An English Organist's Dream, 1850
DREAM ORGANS
Here is an evocative quotation which neatly defines the 19th-century romantic ideal in
music:
Louder and louder it grew until it became like the din and roar of some mighty tempest, or
like the ocean surging upon the shore. In the midst of the tumult a tinkling bell was heard;
another answered, then another, and the storm paused as if to listen... It was growing
serious. What was that? Who screamed? What screamed - that terrible, musical
scream? Was it man or demon? Or was it some monster shut up behind that carved brass
frame - behind those great silver columns - some despairing monster begging, screaming for
freedom? It was the Vox Humana!
Our organist had a fertile imagination. I wonder whether you can spot some of the
possible sources for his dream-organ? There are clues elsewhere in this website.
Note that the couplers allow the three main chorus divisions - Choir, Grand, Great - to
be combined in a number of ways. Draw organo pleno on Choir, Grand and Great, and
draw Great to Choir, Choir to Grand and Great to Grand. Now you can play on those three
manuals, and increase the volume by beginning on Great, moving to Choir (with Great coupled),
then moving to Grand (with Great and Choir coupled). For the tutti the reeds of the
Echo and the Vox Humana divisions can be coupled to Grand.
The organ in the Bavokerk at Haarlem acheived a considerable reputation almost from the time
of its construction. Handel and Mozart played upon it; by the time Charles Burney wrote about it
in 1773 its fame aroused the highest expectations. He reported that it was said to be "the
best in Europe - that is, in the world". During the 1830s and 1840s in Britain and America,
Haarlem was commonly regarded as the ultimate continental organ, the foremost of all grand
European instruments.
Music can awaken the affections by her magic influence, producing at her will, and that
instantly, serenity, complacency, pleasure, delight, ecstasy, melancholy, woe, pain,
terror, and distraction.
And here are two contemporary reactions to the Haarlem organ, both suffused with Crotch's
romantic ideal:
('Substance of several courses of lectures on music', William Crotch, London 1831)
I was so overwhelmed by the astounding masses of sound rolling through the vast space, that
I pictured to myself a most dreadful storm in the Bay of Biscay.
I like to imagine one of the more adventurous English organists in 1850,
knowing Haarlem by repute but innocent of the details of its stoplist, falling asleep one
afternoon and dreaming that he plays the great Bavokerk organ. It far exceeds, in size and
magnificence, anything he has experienced in Britain. When he awakens, he quickly fetches
paper and pencil, and notes down the stoplist. (It was, curiously, all in English.)
A great organ with six manuals! Even the Choir Organ was as complete as the Great
of many a lesser instrument. How
could his dreaming mind have conceived something so splendid and so terrifying?
(A Nottingham organist visiting Haarlem c.1830)
At last an answer came - soft, tender, loving, like a mother's song. The storm grew silent;
hidden birds sprang forth filling the air with glad, ecstatic music, rising higher and higher
until the last faint note was lost in the distance.
(An organ recital at Haarlem: from 'Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates', Mary Mapes Dodge 1865)
I CHOIR ORGAN (behind the player's stool; lowest manual)
16 Bourdon & Tenoroon Dulciana
8 Open Diapason
8 Stopped Diapason
8 Dulciana
4 Principal
4 Conical Flute
2 2/3 Flute Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
2 Piccolo stopped
II Doublette
V Mixture
IV Sesquialtera
16 Contra Trumpet
8 Trumpet
8 Hautbois
4 Regal, or Violin Reed
II GRAND ORGAN
32 Double Double Diapason
16 Tenoroon Diapason
8 Large Open Diapason
8 Great Flute open
5 1/3 Rohr Quint
4 Principal
2 Fifteenth
X Cornet
VII Larigot Mixture
VI Tierce Mixture
16 Tenoroon Trumpet
8 Corno Trombone
4 Corno Clarion
- Psaltery
III GREAT ORGAN
16 Double Open Diapason
8 Open Diapason I
8 Open Diapason II
8 Open Diapason III wood
8 Double-Mouthed Bourdon
5 1/3 Quint
4 Principal I
4 Principal II
4 Principal III wood
4 Stopped Flute
3 1/5 Decima
2 2/3 Twelfth
II Twelfth & Fifteenth
2 Fifteenth I
2 Fifteenth II wood
1 3/5 Tierce
1 3/5 Larigot
1 1/7 Septima
1 Octave Fifteenth I
1 Octave Fifteenth II wood
VI Sesquialtera
IV Furniture
8 Trumpet I
8 Trumpet II
4 Clarion
2 Octave Clarion
IV SOLO ORGAN (under expression)
8 Open Diapason
8 Stopped Diapason
8 German Flute
8 Salcional
4 Principal
4 Principal dulciana
4 Wood Flute open
2 Fifteenth dulciana
II Glockenspiel
V Mixture
16 Double Bassoon
8 Cromorne
8 Wald Oboe
VII Echo Cornet (1.8.12.15.17.19.22, in its own box inside the Solo box)
- Grand Carillons
- Dulcimer
V ECHO ORGAN (under expression)
16 Sub-Bass
8 Holed Flute open
8 Viola da Gamba
4 Nason Flute
4 Piffero
2 2/3 Nasard
2 Flageolet
1 3/5 Tierce
1 1/3 Larigot
1 Sidema Fife
2/3 Twenty-sixth
1/2 Twenty-ninth
VI Cymbale
16 Contra Shawm
8 Sharp Trumpet
8 Musette & Chalumeau
4 Clarion
2 2/3 Twelfth Trumpet
2 Clarino
VI VOX HUMANA ORGAN (highest manual)
III Shrey-Fife 12.14.17
16 Bariton
8 Voix-par-premier-force (fortissimo)
8 Vox Angelica 2 ranks
4 Cantus
PEDAL ORGAN
32 Double Bass Diapason wood
32 Sub Bourdon
21 1/3 Great Quint
16 Open Diapason I wood
16 Open Diapason II metal
16 Open Diapason III metal
16 Salcional metal
16 Bourdon
10 2/3 Double Quint
8 Principal I wood
8 Principal II metal
8 Flute
6 2/5 Decima
5 1/3 Twelfth
4 Fifteenth
4 Stopped Fifteenth
X Mixture
V Sesquialtera
32 Sackbut
16 Trumpet
16 Horn
8 Clarion
Couplers
to Choir: Great
to Grand: Choir, Great, Solo, Echo, Vox Humana
to Great: Solo
to Pedal: Choir, Grand, Great, Solo, Echo, Vox Humana
(January 2000)
