New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall

[cosmicpanda]

stoplist: http://www.orgelbau-klais.com/m.php?tx=91</p>

The Auckland Town Hall organ was originally built around about the year 1900 as a gift to the city. By 1970, the style that it was built in had gone out of favour, and so it was rebuilt in a more 'Baroque' manner, which I understand was typical of the reform movement of that time.</p>

The new stoplist is meant to reflect more of the orginal organ's character, while still allowing sufficient flexibility to allow satisfactory performance of most of the repertoire. I find it interesting that the Great division is split in two - perhaps the larger part is expressive? </p>

Particularly interesting to me are the 1-5/11' Quarte stop and the 'birdsong' stop. What would a birdsong stop normally do?</p>

The original builders of this organ were Norman &amp; Beard. I have played another of their organs, which also had also four manuals, and it is interesting to compare them. The one that I have played was a lot smaller, and the only 32' stop was a resultant, but like this one, it had a comparitively small solo division, a Viol d'Orchestre in the Choir, and an Aeoline in the Swell.</p>

Construction of the largest pipes have been finished; the 32' Contra-Violone and 32' Untersatz already exist, so Klais only had to build the 32' Contra-Posaune. Installation should apparently begin in January 2009, and the organ is expected to give it's first concert in 2010.</p>

[Guest]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Aloha cosmicpanda,</p>

Thats quite a nice and rich stoplist that Klais has arrived at.  I've seen and heard *Birdsong* stops where five pipes of varying lengths are partly submerged in water and will twitter and chirp when activated by a tab on a keycheek or a toe-piston. Some organs have it as a *Nachtigall* = Nightingale.</p>

Cheerio,</p>

Kphone </p>

 </p>

 </p>

[cosmicpanda]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



That does sound like an interesting effect indeed. </p>

There is one slight mystery: I know that the city organist went on a trip to Germany to check on the progress of the 'Koauau', which is a type of indigenous native instrument. It was a type of flute; however, I don't see any stops called Koauau, so perhaps it is this birdsong stop instead? Perhaps that makes sense, as I think that the Koauau had at best a limited range of pitches, which could be imitated by a setup that you describe.</p>

One thing I was hoping to discover that I forgot to put in the original post: what do the letters HD mean on the stoplist? They seem to come after quite a few stop names. They don't seem to correlate to stops that I know must be added by Klais, and they don't seem to correlate to stops that I know will be extensions (the 32' Contra-Posaune, for example). Does anybody know?</p>

[Menschenstimme]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall

<TABLE class="">
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD class=disp1 class="disp1">Quarte</TD>
<TD class=disp2 class="disp2">


1 5/11’ ???</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P mce_keep="true"></P>

[soubasse32]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



[quote user="cosmicpanda"]I find it interesting that the Great division is split in two - perhaps the larger part is expressive?[/quote]Hmm... I can't see the second part of the Great division - only dashed lines are displayed. [*-)]</P>


Splitting the Greatinto two parts is not a new thing - Cavaillé-Coll did that on several of his larger instruments. There are a couple benefits - the builder may use different pressures, plus it keeps the chests smaller and more manageable. There is alsoadded coupling flexibility.</P>


[quote user="cosmicpanda"]Particularly interesting to me are the 1-5/11' Quarte stop and the 'birdsong' stop. What would a birdsong stop normally do?[/quote]The 1 5/11' Quarte stop must be a mistake, sincethe Quartes I know (Quarte, Quarte de nasard, Quartane) have nothing to do with elevenths. The 1 5/11' would be more properly called an Eleventh; it is part of the 16' tonal series.</P>


I thought we were beyond the bizarre shrieking mutation phase... [^o)] I'd think a None would be a bit more useful; but I'd gladly throwall of thestrange mutationsout for a Grosse Tierce 3 1/5' - that would be much more useful than all of those high, hard-to-tune mutations.</P>


The 'birdsong' stopcan beused whenever the music might benefit from having birds twittering - which is not too often, but it can be humerous at the right moment.[:)] The pipescould be submerged inwater, but glycerin can also be used since itdoesn't evaporate as quickly as water.</P>


[quote user="cosmicpanda"]One thing I was hoping to discover that I forgot to put in the original post: what do the letters HD mean on the stoplist? They seem to come after quite a few stop names. They don't seem to correlate to stops that I know must be added by Klais, and they don't seem to correlate to stops that I know will be extensions (the 32' Contra-Posaune, for example). Does anybody know?[/quote]"HD" is an abbreviation for Hochdruckregister - stops to be placed on higher windpressure. [8-|]</P>

[Guest]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Aloha Grand Master SB32,</p>

As I looked at the spec and saw that the great was assigned to the second manual as is positiv/choir I then thought that positiv/choir is in actuality the second part of the great - sorta like a *Grand Choeur* if I may say so - Maybe I'm missing something here - What say you Sir SB32?</p>

Cheerio,</p>

Kphone</p>

 </p>

 </p>

[cosmicpanda]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Thank you SB32 for your excellently informative reply. If you cannot see the stoplist perhaps you could try a different browser? </p>

After a quick visit to the organ stop encyclopaedia I can see what you mean - all Quartes have nothing to do with elevenths, and the stops that sound elevenths have nothing to do with the Quartes. My guess is that it is a stop left over from the last renovation of this organ, which was in 1970, so it may match the bizarre shrieking mutation phase that you mention. Either that or it is a personal favourite of the city organist, who may have requested it specifically. </p>

[davidecasteel]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Two comments:</P>


1. The Great Division looks very odd to me--almost all diapasons and mostly at 8'.</P>


2. I see that Klais has again included a 64' Vox Balenae stop on this instrument (we have one, too). What is most interesting is that the stop on our instrument is spelled Vox Balaena, a discrepancy I noted when I checked out the stop on the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops online. We were told by Philipp Klais (current boss) that the Vox Balenae spelling was what they originally called it but had been advised by a Latin specialist that it was incorrect and they've been spelling it Vox Balaena on all their most recent instruments (including ours in 2006). I am surprised that the older spelling has apparently been resurrected for the Auckland organ. (It's a resultant stop and actually can be heard.)</P>


David</P>

[cosmicpanda]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



I hadn't noticed the difference in spelling. I wonder if it is a mistake? I know that in a recent newsletter about the organ they said that the loudest stop would be the 16' Ophicleide, but I cannot find one on Klais' stoplist, so I suspect that perhaps this is either not the final stoplist, or that some names will be changed.</p>

The Great Division to me is very much like those that the English organ builder G. A. Audsley proposes in his book, the Art of Organ Building. He recommended a few exposed diapasons and things, with most of the division enclosed. Audsley's book was published around about 1905 if I remember rightly, and this organ was originally built around about that time. It would not surprise me if Norman and Beard built the organ in this manner, and Klais is continuing the tradition. </p>

[davidecasteel]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Reference this link: http://www.aucklandorgan.org.nz/index.asp?page_id=3625</P>


From what is written there, it is apparent that Orgelbau Johannes Klais is performing a restoration of the instrument back to more or less what it was like when built in 1911; some modern technology is being employed where it won't affect the style of the instrument, but the tonal structure and operation is intended to be almost the same. Klais prides itself on its ability to discern and discover the methods and intentions of original organ builders and to the extent that modern practices make it practical they follow those techniques in doing a restoration. I think the result will be an organ like what the original builders would have built if they were building the same instrument today. Reliability and stability should be significantly improved, but it should sound pretty much the same.</P>


As for the Ophicleide, the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops indicates that some consider this to be essentially the same as a Tuba Mirabilis, although perhaps not quite as loud. The entry for Tuba Mirabilis shows that the Tuba Magna is synonymous (or nearly so) with Tuba Magna, and that all these reed voices are supplied from high pressure wind. The Stop List for the Auckland instrument includes both Tuba Mirabilis and Tuba Magna voices--is it possible that one of those is just the Ophicleide renamed?</P>


David</P>

[Guest]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



not all ophicleides are loud or powerful</P>


the a-s organ at st paul in boston has a 16ft ophicleide in the swell</P>


the a-s ophicleide unit at westpoint is on 7'' wind and is hooded and is a chorus reed</P>

[soubasse32]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall

[quote user="Kéraulophone"]Aloha Grand Master SB32,


As I looked at the spec and saw that the great was assigned to the second manual as is positiv/choir I then thought that positiv/choir is in actuality the second part of the great - sorta like a *Grand Choeur* if I may say so - Maybe I'm missing something here - What say you Sir SB32?[/quote]I'm not sure what to think, since it seems I'm not quite seeng the entire spec. I've tried several browsers, and I can only see this on the Great:</P>


<SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: 13px/19px Arial; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0" class=Apple-style-span>
<TABLE style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 100%">
<TBODY>
<TR><FONT size=1></FONT>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Double Open Diapason</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>16’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Bourdon</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>16’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Large Open Diapason</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>8’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Open Diapason</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>8’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Geigen Diapason</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>8’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Hohl Flute</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>8’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Stopped Diapason</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>8'</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Octave</FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>4’</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1></FONT></TD>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; TEXT-ALIGN: right; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 5em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp2 class="disp2"><FONT size=1>4'</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px dashed; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; WIDTH: 20em; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)" class=disp1 class="disp1"><FONT size=1>Wald Flute</FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></SPAN><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline></P>


The blank space with 4' and the Wald Flute with no pitch are exactly as you see them - must be some sort of html formatting problem. Underneath the Wald Flute are a series of dashed lines, which makes me wonder if more text belongs there. Surely the Great doesn't stop at 4' pitch? If it did, I would expect to see all of the upperwork on another chest... and I don't see that either.</P>


The Choir/Positiv looks like exactly that - a blending of a romantic, foundational Choir with a squeaky baroque Positiv. The Tuba reeds don't necessarily make this division a Grand Choeur (the 2nd half of the Great).</P>


Puzzling. [*-)]</P>


[edit] Aha! Now I see what you are all discussing - this organ has two Choir divisions! (sorry - I just did a concert and am a little bleary-eyed)!</P>


Both Choir divisions seem to be expressive, both have celestes, and both contain stops one might ordinarily find in a Choir division. The Choir/Positiv has those extra 'baroque' stops.</P>


But in neither case do I see the completion of the Great with appropriate upperwork and reeds. The presence of that principal chorus onthe Choir doesn'tquite fit the bill- the mixture is only three ranks.</P>


I'm still puzzled... [:|]</P>

[Guest]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall



Aloha SB32,</p>

After pondering your latest post I began to question my faulty assumption about a *Grand-Choeur* and am now pondering if there is a formatting error which blocked out a number of stops.  Oh well.......</p>

Cheerio,</p>

Kphone </p>

[cosmicpanda]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall

[quote user="soubasse32"]

Both Choir divisions seem to be expressive, both have celestes, and both contain stops one might ordinarily find in a Choir division.  The Choir/Positiv has those extra 'baroque' stops.</p>

But in neither case do I see the completion of the Great with appropriate upperwork and reeds.  The presence of that principal chorus on the Choir doesn't quite fit the bill - the mixture is only three ranks.</p>

I'm still puzzled...  [:|]</p>

[/quote]</p>

Appropriate for what era of organ-building? I've played a 4 manual organ by the original builders of the Auckland organ before, and the principal chorus was a 16' open stop (although not called a diapason, it used diapason pipes), two 8' diapasons, a 4' octave, a 2-2/3' twelfth, and a fifteenth. It also had a three rank mixture. As on the Auckland organ, the only higher pitched stops are found on other manuals, and they're not really principal scale, either. Perhaps Klais is merely continuing this tradition?</p>

About that 1-5/11' Quarte stop, I believe that it will be an addition by Klais, as other organs that they have built also contain the same stop with the same unusual name, if you look at their website. </p>

[soubasse32]

Re: New Klais organ in the Auckland Town Hall

[quote user="cosmicpanda"][quote user="soubasse32"]Both Choir divisions seem to be expressive, both have celestes, and both contain stops one might ordinarily find in a Choir division. The Choir/Positiv has those extra 'baroque' stops.


But in neither case do I see the completion of the Great with appropriate upperwork and reeds. The presence of that principal chorus onthe Choir doesn'tquite fit the bill- the mixture is only three ranks.[/quote]Appropriate for what era of organ-building? I've played a 4 manual organ by the original builders of the Auckland organ before, and the principal chorus was a 16' open stop (although not called a diapason, it used diapason pipes), two 8' diapasons, a 4' octave, a 2-2/3' twelfth, and a fifteenth. It also had a three rank mixture.As on the Auckland organ, the only higher pitched stops are found on other manuals, and they're not really principal scale, either. Perhaps Klais is merely continuing this tradition?[/quote]Perhaps; but whatever tradition they are followingis certainly peculiar!</P>


[quote user="cosmicpanda"]About that 1-5/11' Quarte stop, I believe that it will be an addition by Klais, as other organs that they have built also contain the same stop with the same unusual name, if you look at their website.[/quote]I did look at their website, and only saw one other organ that had this stop (Beijing).</P>


Further research (on a different German website) shows the Quarte as being an eleventh, eighteenth, or a twenty-fifth (also called Undezime). According to this website, the 1 5/11' pitch is part of the 8' series (the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops lists it as being part of the 16' series, which I think is correct).</P>


One thing that confused me on the Klais website - apparently they list their Quarte out of order in the Auckland and Beijingspecifications. At Auckland it is Flautino 2', Quarte 1 5/11', Terz 1 3/5'. The correct order should be Flautino 2', Terz 1 3/5', Quarte 1 5/11'. When the stop appears in correct order (between the Terz and the Quinte) then it makes more sense:</P>
<UL>
<LI>Fifteenth 2'</LI>
<LI>Terz 1 3/5' (third)</LI>
<LI>Quarte 1 5/11' (fourth)</LI>
<LI>Quinte 1 1/3' (fifth)</LI>[/list]