Pour another whisky and consider this

[Bevington]

My brother-in-law is renovating his house and has decided (after years of fiddling) to have his house organ rebuilt and completed. (No, he is not a professional musician but high up in medical circles). So sit back and relax, pour a drink and get out your pencil and paper. The following is an extract from correspondence between us about the current organ; his ideas; and my first proposal. The organ was originally built for a small mansion by a reputable builder.

Suggestions welcome!

 

. . . As suggested I have written below what we have and the future plan so we can work out what exists and what is needed. Current specification:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Clarabel 8

Clear Flute 4

Super Octave 2

Clarinet 8

 

Swell:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 (Pipes are really a stopped diapason)

Gamba 8

Celeste 8

Flauto traverso 4 (Pipes are harmonic from middle C??)

Piccolo (prepared on unit chest)

Trumpet 8

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave.

 

(Brother-in-laws) Proposal:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 ( ex Sw)

Princ 4 (ex Sw Open repitched)

Flute Harmonique 4 (ex Sw)

Super Octave 2

 

Sw:

Clarabel Flute 8 (ex Great revoiced to be increase Harmonic development

Gamba 8 (Revoiced/ Rescaled to make it a true?? Gamba ie increase the body of sound)

Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4 (Need to be sourced)

Flautina 2 (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Sesq II (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Trumpet 8 (Increase scale from Treble C up)

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave. Some revoicing of this rank needed)

 

 

So left over pipe work is:

Dulciana 8 from original organ

Clear flute 4

Clarinet 8

 

And my initial suggestion . . .

 

Great:

 

Open Diapason 8

Stopt Diapason 8 (fmr Lieblich Ged - Sw)

Principal 4

Fifteenth 2 (fmr Superoctave)

Corno di Bassetto 8 (fmr Clarinet opened up)

 

Swell:

Claribel Flute 8

Gamba 8

Voix Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4

Stopt flute 4

Sesquialtera II

Trompette 8

 

Pedal:

Bourdon 16

Bass Flute 8

Flute 4 (from 8')

Choral Bass 4

 

Any ideas?

[Pierre Lauwers]

Why get rid of an open 8' ? (Is the "Dulciana" the Swell O.D. ?)

 

Pierre

[Bevington]

Why get rid of an open 8' ? (Is the "Dulciana" the Swell O.D. ?)

 

Pierre

 

Dulciana was orginally on the Great. The Swell is limited to 7 stops.

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

It's by no means clear to me what is wrong with the current spec. If he is bored with it, to what extent do either of your proposals make the scheme radically different?

[pcnd5584]

It's by no means clear to me what is wrong with the current spec. If he is bored with it, to what extent do either of your proposals make the scheme radically different?

 

I quite like the original scheme, too. Aside from tapping-off a Quint (10 2/3) from the existing Bourdon and completing the Swell with the addition of a Piccolo (my own preference would be a Flageolet), I would be happy with this, on paper, at least.

[emsgdh]

Dear fellow member:

 

A couple of things:

 

This is a job for CYNIC. He's forgotten more about this subject than the rest of us will ever know.

 

You may find my opinions out of step with current thinking, but I'd prefer a third 8-ft. stop on the Gt., a Dulciana, perhaps, to anything higher that 4-ft. Chamber organs don't require much upper work.

 

It would be nice to have a 4-ft. Principal on the Gt. I like seeing the Clarinet there, as well.

 

Cornet on the Sw. nice, but I don't think the Trumpet useful in this context.

 

One must protect the ears in a small space.

 

Just my thoughts - nothing carved in stone.

 

emsgdh

 

 

 

My brother-in-law is renovating his house and has decided (after years of fiddling) to have his house organ rebuilt and completed. (No, he is not a professional musician but high up in medical circles). So sit back and relax, pour a drink and get out your pencil and paper. The following is an extract from correspondence between us about the current organ; his ideas; and my first proposal. The organ was originally built for a small mansion by a reputable builder.

Suggestions welcome!

 

. . . As suggested I have written below what we have and the future plan so we can work out what exists and what is needed. Current specification:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Clarabel 8

Clear Flute 4

Super Octave 2

Clarinet 8

 

Swell:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 (Pipes are really a stopped diapason)

Gamba 8

Celeste 8

Flauto traverso 4 (Pipes are harmonic from middle C??)

Piccolo (prepared on unit chest)

Trumpet 8

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave.

 

(Brother-in-laws) Proposal:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 ( ex Sw)

Princ 4 (ex Sw Open repitched)

Flute Harmonique 4 (ex Sw)

Super Octave 2

 

Sw:

Clarabel Flute 8 (ex Great revoiced to be increase Harmonic development

Gamba 8 (Revoiced/ Rescaled to make it a true?? Gamba ie increase the body of sound)

Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4 (Need to be sourced)

Flautina 2 (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Sesq II (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Trumpet 8 (Increase scale from Treble C up)

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave. Some revoicing of this rank needed)

 

 

So left over pipe work is:

Dulciana 8 from original organ

Clear flute 4

Clarinet 8

 

And my initial suggestion . . .

 

Great:

 

Open Diapason 8

Stopt Diapason 8 (fmr Lieblich Ged - Sw)

Principal 4

Fifteenth 2 (fmr Superoctave)

Corno di Bassetto 8 (fmr Clarinet opened up)

 

Swell:

Claribel Flute 8

Gamba 8

Voix Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4

Stopt flute 4

Sesquialtera II

Trompette 8

 

Pedal:

Bourdon 16

Bass Flute 8

Flute 4 (from 8')

Choral Bass 4

 

Any ideas?

[Bevington]

It's by no means clear to me what is wrong with the current spec. If he is bored with it, to what extent do either of your proposals make the scheme radically different?

 

Good point, Patrick, and fair to say that the man who maintains the organ and will do the work on it has been Very Patient with changes of mind, suggested new designs and so on. You are probably aware of other non professional organists who like to fiddle for no good reason! There was some initial concern that this organ should have been left intact as a good example of a 1930s house organ. However by the time my brother-in-law had installed it in his house ten or more years ago, he had already made small alterations.... This time he wants it all done professionally and asked me what I would do if I had the above numbers of stops on each division. My first response was "What do you want to play on it?". He asked for a number of options, so I obliged as an armchair exercise. But yes, it could well be left alone,

[Pierre Lauwers]

Good point, Patrick, and fair to say that the man who maintains the organ and will do the work on it has been Very Patient with changes of mind, suggested new designs and so on. You are probably aware of other non professional organists who like to fiddle for no good reason! There was some initial concern that this organ should have been left intact as a good example of a 1930s house organ. However by the time my brother-in-law had installed it in his house ten or more years ago, he had already made small alterations.... This time he wants it all done professionally and asked me what I would do if I had the above numbers of stops on each division. My first response was "What do you want to play on it?". He asked for a number of options, so I obliged as an armchair exercise. But yes, it could well be left alone,

 

, and this is what I -and presumably others here- would do.

 

Pierre

[Guest Cynic]

My brother-in-law is renovating his house and has decided (after years of fiddling) to have his house organ rebuilt and completed. (No, he is not a professional musician but high up in medical circles). So sit back and relax, pour a drink and get out your pencil and paper. The following is an extract from correspondence between us about the current organ; his ideas; and my first proposal. The organ was originally built for a small mansion by a reputable builder.

Suggestions welcome!

 

. . . As suggested I have written below what we have and the future plan so we can work out what exists and what is needed. Current specification:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Clarabel 8

Clear Flute 4

Super Octave 2

Clarinet 8

 

Swell:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 (Pipes are really a stopped diapason)

Gamba 8

Celeste 8

Flauto traverso 4 (Pipes are harmonic from middle C??)

Piccolo (prepared on unit chest)

Trumpet 8

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave.

 

(Brother-in-laws) Proposal:

 

Great:

Open Diapason 8

Liebliech Ged 8 ( ex Sw)

Princ 4 (ex Sw Open repitched)

Flute Harmonique 4 (ex Sw)

Super Octave 2

 

Sw:

Clarabel Flute 8 (ex Great revoiced to be increase Harmonic development

Gamba 8 (Revoiced/ Rescaled to make it a true?? Gamba ie increase the body of sound)

Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4 (Need to be sourced)

Flautina 2 (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Sesq II (On unit chest? Need to be sourced)

Trumpet 8 (Increase scale from Treble C up)

 

Ped:

Bourdon 16

Flute 8 (12 note extension from Bourdon)

Open Diapasion 8 (Bottom 12 notes from Gt Open the rest from Ped Octave)

Octave 4 (top 1.5 Octaves from Gt Superoctave. Some revoicing of this rank needed)

 

 

So left over pipe work is:

Dulciana 8 from original organ

Clear flute 4

Clarinet 8

 

And my initial suggestion . . .

 

Great:

 

Open Diapason 8

Stopt Diapason 8 (fmr Lieblich Ged - Sw)

Principal 4

Fifteenth 2 (fmr Superoctave)

Corno di Bassetto 8 (fmr Clarinet opened up)

 

Swell:

Claribel Flute 8

Gamba 8

Voix Celeste 8

Gemshorn 4

Stopt flute 4

Sesquialtera II

Trompette 8

 

Pedal:

Bourdon 16

Bass Flute 8

Flute 4 (from 8')

Choral Bass 4

 

Any ideas?

 

 

I am enormously flattered by our friend emsgdh's recommendation ...what a responsibility....!

 

I would short-cut the whole topic and say that if your brother-in-law has already lived with the instrument as it stands, he'll know what stops would be useful to him. It is his property! One of the main advantages of having an organ of your own is that you can do exactly what you like with it. It does not matter what anyone else has to say on the subject, if he wants it re-arranged then good luck to him and I hope he enjoys the results.

 

Actually, I think his revised spec looks pretty sound - one obviously wonders how large a space this is in, but that is his problem!

He would probably do better not to try to improve a Clarabella by attempting to revoice it as planned..Clarabellas do not (ever) have much harmonic, that is part of their beauty as solo stops. You do not give give details about the key action... adding things on unit chests is pretty tricky unless we are talking about electric or electro-pneumatic action. To be honest, it is far easier (with any type of manual action) to stick to the number of slides you already have. Pedal ranks can readily be developed because it is very convenient to have these on electric action anyway. Pneumatic chests are not difficult to electrify.

 

As for resourcing extra pipework, I make a practice of saving good material whenever it is brought to my notice. PM me some time and I probably have most of the pipes you need. There is a guy (who advertises pipework) in Warwickshire with huge stocks of pre-enjoyed material, but take a good wad of cash with you when you call. Obviously, second-hand Sequialteras don't come up often, but this is just a different musical use for mildly-voiced old mixture pipework.

 

 

Of course, you probably put this up for us so that we can give you our own specifications.

The trouble is, we all want different things.

 

I'm currently looking seriously at a particular redundant organ on behalf of a famous organist who shall remain nameless. We have chatted about the project at some length already and he has excellent reasons for keeping the ranks he likes, just as I have for disposing of some that he wishes to retain.

He who pays gets to decide, that's the rule.