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The Tierce en taille
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.
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What it is
“En taille” means that the melody is played in the tenor range, that is, in the middle of the keyboard. A tierce en taille is therefore a left-hand récit on the jeu de tierce, accompanied on another keyboard by soft foundation stops, possibly with a bass in the pedal.
It is a characteristic form of French classical organ music: Louis Marchand, Jean-François Dandrieu, Nicolas de Grigny and François Couperin each wrote one.
L'Art du facteur d'orgues
What Dom Bedos says
On fera jouer des Trio sur plusieurs mélanges ; des Duo sur différents claviers ; des Tierces en taille, ou Trompettes, ou Cromornes en taille ; en un mot, tout ce qu’un habile Organiste touche de plus beau.
TranslationOne will have Trios played on several combinations; Duos on different keyboards; Tierces en taille, or Trompettes, or Cromornes en taille; in a word, all the finest things a skilled Organist plays.
In practice
In the music of the Couperins and their contemporaries
Boyvin, in 1690, made up the tierce en taille of the positive thus: “Bourdon, Prestant, Nasard, Doublette, Tierce and Larigot”. Dom Bedos, in 1770, draws on the great organ, for the accompaniment, the two or three 8-foot stops; on the positive, the two 8-foot stops, the prestant or better the 4-foot flute, the nazard, the quarte (or the doublette), the tierce and the larigot; in the pedal, all the foundation stops.
He reproaches many organists for placing the accompaniment too close to the récit, so that the two merge: it should be taken as high as possible, around the fourth octave, where it better imitates the transverse flute. The récit itself must sing and be ornamented with much taste: runs from one end of the keyboard to the other, without melody, do not, in his view, make a true récit.
The works
In the repertoire
5 works in the project’s repertoire bear this name in their title.
François Couperin (1668–1733)
- Messe des Paroisses - Tierce en TailleListen
Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703)
- Premier Livre d’Orgue - Récit de Tierce en tailleListen
Pierre Du Mage (1674–1751)
- Livre d’orgue — Suite du premier ton : Tierce en tailleListen
See also
- Jeu de tierce →Combination
- Tierce →Mutation stop
- Récit →Registration
- Récit de cromorne →Registration
- All the stops →
Sources
- Dom Bedos de Celles, L’Art du facteur d’orgues, IVe partie, Paris, 1778 (texte de l’exemplaire BnF, IMSLP)
- Dom Bedos de Celles, L’Art du facteur d’orgues, IIIe partie, chap. IV, « Les principaux mêlanges ordinaires des Jeux de l’Orgue », Paris, 1770 (transcription Wikisource)
- Jacques Boyvin, Premier livre d’orgue, Paris, 1690, « Avis au public concernant le mélange des jeux de l’orgue » (transcription Wikisource)
- Wikipédia, « Tierce en taille »
- Wikipédia, « Registration »
The musical programme of the Chaumes-en-Brie organ aims to serve this repertoire; its specification will be defined with the selected organ builder.