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Récit, basse and taille de cromorne

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.

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What it is

The cromorne, a reed stop of the positive, lends itself to three ways of singing, which the titles distinguish. The récit de cromorne puts the melody in the treble, in the right hand. The basse de cromorne puts it in the left hand, low on the keyboard, with an accompaniment of foundation stops in the right hand. The cromorne en taille puts it in the tenor, in the left hand, in the middle of the keyboard.

In all three, the cromorne is alone or joined by the prestant, on the positive; the accompaniment is played on the great organ, with 8-foot foundation stops.

In practice

In the music of the Couperins and their contemporaries

For the récit, Boyvin accompanies the cromorne on the great organ with “the open eight-foot alone”. Dom Bedos draws the cromorne with the prestant and plays the bass on the two 8-foot stops of the great organ. For the basse de cromorne, he draws all the 8-foot stops on the great organ and, on the positive, the prestant and cromorne, played in imitation of the bassoon or the bass viol. Boyvin prefers the cromorne to the trompette for basses, without the bourdon, which would slow it.

For the cromorne en taille, Dom Bedos accompanies with the 8-foot stops of the great organ, plays the cromorne and prestant on the positive and the bass in the pedal. He advises keeping the récit rather low, in the second octave, which has more richness, and taking the accompaniment as high as possible so that it does not merge with the récit.

The works