TWO-MANUAL ORGANS.

This treatise must not close without some reference to organ work of a more advanced kind than that which we have taken as the groundwork or medium of our hints on this subject.

Some of our readers may very naturally wish to understand the construction of an organ with two or more manuals and a pedal with separate pipes; and this implies a description of coupling movements and of the swell-box and its appliances.

In the first place, let us remark that as the swell-organ is a modern invention, innumerable examples of organs with more than one manual and with numerous stops, but entirely without the swell, were in existence in England up to a recent period, and are still to be found in every part of the continent of Europe. A great number of the most renowned organs of Germany and of Holland, organs furnished with four manuals and an immense aggregate of pipes, are without the swell to this day.

This is not the place to discuss the question whether the introduction of the swell, as the second division of an organ with only two manuals, has been an unmixed advantage, and whether it has or has not tended to raise the standard of organ music and organ-playing in England. But some few musicians may agree with the present writer that it is quite possible to sacrifice sound principles of organ-building to the prevailing worship of the pretty and fanciful effects of the swell, and may even go so far as to regret, with him, the supersession of the old "choir organ," with its sweet tranquil tone and quiet cheerful brightness. We ourselves make no secret of our wish that in the design and erection of organs with only two manuals, the second manual should act upon a choir organ, while the swell should be reserved for those instruments in which a third manual is introduced. But we are quite aware that these views will be received with derision by a great majority of persons, who have become accustomed to the constant use of the swell and of the pedal Bourdons which characterizes the playing of many English organists on modern English organs.

Quite apart, however, from these views, which must be taken for what they are worth, there are reasons why any reader, resolving from the first to construct a small organ with two manuals for chamber use, will do well to resist the temptation to introduce the swell. These reasons will become apparent if we sketch out one or two plans for such chamber organs, and we should only occupy space needlessly by stating them in advance.

Resolving, then, to indulge ourselves with two manuals, but compelled to be economical of space and of pecuniary outlay, we decide at once to plant all the pipes, belonging to both manuals alike, upon a single sound-board, and by the system of borrowing to avoid the reduplication of large pipes in the bass octave.

To our original design of five stops on a single manual, let us suppose that we have added three, played by a second key-board. We must assume that the five stops belonging to the first manual (the lower), will be all throughout, and may be something like this, viz.: an open Diapason with wood bass octave; a Clarabella, with stopped bass octave; a Principal, Flute, and 2-feet stop as before. Then the second or upper manual should have some such stops as these: Stopped Diapason, the bass octave borrowed from that of the Clarabella; Dulciana to Tenor C; Gems-horn, or some other light 4-feet stop, the bass octave borrowed from that of the Flute or Principal.

As the sound-board will have two grooves for each note throughout its whole extent, namely 108 grooves if the manuals are of the usual compass, its length might be unwieldy and inconvenient, ill adapted to the size of ordinary rooms. We must strongly recommend, therefore, that the arrangement shown in Fig. 39 (see p. 112) be adopted. On the front portion, b c, containing eighty-four grooves, and carrying eight sliders, all the stops from Tenor C to top F may be planted. On the back portion, a b, which will have twenty-four grooves only, all the bass pipes will be placed, unless, indeed, we assume that the large open 8-feet pipes are conveyanced off. This back portion will carry one slider for this open bass, one for each of the 4-feet and 2-feet stops, and two pairs of twin sliders, placed close together, for the borrowed stopped bass and borrowed 4-feet bass.

Our readers may feel confidence in the directions now given if we say that we are describing an organ built by ourselves and now in our possession.[3] The sound-board, admitting of eighty-four grooves in its front division, is 5 feet 3 inches long, and its seven sliders (we have no stopped Flute), with the bearers, occupy a width of 16 inches; but the 4-feet octave of the Open Diapason, and six pipes of the Dulciana, are brought into sight as a "speaking front," and therefore fill no space on the board itself. The back part of the board, with four sliders (two of them twin), has also a width of about 16 inches, our large open wood bass being on a board at a lower level, as in Fig. 10. Thus the whole board, carrying practically eight stops (one of our stops is of two ranks, viz. a Twelfth and Fifteenth) throughout, is 5 feet 3 inches long and 32 inches wide.

We hope we have said quite enough in former pages of roller boards and backfalls to enable any intelligent reader to devise for himself the double action of such an organ. An inspection of Figs. 37, 38, and 39 may suggest ideas to him. An essential point is that everything should be within reach if defects should require attention; and access to the back as well as to the front of such an organ is indispensable.

A word about the borrowing. It is plainly not enough to groove the two channels of each note together in the bass, as in the case of a single manual. If this were done the wind would fill the whole of the two channels upon lowering a key in the bass octave of either manual, and all the stops of which the sliders happened to be drawn at the time would speak together. Thus our purpose of borrowing one particular stop would be defeated. We must effect it thus: the twin sliders will be closely contiguous, and will only be separated by short pins of brass or iron let into the table, to prevent the friction of actual contact. Thus the two holes which are to be brought into connection are near to each other, and the communicating groove will be short. If this is cut in the upper board itself it must be neatly executed, and the bottom of the groove must be level and smooth. Over each of the two holes within the groove so cut must be placed a valve, consisting of a small piece of pallet leather covering the hole completely, and rising with complete freedom by a hinge along its edge, like the clacks of the bellows. Each pair of holes being furnished with these valves the grooves are roofed in and the pipes planted, as described in earlier pages of this book. On lowering one of the keys the wind will affect the borrowed pipe only, since the little valve will stop the twin hole and prevent the flow of air through it into the channel. If the key corresponding to the same note be pressed down on both manuals, then both the little valves will be blown open by the wind; but if all the channels, grooves, and holes be of ample size, so that there is no throttling of the wind, the speech of the pipe will be entirely unaltered, since it will only receive a given quantity of wind through the perforation in its foot, and this wind will be of the same weight or pressure as before.

The borrowing grooves may be cut in the under surface of a separate board, which will then form a roof or cover to the several pairs of valves arranged over the holes on the upper surface of the sound-board itself. Or this borrowing-board may be put together with bars, cheeks, and an upper table like a light sound-board. The essential point is that all the openings be of ample size, and that the valves fly open widely at the slightest breath of wind, and close the holes as promptly when the wind is withdrawn. If due attention is given to all this no failure need be anticipated with the borrowed basses.

We have proposed the lower key-board as "Manual I.," in accordance with the German usage, and because that arrangement will facilitate some of our mechanism, for instance, the pulling down by the pedals of the bass notes. But lovers of old English organs, among whom we must reckon ourselves, may prefer to make Manual I. the upper manual of the two. A beautiful instrument of this class, built by the late J. C. Bishop, stands in the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge, and was the gift of an accomplished amateur, whose performances on it are still remembered.[4] The same gentleman was the possessor of a chamber organ of exquisite tone by Bernhard Schmidt, of such remarkable composition that it merits description here. The lower manual, or Choir, had three stops, an Open Diapason, a Stopped Diapason, and a Principal, all made of oak, and of extreme delicacy and beauty. The upper manual, or Great, had likewise three stops, all metal, namely, Stopped Flute, Fifteenth, and Mixture of two ranks (19th and 22nd in the bass, 12th and 17th in the treble). The Stopped Diapason could also be played upon this manual by borrowing. A coupler united the lower to the upper at pleasure, and then the "Full Organ" was produced upon the upper manual with an astonishing effect of sprightliness and brightness. Such an organ as this, with some changes (its key-boards were very antiquated, and so high from the ground that the player was perforce erect), might afford an admirable model for imitation.

Let us add that if pedal notes of 16-feet tone are added to an organ of this class, namely of two manuals, Great and Choir, only twelve large pipes will be necessary, even though the compass of the pedal-board be of thirty notes complete. This great economy of space and outlay will be secured thus: 1st, by making the pedals pull down on the chief manual throughout their whole extent as before; 2nd, by adapting the twelve deep pipes to the lower octave of the pedals, and by making their upper octave and a half pull down upon the lowest keys of the second manual. A moment's reflection will show that the 16-feet tone is thus obtained throughout the whole compass, and no inconvenience whatever will ensue to the player.

The mode of introducing the large bass pipes, and of pulling down as above, will be described before we conclude this work.

Still desiring to erect a chamber organ, and, therefore, to be chary of space and cost, we must now show how the swell-box may be included in our design.

We shall suppose that the organ has been completed so far as the lower manual is concerned, with all that pertains to it, according to the rules which have now been given at length and in detail. In laying it out we must assume that care has been taken to give increased size to the bellows, and to arrange the frame for the reception of a second sound-board.

We feel it due as well to our readers as to ourselves to explain that we confine ourselves in all that follows to a description of work done by ourselves in our own workshop.

We shall place only three stops in our swell, which will have a compass of forty-two notes, from Tenor C to top f. The stops will be a Diapason in wood, partly stopped, and the rest open; a Flute of 4-feet tone in wood, open throughout; and a Gamba of reedy quality, in metal, of 8-feet pitch, but only descending to Fid. G., 3 feet, the remaining notes being grooved to No. 1. This curtailment is greatly to be regretted, but such imperfections are among the objections to the swell-box, which would assume dimensions inconsistent with a chamber organ if an attempt were made to give full compass to its 8-feet stops.

The sound-board for these three stops will be only 2 feet 9 inches in length, and 1 foot in width; but the upper boards must have an ample margin or surplus in both directions to afford support for the box which will rest upon them.

This box must be made of thick stuff, say 1½ inch deal; it will therefore be very heavy, and care must be taken to provide for its weight in planning the frame. It should be put together with screws, so that it can easily be taken to pieces for transit, and it is usual to line the whole of its interior with sheets of thick brown paper, applied with glue. It will be very convenient, if access can be had to the back of the organ, to fit the back of the box with hinged doors, or to make the back removable like a shutter; in this case the pipes should be planted so as to present themselves readily to the tuner. If access to the back cannot be had, then a space is inevitable in the middle of the organ for a passage-board, on which the tuner may stand, or at least place his foot, while he removes the front shades in order to reach the pipes planted accordingly. In the swell-boxes of church organs the sides of the box are generally fitted as doors; then, the pipes being planted with the tallest in the centre, diminishing in height to each end, half of them can be tuned at one operation. When the pipes are thus planted, the top of the box will slope towards each side from a central ridge, like the roof of a house.

We cannot doubt that many of our readers have had, or may have, opportunities of examining the construction of the shutters or shades of a swell-box. We have sketched it, however, in Fig. 50. The shades are 6 inches in breadth, and of the same thickness as the rest of the box, and each shade turns on pins let into the ends of it at a distance of 2 inches from its upper edge. These pins work in notches cut in the cheeks of the box, so formed that any shade may be easily lifted out and replaced. The edges of the shades are bevelled to half a right angle so that they overlap when closed, and the bevelled surfaces are faced with leather or cloth to shut in the sound more effectually.

The mode of opening the shades, and so producing a crescendo, is shown in Fig. 51. a, b, c are arms of oak, morticed into the shades at the level of the pins, viz. 2 inches from the upper line; d e is a long rod or tringle of wood, connecting all these arms by pins passing through them and itself. It is evident that by drawing up this rod at its top, or by pushing it up from below, we shall open all the shades at once, and as they are hung on axes placed at one-third of their breadth, they will close by their own weight when released. The leverage by which this movement is brought under the control of the player may be safely left to the inventive powers of the reader. It is usual to give promptness to the return of the swell-pedal, and therefore to the closing of the shades, by attaching a strong spiral spring to the pedal, and to some firm point in the frame.

As the swell-box is at the back of the instrument, its key-action will have to pass or cross that of the Great organ. The way in which this will be effected must depend a little upon circumstances—for instance, upon the length of the key-tails in the two manuals. If the swell manual acts by squares and trackers, while the Great has backfalls and stickers, the small trackers, being thin ribands of wood, can be easily made to pass between the Great stickers. Or if the swell-keys act on backfalls, these backfalls may be thinned down behind the line of key-tails, so as to allow the stickers of the lower manual to pass between them. This may be understood from Fig. 52, though that figure refers to another subject. The worst plan of all is to make the lower stickers pass through holes or mortices in the upper key-tails, since this prevents the removal of the upper key-board without a disturbance of the whole action.

We believe that these constructive details contain in themselves the grounds on which we based our advice to hesitate before including a swell-box in the design for a small chamber organ. It has been made apparent that it brings with it a considerable increase of bulk, weight, and complication, and that it cannot possess the full compass. We must add that if the bellows are worked by the foot, the use of the swell-pedal at the same time is of course impossible.

The large swells of church organs owe their grandeur of effect to their reed-stops; the trumpet, of which the oboe is a soft echo and our little gamba a faint and humble imitation, the horn or cornopean, and the double trumpet or bassoon, a stop of 16-feet pitch. All reed-stops are quite beyond the range of amateur construction, and each of the above will cost about £25 if purchased from a good maker and made of first-class material. Beautiful as such stops are when made and voiced by highly-skilled workmen, they may easily be unpleasing and even offensive.

Let us add that the twelve notes of the swell manual, below Tenor C, may be made to act on the lower manual by a "choir coupler" (see next section, and Fig. 52); or, if there is a complete pedal Sub-bass or Bourdon of twenty-five or more notes, the silent keys of the swell manual may borrow the pedal notes from CC, 8-feet tone upwards. An easy mechanical movement of squares and trackers will effect this.

Two manuals imply couplers, though we greatly regret the incessant use of these contrivances by modern organists.

We shall treat, very briefly, of couplers under three heads, viz. the coupling of—

• (a) Upper Manual to Lower Manual.
• (b) Lower Manual to Upper Manual.
• (c) Manuals to Pedals.

(a) The common Tumbler coupler is represented in Fig. 53. a is a slender bridge, having as many notches as keys in the manual, and fitted with short stickers called tumblers. These tumblers, or stickers, are generally rectangular in section, and they must fit the notches neatly but with freedom of motion; the notches are closed in by a tringle of wood glued over them, thus forming a series of mortices; and each sticker has a little pin, or a pair of pins, to prevent it from falling out of its notch or mortice. Or, the tumblers may be made from round rods, and may pass through round holes in the bridge. They are well blackleaded in either case. Now if this bridge, with its tumblers, is placed between the manuals near their hinder extremities, if the length of the tumblers is equal to the interval between the upper and lower key-tails, it is evident that on pressing down a key of the lower manual the tumbler will push up the tail of the corresponding key on the upper manual, and so on throughout the full compass of both. To reverse this, and to leave the manuals separate and independent as before, the bridge is made to take a quarter of a revolution in sockets fitted to carry its ends, which are rounded or turned in the lathe; the tumblers, by this partial revolution, are then no longer perpendicular, but parallel to the key-tails, as shown by the dotted lines in the figure, and cease to be touched by them. On the whole, this is the simplest form of swell-coupler.

The tumblers may also be placed on or off by causing the bridge to slide between guides for a distance of 1 inch or 2 inches. When the bridge is pushed back by drawing a stop-handle (which acts upon a horizontal trundle with arms and traces to give the sliding motion), the tumblers act on the key-tails; when it is drawn forward by thrusting in the stop, they fall into a hollow cut in the key-tails, and are too short to be of use. The hollow in the key-tails is bevelled, and the inclined plane so formed is leathered and blackleaded (see Fig. 54).

The ram coupler, Fig. 55, acts in a way closely resembling the last. Instead of tumblers, the bridge carries a set of short backfalls, turning on a wire as usual, and cut at the free end into a circular form. The sliding of the bridge brings these circular ends into contact with the key-tails of both manuals, or places them in a hollow cut in the keys, bevelled, leathered, and blackleaded as before. The ram-coupler can be used between manuals arranged too closely to admit of tumblers.

(b) It will facilitate our description of the choir-coupler and pedal-couplers if we here point out that if a bridge with backfalls (or squares) be made to rise or fall ½ inch or more at pleasure, the action connected with it will be thrown into or out of gear at the will of the player. If, in Fig. 32, for instance, the bridge g be made to rise ½ inch by drawing a stop-handle, the stickers e will then be too short by ½ inch, or the pull-downs h will be too long in an equal degree, and the manual will be silenced.

An easy way of making such a bridge rise and fall is shown in Fig. 56. The bridge a, which cannot be too solid and heavy, is held between guides, c d, which are blackleaded and accurately adjusted. At each end of the bridge is fitted a little roller or wheel of box-wood, turning freely on a pin. To the frame below is fitted another such roller, or two, as in the figure. Between these two or three rollers, at each end of the bridge, an inclined plane of wood, e, is made to traverse by means of a horizontal trundle and arms. It will be seen at a glance that when the inclined plane is pushed between the rollers by drawing or thrusting in a stop-handle, it lifts the bridge between the guides and dislocates the action; when it is withdrawn, the bridge resumes its place by its own weight, and the action is again in order.

It is now easy to understand the construction of the remaining couplers. The choir-coupler (Fig. 52, p. 152), has two bridges, x, y, with two sets of short backfalls and communicating stickers. If the bridges are fixed, then on depressing any key on the upper manual its tail raises the backfall, which presses down the lower backfall, which in its turn pushes up the tail of the lower key and causes the note to be heard. If the upper bridge be made to rise or the lower to fall ½ inch, then the keys are at once disconnected.

(c) The coupling of manuals to pedals is generally effected by rising and falling bridges, carrying backfalls which push up the tails of the keys. These bridges are arranged one above the other beneath the keyboards in large organs with three or four manuals, each bridge bringing its own manual into connection with the pedals by the movement already described. One roller-board (the rollers are often of iron for the sake of compactness) suffices for all the sets of backfalls, and the stickers (in this case generally flat strips of wood) pass through mortices cut in the tails of the lower keys to act upon the tails of the keys to which they belong.

The reader will easily perceive from these hints how the pedals may be made to act through their whole extent upon one of our manuals, and through only a part of their extent upon the other manual, as we have hinted at page 148. There will be two bridges, one over the other, and a very little ingenuity will be required to plan the roller-board so that the central C of the pedals shall pull down the lowest C of the second manual (be it upper or lower), and thus give the octave below (or 16-feet pitch) without additional pipes from that note upwards. But this, perhaps, belongs to the subject of the pedal organ, which we reserve for the conclusion of this book.

It is right to add here that in old-fashioned organs, both in England and on the Continent (where many such instruments remain unaltered), the manuals were made to couple by being drawn out or pushed in about ½ inch. A spur or protuberance of wood was glued to the upper part of the tail of each key, and a similar spur to the under part of the tail of the key in the manual above. These spurs had rounded ends covered with leather. On shifting one of the key-boards backwards or forwards the spurs met each other, and the coupling was effected. Or the spurs were glued under the front of each key, immediately behind the beading of the key-frame, and upon the upper surface of each key in the manual beneath it, and a similar shifting brought about a like result. We see no objection to this very simple old-fashioned arrangement strong enough to induce us to discard it from consideration.

The common type of small church organ with Great and Swell (throughout) would be vastly improved by the introduction of a manual between the other two, having no stops of its own, but coupled to both by such spurs. Instead of two qualities of sound, namely Swell alone and Great and Swell combined (the incessant use of the coupler being the inveterate habit of most players), we should have three: Great alone, Swell alone, and combination of Great and Swell. This obvious improvement could be introduced into new organs or added to existing instruments at a very small cost. There should be a coupler to connect this Combination Manual with the pedals.

It is undeniable that the addition of a pedal organ with a Sub-bass or Bourdon of 16-feet tone is a very important and valuable improvement to any organ, large or small. It gives a dignified cathedral-like solemnity and grandeur which every ear can appreciate. We shall bring our treatise to a close by a few remarks upon it.

1. The pipes will be made precisely like those of the Stopped Diapason, of which they may be regarded as a continuation, and they should be of stout material, the last four or five of inch stuff, then three-quarters to the twelfth or thirteenth note above.

On the question of scale the most diverse opinions have found favour of late years. A writer whose dicta are entitled to respect[5] urges that the lowest pipe (CCC, 16-feet tone) should have the enormous if not preposterous scale of 11½ by 13 inches inside measurement, and that the next six pipes above it should be in proportion. After that, he says, a smaller scale may suffice. It is clear that if this ruling be correct we may dismiss the idea of introducing a Sub-bass into our chamber organ. Mr. Hopkins, on the other hand, prints two scales for 16-feet toned Bourdons, the larger of which gives 6? inches by 4? as the inside measurement of the CCC pipe; while the smaller gives 5 inches by 3? for the same pipe. We may safely adopt this larger scale of Mr. Hopkins; and we will only say further that with our light 2-inch wind the mouths should be cut up one-third of the width, or rather less, and the foot-holes should be of ample size.

2. Their location in the organ must depend very much on special circumstances. When they can be placed in a row at the back of the instrument, their connection with the pedals becomes very simple, two sets of squares with trackers running under the bellows being all that will be necessary. If the room has abundance of height, the back set of squares may act on a roller-board, and then the pipes can be disposed symmetrically, the largest at each end.

3. The board on which they stand will not require a slider. It will be, in fact, a wind-chest only, a long box of stout pine or deal, having holes in its top countersunk to receive the pipe-feet. Under each hole is placed a pallet or valve, held up by a strong spring, and having a pull-down wire passed through a brass plate in the usual way.

The aperture of the wind-trunk is in the lower board of this chest, and over it, before the board is in place, is fitted a valve, faced with leather, and made to slide to and fro between guides. An iron spindle, turned to fit accurately in a brass collar, carries an arm jointed to the valve by a connecting rod or trace; and outside the chest it carries another arm, at right angles to this, jointed to the draw-stop handle or its trace. We have, in fact, a trundle passing air-tight through a collar, and by this simple contrivance we can shut off the wind at pleasure from the chest. Other methods of effecting this are in use, and may easily be devised. The pipes are very frequently placed on both sides of the organ, to the right and left. In this case the two chests will be at right angles to the manual chest or chests, and the action will be less direct. But it will be readily arranged as follows:—The pedal roller board will be long enough to act upon sets of squares, carried on the organ-frame to the right and left of the player, and at any convenient height. The other arms of these squares act by trackers on roller-frames placed under the chests.

There are cases in which this roller-board will be better placed at the back of the organ, the connection between it and the pedals being by squares and trackers; and there are also cases in which a large roller-frame lying upon the ground under the bellows may be made to answer every purpose. Bell-cranks, or horizontal squares, may also transmit the pressure of the foot on the pedal by other squares and trackers to the pedal pallets in a manner analogous to that of the draw-stop action, Fig. 49. There is abundant room for ingenuity and contrivance in all these details; the essential points are strength, quietness, and accessibility for repair or adjustment.

Some of our readers may be able to indulge in the luxury of a second pedal stop. This should be a Violoncello in metal, of 8-feet tone and length. In this case the pedal chest or chests will be regular sound-boards, with sliders; or the Sub-bass may be on a chest as already described, while the Violoncello may be on another, with two actions.

We have only to add, that the power and effectiveness of small organs may be increased by the contrivance called a "Terzo Mano" (Third Hand), or octave coupler. Let us suppose that an ordinary action has been fitted with backfalls in the usual positions. Then a second bridge, rising and falling by a draw-stop, is introduced, carrying skew backfalls which act on the pull-downs an octave higher than the first set. Thus the key CC will take down the Tenor C note, and so on throughout the scale. It is evident that the effect on the ear will be nearly, though not quite, the same as if each 8-feet stop had its corresponding 4-feet stop drawn with it. An Open Diapason will sound like an Open Diapason and Principal; a Stopped Diapason, like a Stopped Diapason and Stopped Flute, &c. To render the illusion complete, the pipes should be carried up twelve notes higher than the apparent compass of the key-board, that is to say, if the key-board has fifty-four notes the sound-board should have sixty-six grooves.

In a similar way the pedal Sub-bass may be made to play in octaves, producing the effect of a Sub-bass, 16-feet tone, with a Flute-bass of 8-feet tone added to it.

Of all such mechanical devices it must be said, finally, that neatness, accuracy, and noiseless precision of action are the conditions necessary to complete success.

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