of Einsiedeln. The solidity of the
box, and the smooth reflecting surface secured by this means, tend materially
to increase the effectiveness of the swell crescendo. " Some years ago, at
Amsterdam Musical Exhibition, was shown a three-manual organ, each
department of which was enclosed in a separate swell box. The intention
was that the tone of one manual might be merged into that of another, and
a sort of tonal dissolving view thus be created. Later, much interest was
aroused when Mr. G. A. Audsley (in The English Mechanic) suggested a
development of this idea as the normal basis of a concert organ. His
scheme was to enclose Flute tone in one box, String tone in another, and
so forth."f The plan is adopted in a very modified form in the monster
organ designed by Dr. Audsley for the St. Louis Exposition, 1904 (Art
Organ Co., Los Angeles, California).
Whilst gladly recognizing the fact that these dissolving tonal effects
are often of a most pleasing nature, particularly in the case of Celestes
(sub q.v.) of varied character, the adoption of any such system as the
* The Venetian blind, indeed, is supposed to have derived the name from its
similarity to the swell applied in 1769 to the harpsichord by a Venetian, Birkat Shudi,
one of the founders of Messrs. Broadwood's famous pianoforte industry. The Venetian
swell was first adapted to the organ by Green, and soon superseded the original so-called
Nag's Head Swell.
(• From the author's "Tonal Design in Modern Organ Building, pp. 19 and 20.