List of pipe organ stops

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For audio examples, please see the article on organ stops.

An organ stop can mean one of three things:

• The control on an organ console that selects a particular sound.
• The row of organ pipes, used to create a particular sound.
• The sound itself.

This is an alphabetical list of names that may be found on pipe organ stops. Stops on many electronic organs are also named after them. There have been many hundreds of different organ stops designed over the centuries, though this article deals with the more commonly seen stops on Baroque, classical and romantic organs.

• Aeoline: An extremely soft stop - usually the softest stop in an organ that contains it - with a very delicate, airy tone. Built almost equally frequently as a single rank stop, and as a double rank Aeoline Celeste.
• Blockflöte: A stopped flute of 4′ or 2′ pitch, taking it's name from the common flute called a "recorder" (German: blockflöte) which it's tone closely resembles.
• Bombarde: An extremely powerful reed stop. Also a division containing several exceptionally loud reed stops. Not uncommon on the manuals at 8′, but generally in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch.
• Bourdon: A low stopped flute, 8′ or lower on the manuals, and at 16′ or lower on the pedals. While Soubasse or Sub Bass were at one time slightly different stops in construction and tone, the words are commonly used generically and somewhat interchangeably for Bourdon in modern organ building.
• Celeste or voix céleste: A flue stop composed of two pipes for each note, one being tuned slightly sharp or flat to create an undulating effect. Usually made of string toned pipes. Most commonly at 8′.
• Cello: A string-toned stop at 8′ or 16′. It has a broader, warmer, more "romantic" tone than the Gambe (below).
• Choralbass: A 4′ octave diapason (below) in the pedal division.
• Clarinet (Uncommonly called Clarionet): A distinctive reed stop, originating from the Cromorne, but with a richer tone imitating the orchestral instrument.
• Clarion or Clairon. If spelled as "Clarion" it is the 4′ octave of the Trumpet (below). If spelled "Clairon", it is the 4′ octave of the French style Trompette (below).
• Contra: A prefix meaning (in organ usage) "an octave lower". It is most commonly seen in the pedal, meaning a 32′ stop, commonly of a stop already extant in the pedal division at 16′ pitch, as in 32′ Kontra Posaune and 16′ Posaune. It can be an entire rank itself, but commonly it is merely 12 pipes added to the lower end of the corresponding 16′ rank for economic considerations.
• Cromorne or Krummhorn (many similar sounding and similarly spelled variants): A reed stop. Typically of low to moderate volume or power and often having a distinctly buzzing or bleating sound. "Cremona", a common variant of the stop's name, has nothing to do with the town of Cremona in Italy or the famous school of violin makers who lived there.
• Cornet: A multi-rank stop consisting of up to five ranks of wide scaled pipes. The pitches include 8′, 4′, 2 2/3′, 2′ and 1 3/5′. The 8′ rank is stopped while the other ranks are open. Four and three rank cornets exist that eliminate the 8′ and the 8′ and 4′ ranks respectively. It is not imitative of the band instrument known as the cornet, but of a much older medieval instrument. Usually pronounced kor-NAY.
• Cornopean: A common reed stop used for both chorus and solo, generally in a swell division. The tone is similar to the trumpet.
• Diapason: A flue stop intended to be the backbone of the sound, and traditionally and most commonly at 8′ on a manual, and 8′ or 16′ on the pedals. It may be open or stopped, but will always be clarified as "stopped" if it is. Most modern makers use the term Principal (below) instead.
• Diaphone: a special type of organ pipe, producing tone by using a felt hammer to beat air through the resonator. Common on theater organs, it is not often seen on church and concert instruments.
• Dolce ("Sweet"): Sometimes used as a stop name, where it is commonly a stop somewhat similar to the Aeoline (above). More often used as a modifier to a stop name, meaning a softer than normal version of the stop, or one with a very sweet tone, such as "Dolce Flute".
• Fagotto: German for "bassoon". One of the earliest pedal reeds at 16′ it continues to be very common in small organs, where it may be the only pedal reed. It is found at the same pitch on the manuals of larger organs, as part of the manual reed chorus. In larger organs, it is commonly replaced in the pedal division by either the more powerful Bombarde (above) or Posaune (below).
• Flageolet: A 2′ flute on a romantic style organ. On other styles this is more often called a quarte.
• Flute: A single rank of open or stopped flue pipes with a relatively pure sound, weak in overtones. In some organ styles, synonymous with stopped diapason. Common at all pitches from 16′ to 1′, and in the pedal division of very large organs, not uncommon at 32′. Since the basic flute tonality is easy for a pipe builder to manipulate, there are probably more different variations of flute tonality and character in organ building than any other type of organ pipe. If the name is used unqualified (ie: "Flute"), it may be either open or stopped. Some other types of flute are understood by their name to be of open design (Flauto Traverso, Flute Harmonique) or of stopped design (Bourdon, Gedackt). In practice, many types of flute rank that are "open" for most of their length have stopped bass pipes, and most stopped flute ranks have open trebles.
• Gamba: A string stop, one of the earliest designs of string stop in organ building. Called "Viol da Gamba" (leg viol) after the old instrument of the same name, a precursor of the cello. It has a edgier, more "antiquated" tone than the cello (above).
• Gedackt: A basic stopped flute in the manuals, and soft stopped flute voice in the pedals, generally at 8′ and also at 16′.
• Harmonic flute: An open flute made to sound an octave above its length by means of a small hole at its midpoint. Gives a very pure flute tone. Invented and commonly used by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
• Holz (German: "wood"): A modifier used in German organs to signify that the stop, which may be made of either wood or metal (such as a flute,) is made of wood in that particular instance.
• Kleine (German: "little"): A modifier which can mean either a softer than normal version of a stop, or merely a higher-pitched version of a stop, such as "kleine flöte" (piccolo).
• Lieblich (German: "lovely"): Modifier with much the same usage as "Dolce", above. Commonly used with Gedackt as in "Lieblich Gedackt".
• Mixture: While any multi-rank stop can be called a mixture, when a stop control is explicitly labeled Mixture, for example 2 2/3′ Mixture III, it indicates a multi-rank stop (three ranks in the example) intended to be used in chorus with other stops to build a full sound, rather than on its own. Most commonly composed of diapason-type pipes, mixture stops vary tremendously in tone, as they are designed to enhance whatever main stops are available. Mixtures can vary in sound from a delicate "fringe" of tone to top a soft ensemble, all the way up to a sweeping and powerful sound to enhance the full organ.
• Nachthorn: A very widely-scaled flute with a soft, but penetrating sound, most commonly at 4′ pitch. Synonym, French: "Cor de Nuit".
• Nasard or Nazard: A single-rank mutation stop sounding a twelfth above ranks with which it is used. By far the most common mutation stop. Several styles use the term for different tones; Overall it can mean almost any tone. Most commonly at 2 2/3′ for use with an 8′ stop, less common but expected in some styles at 5-1/3′ for use with a 16′ pedal stop. If strict terminology is adhered to (it often is not in modern organ building) it is built of flute pipes.
• Oboe or Hautbois: A single-rank reed stop, more "reminiscent" than imitative of the orchestral instrument, used as both a solo stop and a chorus reed in swell and choir divisions.
• Octave, Oktav, Prestant, (and other variant names and spellings): A 4′ Principal on the manuals.
• Ophicleide: Another powerful reed stop, much like the Bombarde. Normally a 16′ pedal stop (can also be found as an 8′ or 16′ manual stop), but there are also many examples at 32′.
• Orchestral Oboe: A different stop than Oboe (above) it is designed specifically to imitate the orchestral instrument, and in the hands of a good builder and voicer, it can sometimes achieve this with a high degree of realism. It is generally used as a solo reed voice only.
• Piccolo: A flute or occasionally a diapason at 1′.
• Posaune: German for "trombone". Similar to the Bombarde in concept, but voiced in the German style rather than the Bombarde's French style.
• Principal, Principale, Prinzipal, Montre: A prominent diapason, commonly found at 8′ as well as 16', 4', and 2' pitches. It is considered to be the "basic voice" of the organ.
• Quarte: A flute at 2′. Short for quarte de nasard, that is, sounding an interval of a fourth above a nasard stop
• Rankette: A reed stop with 1/32 length resonators producing a buzzy sound with low fundamental.
• Rohrflöte: A semi-stopped flue pipe of metal, with a narrower, open-ended tube extending from the cap on top of the pipe proper. This extension is confusingly known as a reed, which explains the name, from the German for reed flute, referring to the hollow-stem reeds that grow along the banks of streams.
• Salicional: An 8′ string stop. It is the most common stop used for the Vox Celeste (above) in combination with a second rank of Salicionals tuned slightly sharp.
• Super Octave: The manual 2′ Principal or Diapason. It's name merely signifies that it is "above" (super) the 4′ Octave.
• Trombone: a powerful reed stop, simulating the trombone. Synonyms: "Posaune" (German) and "Buccina" (Italian). Most commonly in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch.
• Trompette militaire, a powerful reed of the Trumpet-family, with a with brassy, penetrating tone.
• Trumpet, Trompette: A loud reed stop, generally a single rank, with vertical full-length resonators flared to form a bell. In traditional organ building, the Trumpet is a firmer, more solid pitched stop than the French Trompette, which emphasizes overtones at the expense of fundamental tone.
• Tuba, a powerful large-scale reed of the Trumpet-family usually 8′ in the manuals and 16′ (sometimes 32′) in the pedals. The Tuba-voice is named after the ancient Roman trumpets though not imitating their sound. Generally on high wind-pressure and usually the most powerful voice in the organ.
• Twelfth: A nasard of diapason tone, if strict terminology is used (see "nasard").
• Twenty-second: A 1' diapason, often the only 1' rank in an organ. More commonly called a "Kleine Principal".
• Unda Maris, (Latin: "wave of the sea") a very soft rank tuned slightly sharp or flat. It is drawn with another soft rank to create a very slow undulation similar to, but less prominent than, a Voix Celeste. Occasionally built as a double rank stop (Unda Maris II). Sometimes refers to two ranks, one sharp, the other flat.
• Vox humana:
  • A type of reed stop designed to impressionistically imitate the human voice.
  • A tremulant, particularly one for use with reed stops.
• Zart (German: "delicate"). Modifier used in much the same way as "lieblich", above. Generally used with flute stops — a softer, sweeter version of the named stop.

[edit] External links

• Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, a fairly exhaustive reference that describes over two thousand stop names.
• Pipe organ tonal design, a French organ builder's site in sometimes puzzling English.