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Mander Organ Builders Forum

Contra Fagotto At 8' ?


davidh

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I have been surprised to find several instruments with a contra fagotto stop at 8' as I had always assumed that "contra" was an octave below the usual pitch, and therefore the term applied to 16 and 32 foot stops. Is there an explanation for this other than just the whim of an (unnamed) organ builder?

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Whim or ignorance? It would be a Fagotto at 8'. (Or, perhaps more likely, a plain Oboe!)

Well, I suspect either myself or the builder of ignorance (could be both,of course) , which is why I didn't name him.

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The only reasonable explanation of which I could think (apart from the organ builder's ignorance) is that it is an 8' extension of a Contra Fagotto 16' and the builder is trying to be honest by declaring extensions. Even so, it would be better to have the stop name given as "Fagotto (ext) 8'" or something similar.

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Maybe it's a WerkPrinzip organ and the fagotto is on a 4 foot division (as many WerkPrinzip swell organs are) so it is correctly labeled "Contra Fagotto" to denote it as an octave below the pitch centre of that division. Maybe there is also a 4' trumpet to accompany the 8' Contra Fagotto (but no 8' trumpet, obviously) :)

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