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

38 DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS.
the work of the old builders, provides a striking exemplification of the
validity of this contention. But the fact is, not only the musical require-
ments of the age but also some of the fundamental principles of organ
building have since changed, and modern voicers have no desire to
embrace Father Smith as their sole tonal exemplar. Diapasons of the
old style, though in a sense pervading, are but slightly more powerful
than Dulcianas ; they are pre-eminently adapted to a certain type of
unenclosed Choir organ, but, as has already been observed, when required
to do duty as Great organ primary Diapasons they do not adequately
satisfy the practical requirements of the present age. A certain old-
fashioned delicacy of tone has indeed to be sacrificed (though it is
preserved in registers more fitted to display it), but in its stead we are
enabled to command a breadth and sonority infinitely more dignified,
grand and soul-stirring. *
* An absurd superstition, which seemingly dies hard, is that the tone of organs
improves with age. Few responsible persons, I suppose, will attempt to maintain this, so
far as reed tone is concerned. As regards flue pipes, it is known that alloys containing a
large proportion of tin undergo, within a short period after casting, a certain amount of
change as regards malleability. Practically considered, though it is just possible that
some slight change of tone may occur within the first few months after the pipe is made
whilst, so to speak, it is settling down—there is absolutely no ground whatever for
supposing that subsequent to that period any internal process of change takes place.
There is, on the other hand, every evidence for that fact that constant tuning, extending,
maybe, over a period of some years, must, and does lead to considerable deterioration in
the tone of the pipe. It is also known that alloys rich in tin exhibit a certain amount of
resiliency, and that those containing a large proportion of lead are possessed of slightly
viscous properties, and are therefore apt, with the lapse of time, to sink down under
their own weight. It is quite evident that if these characteristics are at all worthy of
consideration they merely conspire to upset the mouth adjustment of the pipe, and
thereby to impair the tone.
Another similar assertion, sometimes ventured, is that owing to the introduction
of heavier wind pressures pipes no longer mellow with age as in days of yore. The
fact is that the mellowness of the tone which is conspicuous in much of the work
of Father Smith, for instance, was there from the very start. In his days, com-
petition seems to have turned more on the question of merit than of cash ; folks were
more leisurely, and were not addicted to the hurry and bustle of modern commercial
life. We catch one glimpse of the Utopian conditions under which he was enabled to
labour in Dr. Burney's traditional statement, grossly exaggerated as it certainly is, that
Smith refused to work with wood which had the least knot or flaw in it. Smith,
Snetzler, and Green, were the Willis's and Hills of the day ; there were assuredly
"jerry-builders" in olden time just as now.
The principle that " the old is better than the new " may doubtless hold valid so far
as articles like wine and furniture are concerned, but in the case of organs mere
antiquity is, in itself, no guarantee of value, but rather the reverse : for in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred the antiquity of an organ is merely an estimate of its utter
worthlessness for practical purposes. Even in the case of the famous old English builders
the defence, under its best complexion, virtually amounts to this :—that given such an
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