JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
PART SIX: THEATER ORGANS
First Organ: diapason chorus with tonaltrimmings & brass
This is the most diapason-free scheme we have seen so far. The First Organ chorus has
no 16ft.; there is a solitary Echo Diapason in the Second Organ; and that is all
in the manual divisions.
The Pedal Organ, with but six ranks, is
small for a 64-stop instrument; there is no
32ft. register, and the range of 16ft. tone is limited when compared with the
luxurious manual unisons. And what unison colour there is: a plethora
of 'free organ-tone' (Keraulophone, Dulciana, Salicional, Gemshorn and Dolcan
as well as four strings); and numerous flutes both open (Clarabella, Spitzflöte,
Melodia, Harmonica, Flauto Traverso) and stopped (Doppelflöte, Flûte à
Cheminée, Quintaten, Zartgedeckt). There are two oboes and two clarinets, a Cor
Anglais and a Vox Humana. Surely this is the ne plus ultra
of refined mezzo-piano tone.
Praetorius described the organs of Esaias Compenius as "frembder, sanffter,
subtiler" - ethereal/strange, soft, subtle. This is an excellent summary
of Audsley's theater organ scheme. Poul Gerhard
Andersen's comment about Compenius and the Frederiksborg Castle organ is
equally apposite:
From a pactical point of view it is not surprising that Audsley's ideals for the theater
organ never caught on. It is unlikely that his gentle, refined timbres would
have sounded at their best in plushly furnished, acoustically dead theaters.
Such stops as Dulcianas, Dolcans and Gemshorns need a sympathetic acoustic warmth for
their tones to bloom properly. Nor is it likely that the subtle
tonal differences between five open flutes
would count for much in a working theater environment. The unit organ delivered
vivid, kaleidoscopic colour and punchy impact at a fraction of the cost of
Audsley's convoluted stoplist.
He would have regarded it as the triumph of
commercialism over aesthetics.
In 'The Temple of Tone' (1925) Audsley wrote:
He opined that
The present trend, and, indeed, the prevailing practice, in Theater Organ
construction in this country is diametrically opposed to that advocated
in these pages; as is evidenced by the more or less coarse and generally noisy
instruments installed in Theaters throughout the land.
It is perhaps no surprise that
...in the general tonal appointment of the Organ suitable for the Moving Picture
Theater a special differentiation has to necessarily obtain, to render the
production of the sympathetic and appropriate class of accompanimental music,
called for by the silent and dramatic doings on the screen, both possible
and easy by the able organist and improvisatore.
Audsley gives three proposed schemes. The largest, with 82 stops, contains
nothing of importance which is not found in the more moderately sized 64 stop
instrument. Here is the latter's stoplist:
This class of organ imperatively calls for all that our System of
compound tonal flexibility and expression can accomplish; aided, necessarily,
by stop-apportionments in which high-pressure noise is eliminated, and true
tones reign supreme.
I FIRST ORGAN (enclosed in box 1)
8 Diapason
8 Geigenprincipal
8 Keraulophone
8 Doppelflöte wood
8 Clarabella wood
8 Spitzflöte
4 Octave
4 Harmonic Flute
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
IV Cornet
16 Double Trumpet
8 Trumpet
Carillon tubular bells
II SECOND ORGAN
1st subdivision, enclosed in box 2:
16 Lieblichgedeckt wood
8 Echo Diapason
8 Melodia wood
8 Flûte à Cheminée
4 Flauto Dolce
2 Piccolo d'Amore
8 Cor Anglais
4 Musette
Tremolant
2nd subdivision, enclosed in box 3:
8 Dulciana
8 Salicional
8 Harmonica wood
8 Viola d'Amore
8 Viola d'Amore sharp
4 Salicet
V Dulciana Cornet
8 Corno di Bassetto
8 Oboe d'Amore
Tremolant
III THIRD ORGAN
1st subdivision, enclosed in box 2:
16 Contrabasso wood
8 Violoncello
8 Violino
8 Quintaten
8 Gemshorn
4 Violetta
VI Harmonia Ætheria
8 Orchestral Horn
8 Clarinetto
8 Vox Humana
Tremolant
2nd subdivision, enclosed in box 3:
16 Bourdonecho wood
8 Dolcan
8 Flauto Traverso wood
8 Zartgedeckt
5 1/3 Dolce Quint
4 Dolcette
16 Contrafagotto
8 Euphonium
8 Tromba Batalha
8 Orchestral Oboe
4 Clarin Sordino
Harp metal plates
PEDAL ORGAN
16 Major Principal 44 pipes; wood
16 Minor Principal 44 pipes; metal
16 Bourdon wood
16 Dulciana metal
8 Violoncello metal
8 Bass Flute ext. Major Principal
8 Octave ext. Minor Principal
16 Contra-Trombone
Auxilliary subdivision - enclosed:
16 Double Trumpet First Organ
16 Contrabasso Third Organ
16 Contrafagotto Third Organ
Couplers include Pedal octave.
The various subdivisions couplable separately.
The manual divisions of this scheme might be summarised as follows:
Second Organ: 1st subd'n: flutes & woodwind; 2nd subd'n: dulcianas, strings & woodwind
Third Organ: 1st subd'n: strings & soft reeds; 2nd subd'n: dolces,
flutes, woodwind & brass
As applied to Frederiksborg this comment is unfair - it is a brilliantly
well-organised organ. But apply it to Audsley's theater scheme and it has
the ring of truth. We must not make it an excuse, however, to mask a lack of
appreciation for Audsley's aims. To him the most beautiful organ sounds
were those "excellent details" - those veils of exquisite, refined colour. He therefore equipped
his stoplists with numerous chests of them, all under compound expression; they
invite the player to let salicionals melt dreamily into gemshorns; to let a melodia
swoon into a clarabella; to let warm, gentle string tones be
momentarily enriched by the
whisper of a vox humana or the subtlest shimmer of a dolce cornet. In its way it
is all surpassingly beautiful; or, depending upon your perspective,
sensually decadent.
Compenius was a man who had difficulty in coming to terms with
habits and traditions. The Frederiksborg organ tells us about
many fresh new thoughts and gives many ingenious solutions to difficult problems...
But Compenius seems to have been lost in his excellent details, and he did
not possess, to the same degree as his contemporaries, a sense of organisation
for these details.
