What do you think of the Quintaten?

[voet]

The organ that I recently acquired has an 8' Quintaten as one of the three 8' flue stops on the Great. My personal preference would have been to have a string stop, but I purchased a used instrument, so I have to live with it.

An organ that I often played in my past was an Aeolian-Skinner that had a 16' Quintaden as the second 16' flue in the pedal. It frustrated me that the prominent 3rd harmonic made it less than desirable as a softer 16' stop. Interestingly, some years later the church enlarged that instrument and added a 16' Bourdon to make up for the deficiency.

However, whenever I play a new instrument, I try to be open minded about what it offers. As I have been playing my organ, I am finding that the Quintaten does have some nice uses. It can beef up the 8' Open Diapason as either a solo stop, or when you want a heavier Diapason sound. It is also nice in the chorus when you want a bit of quint without drawing the 2 2/3 Twelfth. I also like it just by itself for a colorful 8' flute option. In short, this sound is growing on me as I explore ways to use it.

Which leads me to the question, what do you think of the Quintaten and how do you use it?

[toodles]

As with many stops, the devil (or answer) is in the details. It all depends upon the balance between the fundamental and the 3rd harmonic. If the balance is just right, the stop can be very nice. I had an Allen with a Quintaten 16 duplexed to all 3 divisions, and it was a very useful stop--the 3rd harmonic was not so strong that you still got a decent blend with other higher pitched stops. It made a useful solo stop with trem, too, reminding me of a very gentle clarinet.

A later Allen I played had a Quintadena 16 on the Great and upon immediately hearing it, I could not imagine using it for anything as the 3rd harmonic was extremely strong.

I think you are lucky to have the stop and that the one you have got the voicing right.

[voet]

Interesting observations, Toodles. The Encyclopedia of Organ Stops says that the third is more prominent in a Quintadena than a Quintaten, which probably explains your reactions to the two stops. Fortunately mine is of the milder variety. I agree that it is useful as a solo stop as well. They are very popular on Dutch organs, which is where my organ was made.

The Aeolian-Skinner that I mentioned in my original post was built in 1954 (Opus 1302). This was during the Whitford period, but I seem to recall the former organist at the church telling me that Donald Gillett did the voicing. The entire organ sounded very "quinty" to my young ears. It also had an 8' Nason Floete on the Positiv and the mixtures had very strong fifth sounding ranks.

[Silken Path]

I haven't been able to reach organstops.org in a couple of weeks. It says

500 - Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

[toodles]

Try this link: http://www.organstops.org/MainFrameN.html

It works for me, though the shorthand organstops.org does not work for me.

[Silken Path]

Thank you. I won't even ask how you found that out. :)

[toodles]

It is what I had bookmarked for the Encyclopedia.:->

[myorgan]

I haven't been able to reach organstops.org in a couple of weeks. It says

500 - Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

Lamar,

I have run into the same issue on my older browser, however, when I switched to a newer, html5-compliant browser, the site is working. The link I have used is: http://www.organstops.org/index.html. I actually prefer the non-frames version.

You'll find more and more web pages are not working with older browsers as HTML5-compliance is enforced more and more. I've noticed it at work with the websites we require, so I've been updating computers left and right!:-P

Back on topic, though, I've not found a really good use of the stop myself. It feels more like a solo stop to me, and since I have little time to practice these days, it is not a stop that readily lends itself to being used as a solo stop--especially at the 16' pitch.

Michael

[AllenAnalog]

I have no problem accessing the site (using organstops.org) with the latest version of Firefox. Using an old version of a browser can be the cause of many issues with website access these days. Programming of websites evolves and so must the version of your browser to keep up with it.

[Piperdane]

One pipe organ I played a very long time ago had the Quintadena 8' stop as part of the specification. I loved that softer solo stop and made good use of it.

[Melos Antropon]

My own experience with the stop, on a pipe organ I used to play some years ago, was that it was an excellent accompaniment stop for a Cornet solo.

Tony

[toodles]

... though, I've not found a really good use of the stop myself. It feels more like a solo stop to me, and since I have little time to practice these days, it is not a stop that readily lends itself to being used as a solo stop--especially at the 16' pitch.

Michael

Try it where you might use a Dulzian 16 or Clarinet 16 to carry a melody line, with tremulant. If it works, that would be one way it might shine.

[myorgan]

Try it where you might use a Dulzian 16 or Clarinet 16 to carry a melody line, with tremulant. If it works, that would be one way it might shine.

Thank you, Toodles. I'll have to try it sometime soon! Then again, from reading this thread, it depends on the makeup of the stop, and that appears to determine its use.

Michael

[PghBear210]

The organ that I recently acquired has an 8' Quintaten as one of the three 8' flue stops on the Great. My personal preference would have been to have a string stop, but I purchased a used instrument, so I have to live with it.

An organ that I often played in my past was an Aeolian-Skinner that had a 16' Quintaden as the second 16' flue in the pedal. It frustrated me that the prominent 3rd harmonic made it less than desirable as a softer 16' stop. Interestingly, some years later the church enlarged that instrument and added a 16' Bourdon to make up for the deficiency.

However, whenever I play a new instrument, I try to be open minded about what it offers. As I have been playing my organ, I am finding that the Quintaten does have some nice uses. It can beef up the 8' Open Diapason as either a solo stop, or when you want a heavier Diapason sound. It is also nice in the chorus when you want a bit of quint without drawing the 2 2/3 Twelfth. I also like it just by itself for a colorful 8' flute option. In short, this sound is growing on me as I explore ways to use it.

Which leads me to the question, what do you think of the Quintaten and how do you use it?

I would rather have the Quintaten than the chimes on my MOS2 Allen organ.. Seems the 125 had the Chimes option where the 124 had the Quintaten 16 option. I'd personally prefer the depth on the Great because I can fashion chimes from an alterable voice if I needed it. The Quintaten adds depth whether because the harmonic adds a little octave undertone even if played at the 8' pitch level. As of now, everything I have at the 8' pitch level doesn't play well higher up and you have to overcompensate with pedals which can muddy it up a little of you're playing the added harmonic fifths along with it in the pedal.