Specifications

RENAISSANCE 450 SECTION I
1.
DESCRIPTION OF STOPS
PITCH FOOTAGE
The number appearing on each stop along with its name indicates the “pitch” or
“register” of the particular stop. It is characteristic of the organ that notes of different
pitches may be sounded from a single playing key. When this sound corresponds to
the actual pitch of the playing key, the note (or stop) is referred to as being of 8’ (eight
foot) pitch; therefore, when an 8’ stop is selected and Middle C is depressed, the pitch
heard will be Middle C. If it sounds an octave higher, it is called 4’ or octave pitch. If
it sounds two octaves higher, it is called 2’ pitch, while a stop sounding three octaves
higher is at 1’ pitch. Likewise, a 16’ stop sounds an octave lower, and a 32’ stop
sounds two octaves lower.
Stops of 16’, 8’, 4’, 2’, and 1’ pitch all have octave relationships, that is, these
even
numbered stops
all sound octaves of whatever key is depressed. Pitches other than
octaves are also used in organ playing. Their footage number always contains a
fraction, and they are referred to as
Mutations.
Among these are the 2-2/3’ Nasard
and Quinte, 1-3/5’ Tierce, and 1-1/3’ Quintflöte. Because they introduce unusual
pitch relationships with respect to the fundamental (8’) tone, they are most effective
when combined with other stops, and are used either in solo passages or in small
ensembles of flutes (see explanation of Cornet in Section II, Page 18).
TONAL FAMILIES
Organ tones divide into two main categories: flues and reeds. In a pipe organ, flue
pipes are those in which the sound is set in motion by wind striking directly on the
edge of the mouth of the pipe. Flues include principal tones, flute tones, and string
tones. Compound stops and hybrid stops are variations within these three families.
The term
imitative
means that the organ stop imitates the sound of the corresponding
orchestral instrument; for example, an imitative 8’ Viola would be a stop voiced to
sound similar to an orchestral viola.
Principal Voices
Principal
Diapason
Octave
Super Octave
Fifteenth
Quinte
Characteristic organ tone, not imitative of orchestral
instruments. Usually present at many pitch levels, as
well as in all divisions. Rich, warm, and harmonically
well developed.