The Organ Forum

O.K. I was at it again, thinking up stoplists. I was reading Schoenstein's site last night when something they said struck me I don't remember the exact wording but the point of it said that it is the mark of the true craftsman to be able to come up with good, and serviceable stoplists for small instruments. That got me thinking, to a degree, any idiot can throw together a massive 3 million rank instrument, just take everything under the sun and throw it together, but to come up with a good small instrument is really tough, you must decide what is absolutely essential. To that end I set out this evening to think up thed smallest scheme that could really serve as a service (church) instrument. Sure I could go smaller, but too small and you wind up with a practice instrument, not an instrument to really lead services. So, I offer for comment the following stoplist. I could have gone smaller, but I feel that this organ is small enough to be a "small" organ but large enough to be practical.

Great                                   Swell                                          Pedal
16 Lieblich Gedackt               16 Bourdon                                 16 Principal
8 Gedackt                             8 Principal                                  16 Bourdon
8 Principal                             8 Bourdon                                   8 Bourdon
4 Gedackt                             8 Spitzflote                                  8 Principal
4 Octave                               8 Spitzflote Celeste                      8 Gedackt
IV Mixture                             4 Octave                                      4 Choral Bass
2 2/3 Nasard                         4 Bourdon                                    4 Gedackt
2 Rohr Flote                          4 Spitzflote                                  4 Bourdon
1 1/3 Terz                             III Fourniture                                 IV Mixture
8 Oboe                                 2 2/3 Nasard                               16 Trombone
8 Trumpet                             2 Principal                                   8 Tromba
4 Clarion                               2 Waldflote                                  8 Oboe
                                           1 1/3 Tierce
                                           16 Contra Bassoon
                                           8 Bassoon
                                           8 Trumpet
                                           4 Clarion

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

Just one question about your formulation for the stoplist.   What lead to your decision to sacrifice the string family?   I come from a background of small electronic instruments and I vividly remember several of the companies used to brag that they were authentic because they had represented all four families of tone.  Do you find the string family less useful since it isn't often used to accompany the congregation, but more in solo passages?

I find that some principals are actually kind of stringy (to my ear anyway). The ultimate idea behind this was to design the smallest possible instrument that in my mind still met some basic criteria for accompanying a congregation, but I also strove to make this instrument as flexible as possible, giving each division a complete chorus of flutes, principals and reeds, independent of the other divisions.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

If this is indeed a "straight" organ (each division standing on it's own without being a highly unitized organ) then to me at least this would not be a "small" organ.  I think of small organs as 3-20 ranks.  This is bigger!!!

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"The Organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring,
the most magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius."

that seems like a larger organ to me! and you need some strings..the Spitzflote/flute celeste is a luxury stop i think more appropriate for a larger organ......might wanna consider a salicional/voix celeste..or gambe/gambe celeste. :)

How many ranks would you use for that specification?

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www.nycfarmboy.com
www.reuter822.com

I suppose to a degree Small is relative, this is small compared to Skinner op. 328 (Cleveland Public Auditorium), or Wanamkers (isn't every thing small compared to Wanamaker?). However, I did intend for the divisions to at least be extended if not unitized.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

Yeah I guess that is relative.  From experience the organs we tune in the southeast range anywhere from 13 ranks to 95 ranks.  It would be interesting to see data on the "average" number of ranks in US organs.....including houses of worship and performing art centers.  I might be way off but I would guess somewhere around 28 or less..

If your stoplist is indeed  unitized then that cuts down considerably the number of ranks.

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"The Organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring,
the most magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius."

I was going to go for extension over unitization, since as I understand it extension would provide a greater amount of flexibility, I had intended each division to be independent of the others (except maybe the pedal), I am regularly at a Martini (not regularly enough my teacher would say...) but one thing I HATE about it is that there's really only one division, and there's really no independence between the manuals. I just wanted a "small" colorful, powerful, flexible and appropriate design. I'd like to maybe build this some day, but, for now it remains to use a trite pun a pipe dream.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

Ahhhh Austin766 never give up on your dreams.  Good news is that there is so much used pipework, consoles and chests on the market you can build that organ for much less than you could would ever believe.  Home organ projects are more fun than eating desert.

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"The Organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring,
the most magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius."

That doesn't seem like a small instrument to me...    Could you tell us which ranks are unified and/or extended?  It is hard to get a good picture of the instrument without that info.

As far as accompanying a congregation, I've done it on a 5-rank Moller Artiste.    I've also played a recital of romantic music on it, which came off rather convincingly.  Of course, it helps to have the entire instrument under expression as well as a big Diapason for hymn-singing.

If you are looking towards the French Romantic school here is a tiny - but extraordinarily effective - Cavaillé-Coll:

Grand-Orgue	Récit	Pédale
Bourdon 16'	Flûte harmonique 8'	Flûte 16' (prepared)
Montre 8'	Viole de gambe 8'	Soubasse 16' (G.O.)
Bourdon 8'	Voix céleste 8'	Flûte 8' (G.O.)
Salicional 8'	Flûte octaviante 4'	Basse 8' (G.O.)
Prestant 4'	Octavin 2'	Bombarde 16' (prepared)
Flûte douce 4'	Basson-Hautbois 8'	Trompette 8' (G.O.)
Trompette 8'	Voix humaine 8'	G.O./Péd
Récit/G.O.	Tremblant	Récit/Péd
	Expression Récit	Pédale du tonnerre

So - 14 ranks with no manual extensions... and it can play anything!  OK, perhaps not baroque music, but you'd be surprised how well some of it sounds on this instrument.  I have an entire album of Guilmant pieces recorded on this organ, and I find that I never tire of hearing it or wish for a larger instrument.  The versatility of this C-C amazes me.

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Soubasse32

Great                                   Swell                                          Pedal
16 Lieblich Gedackt (ext)        16 Bourdon (ext)                          16 Principal (ext)
8 Gedackt                             8 Principal                                  16 Bourdon(ext)
8 Principal                             8 Bourdon                                   8 Bourdon
4 Gedackt (ext)                      8 Salicional                                 8 Principal
4 Octave (ext)                        8 voix Celeste                              8 Gedackt (Gt)
IV Mixture                             4 Octave (ext)                              4 Choral Bass (ext)
2 2/3 Nasard                         4 Bourdon (ext)                            4 Gedackt (ext)
2 Rohr Flote (ext)                  4 Salicional (ext)                           4 Bourdon (ext)
1 1/3 Terz                             III Fourniture                                 IV Mixture
8 Oboe                                 2 2/3 Nasard                               16 Trombone (ext)
8 Trumpet                             2 Principal (ext)                            8 Tromba
4 Clarion (ext)                        2 Waldflote (ext)                          8 Oboe (Gt)
                                           1 1/3 Tierce
                                           16 Contra Bassoon(ext)
                                           8 Bassoon
                                           8 Trumpet
                                           4 Clarion (ext)

I hope this clears thing up some, I know it isn't necessarily "small" but compared to some of the things I've cranked out, this is small. A Moeller Artiste is an entirely different animal from say a six rank Martini... I could see leading a congregation (not huge) with an Artiste, but a Martini....nuh-uh. I really wanted reasonable independence of divisions. EDIT I replaced the spitzflote & celeste with a string and matching celeste.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

I'm not an expert, but I think a 4' reed on the pedals (Schalmei, perhaps) would be more useful than having 2 4' stopped flutes there (Gedackt and Bourdon)--I'd replace one of the flutes with a reed.  Of course, I'm a neophyte with little experience, so others may feel differently about it.

David

Austin766:

Great                                   Swell                                          Pedal
16 Lieblich Gedackt (ext)        16 Bourdon (ext)                          16 Principal (ext)
8 Gedackt                             8 Principal                                  16 Bourdon(ext)
8 Principal                             8 Bourdon                                   8 Bourdon
4 Gedackt (ext)                      8 Salicional                                 8 Principal
4 Octave (ext)                        8 voix Celeste                              8 Gedackt (Gt)
IV Mixture                             4 Octave (ext)                              4 Choral Bass (ext)
2 2/3 Nasard                         4 Bourdon (ext)                            4 Gedackt (ext)
2 Rohr Flote (ext)                  4 Salicional (ext)                           4 Bourdon (ext)
1 1/3 Terz                             III Fourniture                                 IV Mixture
8 Oboe                                 2 2/3 Nasard                               16 Trombone (ext)
8 Trumpet                             2 Principal (ext)                            8 Tromba
4 Clarion (ext)                        2 Waldflote (ext)                          8 Oboe (Gt)
                                           1 1/3 Tierce
                                           16 Contra Bassoon(ext)
                                           8 Bassoon
                                           8 Trumpet
                                           4 Clarion (ext)

Thanks for clearing up a few things.  More questions however...

Your Tierce and Terz are listed as 1 1/3' - either those should be Quints or Larigots or you've got your feet mixed up. 

Two 2' stops seem a bit much in the Swell; it is a luxury even on a larger instrument.

I assume the Oboe on the Great is from the Swell?  If not, why not have a Cromorne instead of having a 2nd Oboe?  You could even have it play at 4' pitch in the Pedal, which would approximate the Schalmei that David wants. 

The one thing I would definitely avoid: borrowing your 4' stops from your 8' Principals.  Your 4' will end up being out of balance, especially since you have mixtures on this instrument.  You need your principal chorus to be as independent as possible.

...Which brings up another point: I count 28 ranks, which is fairly sizeable.  What you have are many 8' stops, no independent 4' stops, then mutations, mixtures, and reeds.  There is a hole in the middle!  You should perhaps have more independent 4' stops and one or two fewer mutations and/or mixtures.  It will sound more pleasing, I think.

The Pedal Mixture is extraneous, in my opinion.  I've played some very fine, large instruments without a Pedal Mixture and never missed it.

The only other thing I would do (if I were designing the spec) would be to keep the nomenclature of all extended stops the same, just so the organist knows exactly which stops are derived.  So the Bourdon doesn't turn into a Waldflöte, etc.

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Soubasse32

So, you're suggesting something like
Great                                   Swell                                          Pedal
16 Gedackt (ext)                   16 Bourdon (ext)                          16 Principal (ext)
8 Gedackt                             8 Principal                                  16 Bourdon(ext)
8 Principal                             8 Bourdon                                   8 Bourdon
4 Gedackt (ext)                      8 Salicional                                 8 Principal
4 Octave                               8 Voix Celeste                             8 Gedackt (Gt)
IV Mixture                             4 Octave                                     4 Choral Bass (ext)
2 2/3 Nasard                         4 Bourdon (ext)                            4 Gedackt (ext)
2 Gedackt (ext)                     4 Salicional                                  4 Bourdon (ext)
1 3/5 Terz                             III Fourniture                                 16 Tombone (ext)
8 Cromorne                           2 2/3 Nasard                                8 Tromba
8 Trumpet                             2  Bourdon(ext)                             8 Oboe (SW)
4 Clarion (ext)                                                                          4 Schlamei (GT)
                                           16 Contra Bassoon(ext)
                                           8 Bassoon
                                           8 Trumpet
                                           4 Clarion (ext)

Yes, I did get my feet mixed up, I'm not quite sure where my brain was, but it was on the task at hand, drawing up this spec.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

Now you're cooking with gas! 

Just put (ext) after the 4' Salicional and fix your "Tombone" 

You might want to have that 16' Bassoon in the Pedal too.

One more thing... I prefer to only have one extension per stop (16'/8' or 8'/4' or 4'/2').  Two extensions per stop is OK in the Pedal, since it is a small instrument.

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Soubasse32