The Pedal Organ.

I have availed myself of an admirable paper on "The Modern Organ" read by my friend, Dr. Alan Gray, before the Musical Association in April, 1913. I have also drawn freely from a lecture on the Pedal Organ given by the late Thomas Casson before the I.G.C.M. on March 23rd, 1905. Though the latter is now seventeen years old, no writer can afford to ignore its present day application.

Though this department is treated last, it is second only in importance to the great organ itself. For the earliest examples we must look to the continent, and especially to Germany. In that country well-developed pedal organs have existed for five hundred years or more. It was there recognised almost from the first that the most important function of the pedal was to carry down and form the bass of as many manual stops and combinations as practicable, and to this end it must comprise the harmonic structure. Later, a subsidiary department with a separate keyboard was occasionally included to provide instantaneously the softer basses required for use with the choir and echo organs. In England we had no pedal for centuries after the Germans had developed this department so fully. But we eventually had something which they had not, and which gave to our bass, clumsy though it was, a dignity and grandeur which no German pedal ever possessed in spite of its brave show on paper. That was our large scaled open wood pedal pipes, or great bass, - miscalled diapason. This stop has been decried by nearly all writers from Hopkins to Audsley. Nevertheless its influence has always pervaded our pedal designs, and now when our great diapason work has become so prominent no one would seriously propose to dispense with it.

By "great diapason work" Dixon is referring, like other writers of the period, largely to the big unison ranks then common, and not to the chorus as a whole.

Another almost equally important stop which later on greatly enhanced the grandeur of our English pedal organ was the full-toned heavy-pressure 16ft. reed introduced by Willis. Both these registers contribute to the finest features of our large modern instruments, but they cannot be found on any continental organ. The deficiency in variety of the English pedal basses led to the manual compass in this country being extended to G 10 2/3ft., and even to 16ft. C. This method, clumsy and expensive though it was, did provide a varied and appropriate bass to the more important manual stops. Casson laid great stress on this, and he has done more than any other writer for the reform of the English pedal organ, though even he appeared at times to be obsessed in his dislike to the English great bass. On the other hand, as Dr. Gray has pointed out, you may search the pages of Hopkins in vain for the slightest indication that there was anything at all to be said in favour of the long manuals. As a matter of fact, these were ruthlessly swept away, and we adopted independent and generally miserably inadequate pedals.

If I understand him correctly, Dixon is suggesting that long-compass manuals were introduced as a result of, and after, the introduction of pedal pipes in Britain. This is a curious inversion of the truth.

A few of the largest organs were however well supplied, such as York Minster (1859), 19 stops; St. George's Hall, Liverpool (1855), 17 stops; the Albert Hall (1871) 21 stops; but as late as 1887 we find Best writing to Casson as follows: "Unfortunately, when organ builders shortened the (manual) keyboard compass in the region of the 'bass' the constantly neglected to supply the indispensable equivalent of an adequate pedal-organ. Even in the largest instruments where an attempt is made in this direction, it will be at once remarked that the pedal bass is suitable for the great or most powerful clavier, the varieties of delicate tone in the bass to combine with the more frequently used 'choir' or 'swell' claviers being almost invariably absent". Twelve years later (probably at Hopkins's instigation), the manuals at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, were actually shortened from G 10 2/3ft. to 8ft. C without any addition or alteration whatever being made to the pedal save the substitution of a fagotto 16ft. for a posaune. Had Best lived to see this his comments would have been decidedly interesting.*

(Dixon's footnote:
*It was my good fortune to hear Best recite at St. George's Hall on three separate occasions. Next to his wonderful registration, particularly in reed tone (already alluded to), the feature of his playing which struck me most was the variety and effect of his pedal basses. No player that I have ever heard there since has approached him in either respect. It is probable that this was accounted for in some degree by the use of the long manual compass which then obtained.)

During the latter part of last century a pedal of four to six stops was, in this country, considered adequate for quite a large instrument. An ordinary three manual (and sometimes a four manual) Willis usually contained: Open Wood 16ft., Bourdon 16ft., an 8ft. flue stop, and a 16ft. reed. The violone (really a 16ft. salicional) occasionally appeared as a substitute for or in addition to the bourdon. In larger instruments the open 32ft. and an 8ft. reed were included and sometimes a mixture was added. Fine as this foundation was, it will be obvious that the pedal department was conceived in terms of the great organ only. As Best pointed out, there is a want of variety among the softer basses for the other departments, which are more frequently required. Now let us see what Casson has to say on the subject. In the first place he lays down that the function of he pedal is threefold:-

(1) Primarily to provide instantaneously an appropriate bass for any combination of manual stops and couplers.
(2) To provide when required an obbligato bass differing in power and tone from that of the manuals.
(3) An extension of (2), to provide absolute pedal solo effects for the assertion of a melody or subject.

Though the standard Willis pedal might be able to supply (3), or even (2) to a limited extent, it failed in (1) altogether. As we have seen, a variety of soft registers are wanting and there is no means whatever of providing an expressive bass for the swell. At the first sight the provision of a pedal-organ comprehensive enough to satisfy these ideals (and who can gainsay them?) would be prohibitive in cost and the amount of space required. If it were really necessary to have every stop independent this would undoubtedly be the case. Nevertheless something of the kind is indeed being attempted at Liverpool Cathedral. A pedal organ of 33 stops, every one of them absolutely independent and eight of which are to be enclosed in a separate swell box, has actually been designed. It is, however, unlikely that such lavish expenditure will again be possible for a very long time to come, so that a similar course of action may be left out of the sphere of practical politics. But even if this were not so, cui bono?

It was so in the 1912 contract stoplist; but by the time the organ was installed the pedal division had been modified to include extension and manual borrowing. The echo organ with its pedal division was not installed.

Cui bono? has been thoroughly answered in many of the organs built in the last quarter of the 20th-century.

This brings us to the point as to how Casson's ideals can be realised. He himself demonstrates how a pedal-organ adequate for the purpose can be provided economically by means of legitimate and judicious borrowing, though he points out that this is no essential part of his theory. As such borrowing is even now occasionally regarded with suspicion by one or two authorities, though it is freely introduced by all our front-rank builders at the present day, it may be desirable to go into the question in some details at the risk of appearing to preach to the converted. In actual practice, unless the instrument is very small indeed, some of the pedal organ must always be absolutely independent. Let us take our standard pedal of four independent stops. The open wood, the soft 16ft., and the reed, by the addition of 12 pipes at the top can be made to supply, at relatively small cost, three registers of 8ft. pitch. The independent 8ft. then becomes superfluous. Again, if a 32ft. stop be required the upper part can be borrowed from the 16ft. This method has been freely used by all organ builders, good, bad and indifferent, though nearly always under a less honest name than "borrowing", and it is strongly recommended by Hopkins himself. The only possible objection to it is the slight loss of power on the rare occasions when octave passages on the pedal are played. In practice this is hardly noticeable, unless deliberately looked for.

It is rather more noticeable than Dixon allows - for example, if an octave is played on the pedalboard when 32ft, 16ft. and 8ft. stops extended from a single rank are drawn, the result is four pipes sounding, instead of the six which would sound were the stops independent. There is also the benefit of the richness and complexity of tone given by the blending of unextended ranks.

Another legitimate method (which Casson points out was used in Germany 350 years ago) is to borrow the lower part of a manual stop, say an open diapason (as at Ely), or an 8ft. reed, to form the upper range of the corresponding 16ft. pedal register, - quite legitimate, because the result fulfils absolutely the primary duty of a pedal bass. It is also useful in providing proper basses for the swell inside the box.

This method was used by John Compton in his large extension organs.

The third method, though in strict theory questionable, is in practice most valuable, namely, the borrowing of manual stops in identical pitch on the pedal, - a procedure which is usually confined to the manual doubles. As the latter are hardly ever employed except in the fuller combinations, when the pedal is reinforced by more powerful stops, their use is effectively covered. By this means a variety of pedal basses suitable for softer effects can be provided at comparatively small expense.

The borrowing of manual stops in identical pitch to the pedal has been most thoroughly exploited in large 20th-century electro-pneumatic organs in the USA. British organ stoplists of the 1990s are singularly deficient in a supply of varied, colourful pedal basses, whether independent or borrowed. To play a large romantic organ where such 16ft. manual voices as Clarinet, French Horn, Dulciana and Viole are borrowed on the pedals is a musically enriching experience.

It also has the advantage of encouraging the insertion of an adequate number and variety of manual doubles, - an important feature in a sound method of tone building of the different departments.

Modern British organs are wanting in this too.

After all, as Dr. Gray asks, how many times a year are the lowest pipes of the manual double made to sound by the fingers?

Quite so.

Nevertheless, one frequently comes across instruments with the sub-bass as the only soft stop, while large and costly pipes which might be utilised to form quiet basses stand silent and inaccessible on the manual soundboards.

This is a most frustrating state of affairs for the recitalist. The gentle purr of a 16ft. Dulciana or the quiet point of a 16ft. Viole are invaluable tonal colours on the pedal, and a blessed relief from the droning Bourdon.

In the face of such a state of things, the urging of doctrinaire pedantry against borrowing is simply absurd. But Casson adds: "I do not claim that these methods are in a general way actually superior to independent pipes; but the organ problem is invariably how with a given amount of room and money the most perfect instrument may be evolved, and it is beyond all doubt that these methods solve that problem in respect of he pedal organ. The proof of the pudding is in the eating"*

(Dixon's footnote:
*Though not complete in tonal design, the Ely pedal organ stands pre-eminent for grandeur of effect. Yet much of it is borrowed on the lines advocated by Casson.)

"From the writings of some one would imagine that the problem was always to draw upon unlimited means in money and room, and that true art consists in waste of effort and means." If the sentence he italicised was true in 1905, it applies with tenfold force nowadays. At present it is a question of how many stops, nay how many pipes, can be omitted from a scheme without sacrificing the general effect. To put the matter positively in recapitulation, practically the tonal design of an efficient pedal-organ can be built up from the following sources:

(1) Absolutely independent pedal pipes.
(2) Pedal stops, of which the upper and lower ranges, or both, may be borrowed from an existing independent pedal stop under (1).
(3) Borrowing the upper range of a pedal stop from the lower range of the co-relative manual stop.
(4) The judicious borrowing of manual doubles in identical pitch.

Of course, the three latter methods may be rejected as unsound; but this does not do away with the desirability of furnishing pedal basses sufficient in power and variety for all combinations on any manual, of providing enclosed pedal basses for departments in swell boxes, and for supplying pedal solo effects, - all of which are necessary for a truly artistic result. With regard to the carrying out of the second requirement, the most remarkable instance which at present obtains is that of the swell at St. Mary, Redcliffe, Bristol (1912), previously referred to. Here the 32ft. and 16ft. pedal reeds on 15in. wind, borrowed from each other, are enclosed in the swell chamber. The design in this respect placed this fine instrument far ahead of any other in the country. In the scheme for Liverpool Cathedral the 32ft. and 16ft. heavy wind ophicleides will also be enclosed along with half-a-dozen registers of a lighter character in a box separate from the swell organ. In a small three manual at Clare College Chapel, Cambridge (1911), the pedal reed is included in the swell box. At Morningside, Edinburgh (1921), a fair sized two manual contains a pedal reed (the upper part of which is borrowed from the great tromba) in the swell box. The design for the reconstruction of the Albert Hall organ makes provision for the enclosure of a 32ft. and 16ft. reed in the swell (as at Redcliffe), along with other basses. It is, therefore, unfortunate that Casson has not lived to see the triumph of the ideals for which he so strenuously fought.

A pedal organ which aims at completeness will naturally contain the harmonic structure. During the decline of mixtures, such stops, the effect of which was often as coarse and unpleasing as their manual counterparts, naturally also disappeared. Now that increasing attention is being paid to a scientifically built up and complete tonal structure on the manuals, the pedal cannot logically be left without. One of the finest examples is the Harmonics V ranks, 12,17,19,21,22 (the 15th is separate), at Johannesburg Town Hall. Though it is very boldly voiced its enclosure in one of the swell boxes renders it most useful even in light solo combinations of a special character, and in no way detracts from its telling effect in the full.

Perhaps the best illustration of the points that have been discussed is the pedal organ at Trinity College, Cambridge, as reconstructed (1912) in accordance with Dr. Gray's design (by Harrison - j.r.). For the sake of clearness the pedal, as it had been since 1889, is given first. Every stop was then complete and independent; the wind pressure was about 3in. throughout.

    32       Double Open Diapason       wood
    16       Open Diapason              metal
    16       Open Diapason              wood
    16       Bourdon                    wood
    16       Violone                    wood
     8       Violoncello                metal
     8       Flute                      wood
     4       Fifteenth                  metal
    III      Mixture  17.19.22
    16       Trombone                   wood
     8       Trumpet                    metal
 
 
PEDAL ORGAN (1912)
    32       Double Open Wood               wood
    16       Open Wood 1                    wood
    16       Open Wood 2 (ext. 32ft.)       wood
    16       Open Diapason 1                metal
    16       Open Diapason 2 (Great 16ft.)  metal
    16       Violone                        wood
    16       Sub-bass (Great 32ft.)         wood
    16       Dulciana (Choir 16ft.)         metal
     8       Octave Wood (ext. O.Wd. no.1)  wood
     8       Principal (ext. O.Diap. no.1)  metal
     8       Flute (Great 32ft.)            wood 
     V       Sesquialtera  12.15.17.19.22
    32       Bombardon (prepared; ext. 16ft.)
    16       Ophicleide
    16       Trumpet (Swell 16ft.)
     8       Posaune (ext. 16ft.)

As will be seen borrowing has been freely resorted to. The number of pipes has actually been reduced by thirty and valuable space thus gained more profitably utilised for improving the position of the other departments.

I can't quite follow Dixon's maths; but the only pipes removed were those of 8ft. ranks, and surely this minimal gain in space would be quite offset by the insertion of the new, bulky 32ft. reed octave.

There are now only six complete and independent stops; five are borrowed from these and five are taken from the doubles of different manuals to form the much-need variety of soft basses.

Come, Colonel Dixon. You have added the following 16ft. stops: Open Wood, Open Diapason (from Great), Sub-bass (from Great, in place of former Bourdon), Dulciana (from Choir), Trumpet (from Swell). More weight, certainly, and perhaps more colour too, but only one new soft tonality among them.

In spite of all this it is doubtful whether even the strictest purist who was acquainted with the organ before the reconstruction and had made a careful study of the possibilities and effect since, could say that he preferred the old arrangement.

But he might have deprecated the loss of the independent 4ft. Fifteenth; and he might have preferred the independent ranks of the old pedal for general clarity and virility of texture.

Needless to add it would have been utterly impracticable to provide anything approaching it in completeness by means of independent stops. It is believed that, except in the case of the immense instrument at the Colston Hall, Bristol (and, of course, the huge pedal for Liverpool Cathedral to be composed of independent pipes, already alluded to) the number of available 16ft. registers exceeds that contained in any English pedal organ. Of these the seven flue stops are well differentiated and supply a bass for practically every manual combination in which the bigger chorus reeds are not used. Unfortunately, lack of space to accommodate a sufficiently large box prevented the enclosure of an adequate reed bass for the full swell as at Redcliffe. Nevertheless, even though an important stop is not yet inserted, the tonal design of the Trinity pedal organ is at present one of the very finest and most complete in the Kingdom.

A recent instance essentially similar in design, though rather less fully developed is the fine scheme for the pedal at Westminster Cathedral. The original was given on p.52 of The Organ for July, 1921. This has now been revised and improved by the substitution of a 32ft. open wood, partly borrowed from the 16ft. great bass, for the double open diapason, and by the important addition of a cornet III ranks, 17,19,22. It will be observed that borrowing from the 16ft. parent registers has been very freely resorted to. The violone and dulciana 16ft. have also been obtained in this manner from the swell and choir doubles respectively. As is the case at Trinity, no provision has been made for an enclosed bass to the full swell, though the pedal as designed is amply supplied with reeds on 20in. and 30in. wind.

Lastly, the provision of pedal obbligato and solo effects already alluded to must be considered. Charming obbligatos of a light orchestral nature have in recent times been rendered possible by borrowing the manual 16ft. clarinet, bassoon, or the 16ft. cor anglais, where they obtain. For bolder solo passages the swell double reed, or even the enclosed heavy pressure 16ft. solo reed where such exists, may be similarly treated. In some modern instruments a pronounced solo is instantaneously available by means of a reversible piston acting on the draw-stop of the heavy 16ft. pedal reed itself. Such a simple device is useful, so far as it goes, since it enables a subject to be brought out when required and the bass resumed at will.

With the provision of an adequate tonal scheme such as has been described, the question of efficient control becomes a matter of great importance. It seems somewhat strange that while Casson's ideas of the functions and design of this department have been largely acted upon his control system has not been widely adopted. Yet it undoubtedly saves the player a great deal of the purely routine manipulation of stops and couplers; in fact, he need never think about them unless he requires some special effect, as proper basses are automatically furnished. If, however, he prefers hand registration the control can be switched out at any time. In addition, a variety of pedal solo effects can not only be prepared in advance, but introduced and discontinued as required with the minimum amount of stop manipulation.

For more about the Casson system, see Dixon's essay Thomas Casson: an Appreciation.

Nevertheless, players seem for the most part to have been content with a device which enables the combination pistons of the various manual departments to provide a suitable pedal bass when required. This can be extended to the couplers also when they are (as Casson insisted they should be) grouped with the drawstops of the departments they augment. Both these features were adopted by Willis at Lincoln in 1898, and have been utilised extensively by other organ builders since his day. The further discussion of the question of control is, however, outside the scope of the present article.

Though tonal structures of the first magnitude have from the nature of the case been chiefly under consideration, it is possible to apply the general principles, which have been evolved, to great advantage in designing instruments of ordinary size, and even to quite small organs. Apart altogether from historical interest, the subject is of much practical importance. Repetition of ensembles, or indeed of individual registers, whether of flue or reed, is an extravagance which cannot in these days of war aftermath be thought of; and the building up of tone families, fascinating though it be, can only be indulged in to a limited extent at current prices. It is necessary to study critically the introduction of each and every register in all its aspects, and particularly in its relation to the design as a whole. But the application of these principles to the smaller schemes of the present day might, perhaps, form an appropriate subject for a possible future communication.

finis