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

DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS. 25
are not able to dominate the pitch of that stop. It to the Clarinet tube,
however, be added a bell (as above) or a tuning slide bearing around it an
eccentric-shaped piece of metal (such as Messrs. Grindrod's "Tubeon"
a device which often effects considerable improvement in the tone of pipes
to which it is attached) some even-numbered partials spring into greater
prominence, and the tone becomes louder and more Trumpet-like. The
Clarinet is sometimes left entirely open, but when on an open sound-board
(i.e., not enclosed in a swell box) it is usually half covered with a shade,
or sometimes entirely capped, to facilitate regulation as well as for the
purpose of protecting it from dust. Occasionally the Clarinet is continued
by a bass of Bassoon pipes (e.g., St. Mary, Nottingham ; by Bishop).
Some of Willis' Clarinets stand on heavy wind pressure with a bore at the
bottom of the boot but little larger than a pin-hole. The tone of a good
Clarinet is very sweet and clear. Apart from expressive facilities, the
treble of the organ Clarinet may be said to be considerably better than
that of the orchestral instrument, but the bass of the organ stop can never
approach the richness of the Chalumeau (or bass portion) of the orchestral
prototype. The lower octaves are difficult to voice free from rattle. In
the hands of a master the Double Clarinet is a stop of rare beauty. It
was first introduced by Mr. Wedlake in his chamber organ for Mr. H. A.
Hankey, London (1863), at the request of Mr. Augustus Tamplin, a
celebrated executant of the day—especially for use in Meyerbeer's " Robert
le Diable." It is, unfortunately, but seldom made. See also Flue Clarinet.
Scale— Clarinet : CC, if- in.
THE ORCHESTRAL CLARINET is, as its name implies, a stop
bearing a somewhat similar relation to the Clarinet, as does the
Orchestral Oboe to the Oboe.
It is made of ordinary Clarinet pipes, but voiced to be either very thin
and piquant, or full and rich like the Corno di Bassetto. There is a very
good specimen on the Solo organ at Westminster Abbey (Hill). As in
some French examples the stop is very slightly hesitating in speech, but
possesses a delightful piquancy, which would seem to be unobtainable
otherwise. This distinctive feature is probably due to the tongue being
much curved. The Clarinets in orchestrions are free reeds, usually with
square wooden bodies furnished with shades. Welte, of Freibourg
(Saxony), the celebrated orchestrion builders, sometimes, however, employ
large conical bodies, yielding a tone midway between a Bassoon and a
Trumpet.
CLARINET FLUTE—8 ft. tone.
A fairly large-scaled stopped pipe, differing from the ordinary Gedeckt
in that the hole through the stopper is larger, the stopper often longer, the
mouth lower, the nicking finer and the lip thinner. The large hole in
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