The French classical organ

The stops of the organ

What the titles of Couperin and his contemporaries refer to.

“What is called a Stop in the Organ is a row of a certain number of pipes of the same kind, usually set on the same slider,” wrote Dom Bedos de Celles in 1766. All stops, he adds, fall into two kinds: flue stops, which speak through the mouth of their pipes, and reed stops, which speak by means of a reed.

A stop is named after the height of its largest pipe, measured in feet: the 8-foot sounds in unison with the male voice, the 4-foot an octave higher, the 16-foot an octave lower.

French organists of the classical age combined these stops according to conventions so well established that the title of a piece was enough to indicate its registration, and even how to place the hands on the keyboards: plein jeu, tierce en taille, basse de trompette, récit de cromorne.

These conventions changed over time. Jacques Boyvin described them in 1690; in 1770 Dom Bedos published the combinations of his own day, read and corrected, he says, by the Paris organists Calvière, Fouquet, Couperin and Balbastre, noting that taste had changed since those given by Lebègue at the beginning of the century.

Foundation stop

Foundation stops

  • Montre and Prestant

    8 ft and 4 ft

    The open stops that form the backbone of the organ: the montre, whose pipes stand in the façade, and the prestant, an octave higher, to which all the other stops are tuned.

  • Bourdon

    8 ft (stopped 4-ft pipes)

    A foundation stop with stopped pipes, sounding an octave lower than its length would suggest: the soft and indispensable bass of every organ.

  • Doublette

    2 ft

    The open 2-foot stop, sounding two octaves above the 8-foot: the highest of the octave stops of the classical organ.

Mutation stop

Mutation stops

  • Nazard

    2 2/3 ft · 2 works

    A mutation stop that sounds not the note played but its fifth, an octave higher: it colours the foundation stops without being heard on its own.

  • Tierce

    1 3/5 ft · 6 works

    The mutation stop that sounds the major third of the note played, two octaves higher: the most distinctively French colour of the classical organ.

  • Cornet

    5 ranks, treble only · 1 work

    A compound stop of five ranks of pipes speaking together on each key, confined to the upper half of the keyboard: the brilliant voice of récits and of the grand jeu.

Reed stop

Reed stops

  • Trompette

    8 ft · 9 works

    The 8-foot reed stop with conical pipes, the most brilliant of the classical organ: the voice of the basse de trompette, the fugue grave and the grand jeu.

  • Clairon

    4 ft

    The 4-foot reed stop, built like the trompette but an octave higher: it clarifies and brightens the sound of the trompettes.

  • Cromorne

    8 ft (4-ft resonators) · 11 works

    A reed stop with cylindrical resonators, usually placed on the positive: the “cruchant” timbre of the récits, basses and tailles de cromorne.

  • Voix humaine

    8 ft (very short resonators) · 2 works

    A reed stop with very short, half-covered resonators, which seeks to imitate the singing voice and is played with the tremblant doux.

Accessory

Accessories

  • Tremulants

    Two mechanisms that are not stops but modifications of the wind: they make the sound of the pipes waver, gently or forcefully.

Combination

The great combinations

  • Plein jeu

    15 works

    The combination of the organ’s foundation stops with the fourniture and cymbale: a chorus of fifths and octaves, to be treated gravely and majestically.

  • Grand jeu

    8 works

    The most brilliant combination of the French classical organ: all the trompettes and clairons, supported by the cornet and the prestant.

  • Jeu de tierce

    1 work

    The combination of the foundation stops with the nazard, quarte and tierce: a compound timbre suited to duos, quick fugues and tierces en taille.

  • Fond d’orgue

    2 works

    The union of all the organ’s foundation stops, without mutations or reeds, and the name of the solemn pieces written for this combination.

Registration

Registrations, or ways of playing

  • Récit

    16 works

    A piece in which a single voice sings on a solo stop, accompanied on another keyboard by soft foundation stops.

  • Récit de cromorne

    9 works

    The pieces that give the melody to the cromorne of the positive, in the treble, the bass or the tenor, over an accompaniment of soft foundation stops.

  • Tierce en taille

    5 works

    A récit played by the left hand, in the tenor range, on the jeu de tierce of the positive, with the accompaniment floating above in the treble.

  • Basse de trompette

    8 works

    A piece in which the trompette sings in the left hand, in the low register, against a light accompaniment in the right hand.

  • Duo

    10 works

    A piece in two voices, one for each hand, played on two keyboards of different colours.

  • Trio

    14 works

    A piece in three voices, usually two trebles and a bass, in which each voice may be given its own colour.

  • Dialogue

    15 works

    A piece that alternates two or more keyboards, like choirs answering one another.

Sources

The musical programme of the Chaumes-en-Brie organ aims to serve this repertoire; its specification will be defined with the selected organ builder.

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