The Organ Forum

tumult_in_the_praetorium:

• Vox Angelica - was once common on the Swell division.

The instrument in St. John's church of Whangarei, New Zealand has a Vox Angelica in the Choir.  

soubasse32:

Here are a couple 8' string stops:

I miss the shy Aeoline, so many of which were sliced into mutations, or unceremoniously tossed into the dumpster.

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Yesterday I did a concert on an organ with quite a collection of rare stops: a Corno d'Amore (a sort of full Oboe), a Viole d'Orchestre, an Orchestral Oboe, and a Cornopean.

 That same organ I mentioned also has an Aeoline in the Swell and a Viol d'Orchestre in the Choir. I can't quite remember if the 'Viol' had an 'e' on the end or not on the stop.

 That organ was built around about the year 1900 and used to be the Christchurch town hall organ, before being installed in the Whangarei church.

 The Choir also features an 8' Harmonic Clarabella, which seems to be fairly unusual. Is the Clarabella usually an open stop? I can't see there being enough room in that division for a 16' pipe, which I understand is what is necessary for a "harmonic" stop.

The Choir also features an 8' Harmonic Clarabella, which seems to be fairly unusual. Is the Clarabella usually an open stop? I can't see there being enough room in that division for a 16' pipe, which I understand is what is necessary for a "harmonic" stop.

I think that harmonic flutes are only harmonic from middle C (or perhaps tenor C?) up.

I suppose you could use the German spelling of Heckelphon, when referring to the instrument.  But the term Heckelphone is probably more commonly used, and is of course what we find on E.M. Skinner consoles. 

The wrong (but not so uncommonly used) spelling that I accidentally used is: Hecklephone.  My Francophone instincts may have inadvertently led me to type it that way. 

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Soubasse32

Aha - I do see clearly now Maestro SB32 - For a minute there I thought that I was losing it totally. 

 

 

soubasse32:

I suppose you could use the German spelling of Heckelphon, when referring to the instrument.  But the term Heckelphone is probably more commonly used, and is of course what we find on E.M. Skinner consoles. 

The wrong (but not so uncommonly used) spelling that I accidentally used is: Hecklephone.  My Francophone instincts may have inadvertently led me to type it that way. 

what organstops from yesteryear that had fallen out of favor have begun to make a reappearance on NEW (real pipe) organs?

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www.nycfarmboy.com
www.reuter822.com

Buzard is fond of the Flûte à biberon to the extent that he seems to put it in all of his instruments.  That stop is an example of something that is a little older than 'yesteryear' perhaps. 

The Dictionary of Organ Stops notes that it wasn't popular then, so one wonders why would it be popular now?    Maybe it is not, as nobody else seems to be building them.

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Soubasse32

interesting!

Maybe St. Thomas will include a Magneton on their new organ ;)


I would like to see some larger scale diapasons return..I've never heard or played a set that had intact leathered lips...I'd be really interested in seeing/hearing some of those.

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www.nycfarmboy.com
www.reuter822.com

Harmonic flutes are normally harmonic from middle F or treble C (i.e. for an 8' stop). 

Standard Cavaille-Coll practice was to make the Grand Orgue 8' Flute harmonique harmonic from middle F.  Then 4' Flutes octaviantes and 2' Octavins (harmonic flutes, mind you, not principals these!) were harmonic from 1' C, as often were 8' Flutes harmoniques or traversieres on Recit divisions.

BTW, Clarabellas are always open stops, though the bass octave is often stopped. 

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J. P. Sweelinck

"I heard an 8' Bell Gamba that was utterly beguiling.  They are 'too expensive' to make new and they do take up valuable space on a chest."

Fritz Noack is one of the few modern makers to produce these. 

"The Heckelphone is a rare reed with a fun name."

Now, everyone does know what a real Heckelphone is, yes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckelphone

It's a double-reed instrument developed over a century ago by the Heckel company of Biebrich-am-Rhein, Germany (famous for their bassoons), playing an octave lower than the oboe but with a stronger tone.  Richard Strauss' use of it inspired Skinner to develop his organ version.

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J. P. Sweelinck

I wasn't aware that Noack was making Bell Gambas.  Thanks for that info.

jpsweelinck:

Now, everyone does know what a real Heckelphone is, yes?

I had posted a link to the company that makes these today - it is back one page.

Here is an interesting CD of modern music composed for organ and electronics (two performers); the five tracks of the composition are named after rarely-used organ stops - the Bordunal, Phoneuma, Magnaton, Philomela, and Clavaeolina.  Unfortunately, these stops are not on the organ used for the recording.  One unusual stop that the organ does have: a Vox Candida.

AllanP:

San Diego's outdoor organ has a Magneton which still plays. The organ was built by Austin.

As long as we are being fussy about spelling in this thread  that stop name is actually Magnaton, as in "great/large" and "tone".  Magneton on the other hand, makes me think of something that you'd stick on a refrigerator door.   

The Kotzschmar organ by Austin (Portland, Maine) contains a 32' Contra Magnaton.  Their Magnaton and Contre Bombarde were removed in an ill-advised renovation in 1968.  Thankfully these were restored in the 1990's, and the organ is one of the finest organs of its type, with many recordings.

I also found this website, which details how a Magnaton ended up on the ceiling of a pizza parlor.    I wonder what happened to it?  These stops are so rare - how many of them could there have been?

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Soubasse32

cosmicpanda:

 The Choir also features an 8' Harmonic Clarabella, which seems to be fairly unusual. Is the Clarabella usually an open stop? I can't see there being enough room in that division for a 16' pipe, which I understand is what is necessary for a "harmonic" stop.

A Clarabella is a large-scale open wood flute invented by J. C. Bishop. The stop you are talking about probably had either a "Borrowed Bass", an open bass, or a stopped bass. The first and the last options are unlikely, since in most larger instruments an open bass of wood be provided for stops such as these.

Some food for the thought: G. A. Audsley said that Father Willis had a strong dislike for wood stops. In his Organ Stops and Their Artistic Registration he wrote:

"So great was his dislike [for wooden pipes] that in all the manual divisions of his large Organ in the Royal Albert Hall, London, there are only two wood stops. He assured us, on asking his reason, that he obtained better wood-tones from metal pipes. We questioned it." 

So instead of making a wooden Clarabella for the solo organ, he made a Harmonic Clarabella with a wooden bass, metal resonators from middle C, and harmonic trebles from the G above that. He called it a Harmonic Claribel so I don't know it if it is anything like the stop you were talking about. This stop is said to be one of the most exquisite flutes in all of England. 

Violoncello 

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Do you Has what it takes to be an Organist?

sesquialtera16:

I miss the shy Aeoline, so many of which were sliced into mutations, or unceremoniously tossed into the dumpster.

Apparently our modern ears do not have the patience for a true pianissimo. 

Despite occasional appearances here on the Forum the rare Keraulophone remains an elusive creature!  I would love to encounter this stop in person.

I heard an 8' Bell Gamba that was utterly beguiling.  They are 'too expensive' to make new and they do take up valuable space on a chest.

The Hecklephone is a rare reed with a fun name.

 

Joe Whiteford of Aeolian-Skinner liked aeolines and included some as late as the 60s organs he designed. One was a 1960 for national City Christian in DC and the other for St Paul Cathedral RC in Minnesota currently undergoing renovation/enlargement by Quimby.

The keraulophone in true form should have a small hole near the top of the pipe behind and not in front. West Point has a specimen in the choir with 4 additional voices of unda maris tone tunes sharp-double sharp-flat double flat for a 5-rank dulciana unison ensemble. The other is the 1933 Skinner at Girard College in Philly-in the swell.

The bellgamba was a Roosevelt trademark for the greatr divisions.GDH of A-S wrote one into the specs for the Salt Lake orgaa BUT in the installation a regular skinner salicional 60 scale went in.

The heckelphone as per skinner was 6-7 times more powerful than the englishhorn. The 1922 St Luke Episcopal in Evanstown is flat topped and the 1928 Yale at Woolsey is a double bell version on 15'' with plenty of pluck.

 

I belive those Whiteford organs were rebuilds.... so lord knows what the organist wanted or the budget limitations were. I belive those aeolian ranks were reused from the origional organ..... as per the change in heckelphone design. Skinner Changed his English Horn design inbetween 1922 and 1928. A heckelphone afterall is an English Horn on steroids. Really good Steroids..... ;)

 Here's a disappearing stop name for you.... and gladly so!!!..... AKUTA!

Akuta means: He whos ears bleed, at the sound of it.

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i THINK i have seen one of those somehwere here in southern Indiana....or maybe in nYC.....but not sure where..hmmm....interesting name!

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www.nycfarmboy.com
www.reuter822.com

Your assumption concerning the Whiteford Aeolines is entirely in error. If you simply consult the opus list and the specs and dates you will see quite readily that the organs he placed these ethereal strings in were NEW. Sorry to burst your bubble. I admit I am wrong often myself on many organ topics especially on the difference between block and cap on wood pipes.

In 1966-67 the new Gil Adams POSITIV at Riverside in NYC contained an Akuta III at 1/3'. Later it was reconfigured to a Terzzymbel III where it remains to this day.