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

DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS. 1
IV ranks, Sydney Town Hall (Hill); Manchester Town Hall (Cavaille"-
Coll). The pipes are of course very high pitched. At Manchester Town
Hall the stop is always used with the Cor de Nuit. It is composed of one
rank (Twelfth) to tenor F sharp, above that of three ranks 12, 17, 22.
From the said note it actually runs up to top C 4 (in altissimo) without a
break. The pipes, with the exception of the top few, are all slotted for
tuning purposes. The top pipe measures ^ in. long.
It is questionable whether pipes of such microscopical dimensions are
audible to the average human ear. Some persons of abnormal hearing,
unable, however, to distinguish low bass notes, can detect the cries of
insects too shrill for the average person to notice, whilst others, perceiving
low notes more easily, are frequently found to be positively unable to
distinguish the top notes of a Fifteenth. At the same time these shrill
pipes produce resultant tones of some power. The effect of the Glocken-
spiel at Westminster Abbey, and Carillon at Manchester, seemed to the
author excellent. Stops of this class, whilst useful as ordinary Mixtures,
are particularly effective for use in such recital pieces as "Carillons de
Dunkerque " (Carter), " Rondo di Campanelli " (Morandi), " Air composed
for Holsworthy Church Bells " (Wesley). The difficulty, however, lies in
their tuning, and the author has heard such excellent effects produced
from a Quintaton, or Cor de Nuit, of modern voicing—a stop vastly more
useful, and free from the disadvantages attendant on such small pipes—that
the use for the Carillon of Mixture pipes would seem to him unnecessary.
The late Mr. W. T. Best obtained peculiar effects of this type by the
use of mutation work, and of such combinations as Double, Fifteenth and
Vox Humana. The best recipe for the production of bell effects from
organ stops, with which the author is acquainted, is that of Mr. T. Tertius
Noble, the able organist of York Minster. It consists of Great organ
Waldfiote, or Gedackt 8 ft., or both, to which is coupled Solo organ
Harmonic Flute, 8 ft. (box closed) and Tremulant. Sometimes the Vox
Humana, the String Gamba (box closed), or even the Cdleste is added as a
slight colouring. The essence of the effect lies in the two Flute tones in
which, by the action of the Tremulant, is induced a slight disparity of pitch.
The discordant beating of the bell is thus simulated, the more faithfully
if the Solo swell pedal be sparingly requisitioned for sforzando effects.
Other examples of Glockenspiel occur at St. Michael, St. Catherine,
St. Jacobi, St. Nicholas, Hamburg. According to Hamel, at St. Michael,
Ohrdruff, it is of steel bars, and of complete manual compass.
Cedirne—4 ft-
A stop of metal, probably string-toned (Cithern), used by Renatus
Harris at Magdalen College, Oxford, (1690).
Celeste—See Voix Celeste.
9