CHAPTER IV.

Undoubtedly the first improvements to be named must be the pneumatic and electro-pneumatic actions.

Without the use of these actions most of the advances we are about to chronicle would not have been effected.

As before stated, Cavaillé-Coll and Willis worked as pioneers in perfecting and in introducing the pneumatic action.

The pneumatic action used by Willis, Cavaillé-Coll and a score of other builders leaves little to be desired. It is thoroughly reliable and, where the keys are located close by the organ, is fairly prompt both in attack and repetition. Many of the pneumatic actions made to-day, however, are disappointing in these particulars.

In the year 1872 Henry Willis built an organ for St. Paul's Cathedral, London, which was divided in two portions, one on each side of the junction of the Choir with the Dome at an elevation of about thirty feet from the floor. The keyboards were placed inside one portion of the instrument, and instead of carrying trackers down and under the floor and up to the other side, as had hitherto been the custom in such cases, he made the connection by means of tubes like gaspipes, and made a pulse ofwindtravel down and across and up and into the pneumatic levers controlling the pipes and stops. Sir John Stainer describes it as "a triumph of mechanical skill." He was organist of St. Paul's for many years and ought to know. This was all very well for a cathedral, where

". . . . the long-drawn aislesThe melodious strains prolong"

but here is what the eminent English organist, W. T. Best, said about tubular pneumatic action as applied to another organ used for concert purposes: "It is a complete failure; you cannot play a triplet on the Trumpet, and I consider it the most d——nable invention ever placed inside an organ." Notwithstanding these drawbacks this action became very fashionable after its demonstration at St. Paul's, and was used even in small organs in preference to the Barker lever. One builder confessed to the writer that he had suffered severe financial loss through installing this action. After expending considerable time (and time is money) in getting it to work right, the whole thing would be upset when the sexton started up the heating apparatus. The writer is acquainted with organs in New York City where these same conditions prevail.

The writer, however, will admit having seen some tubular actions which were fairly satisfactory, one in particular in the factory of Alfred Monk, London, England, where for demonstration purposes the tubes were fifty feet long. Dr. Bédart informs us that Puget, the famous organ builder of Toulouse, France, sets fifty feet as the limit of usefulness of this action.

Henry Willis & Sons in their description of the organ in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool Cathedral state that their action has been tested to a repetition of 1,000 per minute, quicker than any human finger can move. This is a square organ in one case, but we note they have adopted the electric action for the great cathedral organ where the distance of the pipes from the keys is too great for satisfactory response.

In view of the wide use at present of this action we give a drawing and description of its operation as patented and made by Mr. J. J. Binns, of Bramley, Leeds, England. J. Matthews, in his "Handbook of the Organ," says that this action is very good and free from drawbacks.

Fig. 5. Tubular Pneumatic ActionFig. 5. Tubular Pneumatic Action

The tubes, N, from each key are fixed to the hole connected to the small puffs P in the puff-board E. Air under pressure is admitted by the key action and conveyed by the tubes N which raises the corresponding button valves S1, lifting their spindles S and closing the apertures T2in the bottom of the wind-chest A, and opening a similar aperture T in the bottom of the cover-board F, causing the compressed air to escape from the exhaust bellows M, which closes, raising the solid valve H in the cover-board F and closing the aperture J1in the wind-chest A, shuts off the air from the bellows, which immediately closes, drawing down the pallet B, which admits air (or wind) to the pipes.

No tubular-pneumatic action is entirely satisfactory when the distance between the keys and the organ is great. This is often due to a law of nature rather than to imperfection of design or workmanship.

Pneumatic pulses travel slowly—at a speed which does not reach 1,100 feet per second. In large organs where necessarily some of the tubes are short and some have to be long, it is impossible to secure simultaneous speech from all departments of the instrument, and in addition to this the crisp feeling of direct connection with his pipes, which the old tracker action secured for the organist, is lost.

It is generally thought amongst the more advanced of the builders and organists qualified to judge, that the tubular-pneumatic action will sooner or later be entirely abandoned in favor of the electro-pneumatic action. Certain it is that the aid of electricity is now called in in practically every large instrument that is built in this country, and in an increasing proportion of those constructed abroad.

The instance of St. Paul's Cathedral cited above shows the demand that existed at that time for means whereby the organ could be played with the keyboards situated at some distance from the main body of the instrument. In the Cathedrals the organ was usually placed on a screen dividing the Choir from the Nave, completely obstructing the view down the church. There was a demand for its removal from this position (which was eventually done at St. Paul's, Chester, Durham, and other Cathedrals). Then in the large parish churches the quartet of singers in the west gallery where the organ was placed had been abolished. Boy choirs had been installed in the chancel, leaving the organ and organist in the west gallery, to keep time together as best they could. In the Cathedrals, too, the organist was a long way off from the choir. How glorious it would be if he could sit and play in their midst! Henry Willis & Sons stated in a letter to the LondonMusical News, in 1890, that they had been repeatedly asked to make such arrangements but had refused, "because Dame Nature stood in the way,"—which she certainly did if tubular pneumatics had been used. The fact was that up to this time all the electric actions invented had proved more or less unreliable, and Willis, who had an artistic reputation to lose, refused to employ them. As an instance of their clumsiness we may mention that the best contact they could get was made by dipping a platinum point in a cell containing mercury! Other forms of contact rapidly oxidized and went out of business.

Dr. Gauntlet, about the year 1852, took out a patent covering an electric connection between the keys and the pallets of an organ,[2] but the invention of the electro-pneumatic lever must be ascribed to Barker and Dr. Péschard. The latter seems to have suggested the contrivance and the former to have done the practical work.

Bryceson Bros. were the first to introduce this action into English organs. They commenced work along these lines in 1868, under the Barker patents, their first organ being built behind the scenes at Her Majesty's Opera House, Drury Lane, London, the keys being in the orchestra. This organ was used successfully for over a year, after which it was removed and shown as a curiosity in the London Polytechnic Institute, recitals being given twice daily.

Schmole and Molls, Conti, Trice and others took a leading part in the work on the European continent, and Roosevelt was perhaps its greatest pioneer in the United States.

Various builders in many countries have more recently made scores of improvements or variations in form and have taken out patents to cover the points of difference, but none of these has done any work of special importance.

Not one of the early electric actions proved either quick or reliable, and all were costly to install and maintain.[3]

The First Electric Organ Ever Built. In the Collegiate Church at Salon, Near Marseilles, France (1866).The First Electric Organ Ever Built. In the Collegiate Church at Salon, Near Marseilles, France (1866).

This form of mechanism, therefore, earned a bad name and was making little advance, if not actually being abandoned, when a skilled electrician, Robert Hope-Jones, entered the field about 1886. Knowing little of organs and nothing of previous attempts to utilize electricity for this service, he made with his own hands and some unskilled assistance furnished by members of his voluntary choir, the first movable console,[4] stop-keys, double touch, suitable bass, etc., and an electric action that created a sensation throughout the organ world. In this action the "pneumatic blow" was for the first time attained and an attack and repetition secured in advance of anything thought possible at that time, in connection with the organ or the pianoforte.

Hope-Jones introduced the round wire contact which secures the ideally perfect "nibbing points," and he makes these wires of dissimilar non-corrosive metals (gold and platinum).

He replaced previous rule-of-thumb methods by scientific calculation, recognized the value of low voltage, good insulation and the avoidance of self-induction, with the result that the electro-pneumatic action has become (when properly made) as reliable as the tracker or pneumatic lever mechanism.

The electric action consists substantially of a small bellows like the pneumatic lever, but instead of the valve admitting the wind to operate it being moved by a tracker leading from the key, it is opened by an electro-magnet, energized by a contact in the keyboard and connected therewith by a wire which, of course, may be of any desired length. We illustrate one form of action invented and used by Hope-Jones.[5]

Within the organ, the wires from the other end of the cable are attached to small magnets specially wound so that no spark results when the electric contact at the key is broken. This magnet attracts a thin disc of iron about 1/4 inch in diameter, (held up by a high wind pressure from underneath) and draws it downward through a space of less than 1/100 of an inch.

The working is as follows: The box A is connected with the organ bellows and so (immediately the wind is put into the organ) is filled with air under pressure, which passes upwards between the poles of the magnet N. Lifting the small iron disc L it finds its way through the passage L into the small motor M, thus allowing the movable portion of the motor M to remain in its lower position, the pallet C1being closed and the pallet C2being open. Under these conditions, the large motor B collapses and the pull-down P (which is connected with the organ pallet) rises.

Fig. 6. The Electro-Pneumatic LeverFig. 6. The Electro-Pneumatic Lever

When a weak current of electricity is caused to circulate round the coils of the electro-magnet N, the small armature disc J is drawn off the valve-seat H on to the zinc plate K.

The compressed air from within the small motor M escapes by way of the passage L, through the openings in the valve seat H into the atmosphere. The compressed air in the box A then acts upon the movable portion of the small motor M in such a manner that it is forced upwards and caused (through the medium of the pull-wire E) to lift the supply pallet C1and close the exhaust pallet C2, thus allowing compressed air to rush from the box A into the motor B and so cause this latter motor to open and (through the medium of the pull down P) to pull the soundboard pallet from its seat and allow wind to pass into the pipes.

Fig. 7. Valve and Valve Seat, Hope-Jones Electric ActionFig. 7. Valve and Valve Seat, Hope-Jones Electric Action

The valve-seat H has formed on its lower surface two crescent shaped long and narrow slits. A very slight movement of the armature disc J, therefore, suffices to open to the full extent two long exhaust passages. The movement of this disc is reduced to something less than the 1/100 part of an inch. It is, therefore, always very close to the poles of the magnet, consequently a very faint impulse of electricity will suffice (aided by gravity) to draw the disc off the valve-seat H. The zinc plate K being in intimate contact with the iron poles of the magnet N, protects the latter from rust by well-known electrical laws. All the parts are made of metal, so that no change in the weather can affect their relative positions. R is the point at which the large motor B is hinged. G is a spring retaining cap in position; O the wires leading from the keys and conveying the current to the magnet N; Q the removable side of the box A.

Fig. 7 represents a larger view of the plate K in which the magnet poles N are rigidly fixed—of a piece of very fine chiffon M (indicated by a slightly thicker line) which prevents particles of dust passing through so as to interfere with the proper seating of the soft Swedish charcoal iron armature disc J—of the distance piece L and of the valve seat H.

On the upper surface of this valve seat H another piece of fine chiffon is attached to prevent possible passage of dust to the armature valve J, from outside.

As all parts of this apparatus are of metal changes in humidity or temperature do not affect its regulation.

The use of this action renders it possible for the console (or keyboards, etc.) to be entirely detached from the organ, moved to a distance and connected with the organ by a cable fifty or one hundred feet or as many miles long. This arrangement may be seen, for example, in the College of the City of New York (built by the E. M. Skinner Co.), where the console is carried to the middle of the platform when a recital is to be given, and removed out of the way when the platform is wanted for other purposes.

As all the old mechanism—the backfalls, roller-boards and trackers—is now swept away, it is possible by placing the bellows in the cellar to utilize theinside of the organfor a choir-vestry, as was indeed done with the pioneer Hope-Jones organ at St. John's Church, Birkenhead.

Before the invention of pneumatic and electro-pneumatic action, organs were almost invariably constructed in a single mass. It was, it is true, possible to find instruments with tracker action that were divided and placed, say, half on either side of a chancel, but instances of the kind were rare and it was well nigh impossible for even a muscular organist to perform on such instruments.

The perfecting of tubular pneumatic and especially of electro-pneumatic action has lent wonderful flexibility to the organ and has allowed of instruments being introduced in buildings where it would otherwise have been impossible to locate an organ. Almost all leading builders have done work of this kind, but the Aeolian Company has been quickest to seize the advantage of division in adapting the pipe organ for use in private residences.

Sound reflectors have recently been introduced, and it seems likely that these will play an important part in organ construction in the future. So far they appear to be employed only by Hope-Jones and the firms with which he was associated. It has been discovered that sound waves may be collected, focussed or directed, much in the same way that light waves can. In the case of the Hope-Jones organ at Ocean Grove, N. J., the greatest part of the instrument has been placed in a basement constructed outside the original Auditorium. The sound waves are thrown upward and are directed into the Auditorium by means of parabolic reflectors constructed of cement lined with wood. The effect is entirely satisfactory. In Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio,[6] Hope-Jones arranged for the Tuba to stand in the basement at the distant end of the nave. Its tone is directed to a cement reflector and from that reflector is projected through a metal grid set in the floor, till, striking the roof of the nave, it is spread and fills the entire building with tone. In St. Luke's Church, Montclair, N. J., he adopted a somewhat similar plan in connection with the open 38-foot pedal pipes which are laid horizontally in the basement. We believe that the first time this principle was employed was in the case of the organ rebuilt by Hope-Jones in 1892 at the residence of Mr. J. Martin White, Balruddery, Dundee, Scotland.

In the days of mechanical action, couplers of any kind proved a source of trouble and added greatly to the weight of the touch. The natural result was that anything further than unison coupling was seldom attempted.

In some organs hardly any couplers at all were present.

In Schulze's great and celebrated organ in Doncaster, England, it was not possible to couple any of the manuals to the pedals, and (if we remember rightly) there were only two couplers in the whole instrument. Shortly after the introduction of pneumatic action, an organ with an occasional octave coupler, that is a coupler which depressed a key an octave higher or lower than the one originally struck, was sometimes met with.

In the pioneer organ built by Hope-Jones in Birkenhead, England (about 1887), a sudden advance was made. That organ contains no less than 19 couplers. Not only did he provide sub-octave and super-octave couplers freely, but he even added a Swell Sub-quint to Great coupler!

Octave couplers are now provided by almost all builders.

Though condemned by many theorists, there is no doubt that in practice they greatly add to the resources of the instruments to which they are attached. We know of small organs where the electric action has been introduced for no other reason than that of facilitating the use of octave couplers, which are now a mere matter of wiring and give no additional weight to the touch.

Hope-Jones appears to have led in adding extra pipes to the wind-chest, which were acted upon by the top octave of the octave couplers, thus giving the organist a complete scale to the full extent of the keyboards. He made the practice common in England, and the Austin Company adopted it on his joining them in this country. The plan has since become more or leas common. This is the device we see specified in organ builders' catalogues as the "extended wind-chest," and explains why the stops have 73 pipes to 61 notes on the keyboard. An octave coupler without such extension is incomplete and is no more honest than a stop which only goes down to Tenor C.

[1] The researches of Dr. Gabriel Bédart, Professeur agrégé Physiologie in the University of Lille, France, a learned and enthusiastic organ connoisseur, have brought to light the fact that the first tubular pneumatic action was constructed by Moitessier in France in 1835. It was designed upon the exhaust principle.

[2] Dr. Gauntlett's idea was to playallthe organs shown in the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851, from one central keyboard. He proposed to place an electro-magnet inside the wind-chest under each pallet, which would have required an enormous amount of electric current. The idea was never carried out. This plan seems also to have occurred to William Wilkinson, the organ-builder of Kendal, as far back as 1862, but, after some experiments, was abandoned. An organ constructed on similar lines was actually built by Karl G. Weiglé, of Echterdingen, near Stuttgart, Germany, in 1870, and although not at all a success, he built another on the same principle which was exhibited at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873. Owing to the powerful current necessary to open the Pallets, the contacts fused and the organ was nearly destroyed by fire on several occasions.

[3] Sir John Stainer, in the 1889 edition of his "Dictionary of Musical Terms," dismisses the electric action in a paragraph of four lines as of no practical importance. In that same year the writer asked Mr. W. T. Best to come over and look at the organ in St. John's Church, Birkenhead, which was then beginning to be talked about, and he laughed at the idea that any good could come out of an electric action. He was a man of wide experience who gave recitals all over the country and was thoroughly acquainted with the attempts that had been made up to that time. He did not want to see any more electric organs.

[4] Console—the keyboards, pedals and stop action by which the organ is played; sometimes detached from the instrument.

[5] from Matthews' "Handbook of the Organ," p. 52et seq.

[6] Organ built by the Ernest M. Skinner Co.

DR. ALBERT PESCHARD. Inventor of Electro-Pneumatic Action.DR. ALBERT PESCHARD. Inventor of Electro-Pneumatic Action.

Dr. Albert Péschard was born in 1836, qualified as an advocate (Docteur en droit), and from 1857 to 1875 was organist of the Church of St. Etienne, Caen, France. He commenced to experiment in electro-pneumatics in the year 1860, and early in 1861 communicated his discoveries to Mr. Barker. From that date until Barker left France, Péschard collaborated with him, reaping no pecuniary benefit therefrom. Péschard, however, was honored by being publicly awarded the Medal of Merit of the Netherlands; the Medal of Association Francaise pour l'Avancement de la Science; Gold Medal, Exhibition of Lyons; and the Gold Medal, Exhibition of Bordeaux. He died at Caen, December 23, 1903. (From Dr. Hinton's "Story of the Electric Organ.")

On looking at the console of a modern organ the observer will be struck by the fact that the familiar draw-stop knobs have disappeared, or, if they are still there, he will most likely find in addition a row of ivory tablets, like dominoes, arranged over the upper manual. If the stop-knobs are all gone, he will find an extended row, perhaps two rows of these tablets. These are thestop-keyswhich, working on a centre, move either the sliders in the wind-chest, or bring the various couplers on manuals and pedals on or off.

Fig. 8. Console, Showing the Inclined Keyboards First Introduced Into This Country by Robert Hope-JonesFig. 8. Console, Showing the Inclined Keyboards First Introduced Into This Country by Robert Hope-Jones

We learn from Dr. Bédart that as early as 1804 an arrangement suggestive of the stop-key was in use in Avignon Cathedral. William Horatio Clarke, of Reading, Mass., applied for a patent covering a form of stop-key in 1877. Hope-Jones, however, is generally credited with introducing the first practical stop-keys. He invented the forms most largely used to-day, and led their adoption in England, in this country, and indeed throughout the world.

Fig. 9. Console on the Bennett System, Showing Indicator DiscsFig. 9. Console on the Bennett System, Showing Indicator Discs

Our illustration (Fig. 8) gives a good idea of the appearance of a modern Hope-Jones console. The stop-keys will be seen arranged in an inclined semi-circle overhanging and just above the keyboards. Fig. 9 shows a console on the Bennett system. Figs. 10 and 11, hybrids, the tilting tablet form of stop-keys being used for the couplers only.

Fig. 10. Console of Organ in Trinity Church, Boston, Mass. Built by Hutchings Organ Co.Fig. 10. Console of Organ in Trinity Church, Boston, Mass. Built by Hutchings Organ Co.

There is much controversy as to whether stop-keys will eventually displace the older fashioned draw-knobs.

Fig. 11. Console of Organ in College of City of New York. Built by The E. M. Skinner Co.Fig. 11. Console of Organ in College of City of New York. Built by The E. M. Skinner Co.

A few organists of eminence, notably Edwin H. Lemare, are strongly opposed to the new method of control, but the majority, especially the rising generation of organists, warmly welcome the change. It is significant that whereas Hope-Jones was for years the only advocate of the system, four or five of the builders in this country, and a dozen foreign organ-builders, are now supplying stop-keys either exclusively or for a considerable number of their organs. Austin, Skinner, Norman & Beard, Ingram and others use the Hope-Jones pattern, but Haskell, Bennett, Hele and others have patterns of their own. It is a matter of regret that some one pattern has not been agreed on by all the builders concerned.[1]

In older days all stop-keys were moved by hand, and as a natural consequence few changes in registration could be made during performance.

Pedals for throwing out various combinations of stops were introduced into organs about 1809; it is generally believed that J. C. Bishop was the inventor of this contrivance.

Willis introduced into his organs pneumatic thumb-pistons about the year 1851. These pistons were placed below the keyboard whose stops they affected.

T. C. Lewis, of England, later introduced short key-touches arranged above the rear end of the keys of the manual. Depression of these key-touches brought different combinations of stops into use on the keyboard above which they were placed. Somewhat similar key-touches were used by the Hope-Jones Organ Co. and by the Austin Organ Co.

Metal buttons or pistons located on the toe piece of the pedal-board were introduced by the ingenious Casavant of Canada. They are now fitted by various builders and appear likely to be generally adopted. These toe-pistons form an additional and most convenient means for bringing the stops into and out of action.

At first these various contrivances operated only such combinations as were arranged by the builder beforehand, but now it is the custom to provide means by which the organist can so alter and arrange matters that any combination piston or combination key shall bring out and take in any selection of stops that he may desire. Hilborne Roosevelt of New York, was the first to introduce these adjustable combination movements.

The introduction of the above means of rapidly shifting the stops in an organ has revolutionized organ-playing, and has rendered possible the performance of the orchestral transcriptions that we now so often hear at organ recitals.

In order to economize in cost of manufacture, certain of the organ-builders, chiefly in America and in Germany, have adopted the pernicious practice of making the combination pedals, pistons or keys bring the various ranks of pipes into or out of action without moving the stop-knobs.

This unfortunate plan either requires the organist to remember which combination of stops he last brought into operation on each keyboard, or else necessitates the introduction of some indicator displaying a record of the pistons that he last touched. In the organ in the Memorial Church of the 1st Emperor William in Berlin, the builder introduced a series of electric lights for this purpose. This device can be seen in use in this country.

When this plan is adopted the player is compelled to preserve a mental image of the combinations set on every piston or pedal in the organ and identify them instantly by the numbers shown on the indicator—an impossibility in the case of adjustable combinations often changed—impracticable in any case.

Almost all the greatest organists agree in condemning the system of non-moving stop-knobs, and we trust and believe that it will soon be finally abandoned.

[1] Organists find, after using them a short time, that a row of stop-keys over the manuals is wonderfully easy to control. It is possible to slide the finger along, and with one sweep either bring on or shut off the whole organ.

Pedal boards had always been made flat with straight keys until Willis and the great organist, Dr. S. S. Wesley, devised the radiating and concave board whereby all the pedal keys were brought within equal distance of the player's feet. This was introduced in the organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, and Willis has refused to supply any other type of board with his organs ever since. Curiously enough, the advantages of this board were not appreciated by many players who preferred the old type of board and at a conference called by the Royal College of Organists in 1890 it was decided to officially recommend a board which was concave, but had parallel keys. The following letter to the author shows that the R. C. O. has experienced a change of heart in this matter:

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ORGANISTS.LONDON, S. W., 27th May, 1909.

Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry the Resolutions and Recommendations to which you refer were withdrawn by my Council some years ago. No official recommendation is made by them now. It is stated in our Calendar that the Council wish it understood that the arrangements and measurements of the College organ are not intended to be accepted as authoritative or final suggestions. I am,

Yours faithfully,THOMAS SHINDLER,Registrar.

The radiating and concave board has been adopted by the American Guild of Organists and has long been considered the standard for the best organs built in the United States and Canada. It is self-evident that this board is more expensive to construct than the other. That is why we do not find it in low-priced organs.

In most American organs built twenty years ago, the compass of the pedal board was only two octaves and two notes, from CCC to D. Sometimes two octaves only. Later it was extended to F, 30 notes, which is the compass generally found in England. Following Hope-Jones' lead, all the best builders have now extended their boards to g, 32 notes, this range being called for by some of Bach's organ music and certain pieces of the French school where a melody is played by the right foot and the bass by the left. The chief reason is that g is the top note of the string bass, and is called for in orchestral transcriptions. Henry Willis & Sons have also extended the pedal compass to g in rebuilding the St. George's Hall organ in 1898.

For a long time no means whatever of controlling the Pedal stops and couplers was provided, but in course of time it became the fashion to cause the combination pedals or pistons on the Great organ (and subsequently on the other departments also) to move the Pedal stops and couplers so as to provide a bass suited to the particular combination of stops in use on the manual. This was a crude arrangement and often proved more of a hindrance than of a help to the player. Unfortunately, unprogressive builders are still adhering to this inartistic plan. It frequently leads to a player upsetting his Pedal combination when he has no desire to do so. It becomes impossible to use the combination pedals without disturbing the stops and couplers of the Pedal department.

The great English organist, W. T. Best, in speaking of this, instanced a well-known organ piece, Rinck's "Flute Concerto," which called for quick changes from the Swell to the Great organ andvice versa, and said that he knew of no instrument in existence on which it could be properly played. An attempt had been made on the Continent to overcome this difficulty by the use of two pedal-boards, placed at an angle to each other, but it did not meet with success.

The Hope-Jones plan (patented 1889) of providing the combination pedals or pistons with a double touch was a distinct step in advance for it enabled the organist by means of a light touch to move only the manual registers and by means of a very much heavier touch on the combination pedal or piston to operate also his Pedal stops and couplers. Most large organs now built are furnished with a pedal for reversing the position of the Great to Pedal coupler. Though to a certain extent useful when no better means of control is provided, this is but a makeshift.

Thomas Casson, of Denbigh, Wales, introduced an artistic, though somewhat cumbersome, arrangement. He duplicated the draw-knobs controlling the Pedal stops and couplers and located one set of these with the Great organ stops, another set with the Swell organ stops and a third with the Choir. He placed in the key slip below each manual what he called a "Pedal Help." When playing on the Great organ, he would, by touching the "Pedal Help," switch into action the group of Pedal stops and coupler knobs located in the Great department, switching out of action all the other groups of Pedal stops and couplers. Upon touching the "Pedal Help" under the Swell organ keys, the Great organ group of Pedal stops and couplers would be rendered inoperative and the Swell group would be brought into action. By this means it was easy to prepare in advance groups of Pedal stops and couplers suited to the combination of stops sounding upon each manual and by touching a Pedal Help, to call the right group of Pedal stops into action at any moment. The combination pedals affecting the Great stop-knobs moved also the Pedal stop-knobs belonging to the proper group. The Swell and Choir groups were similarly treated.

But the simplest and best means of helping the organist to control his Pedal department is the automatic "Suitable Bass" arrangement patented by Hope-Jones in 1891 and subsequently. According to his plan a "Suitable Bass" tablet is provided just above the rear end of the black keys on each manual.

Each of these tablets has a double touch. On pressing it with ordinary force it moves the Pedal stop keys and couplers, so as to provide an appropriate bass to the combination of stops in use on that manual at the moment. On pressing it with much greater force it becomes locked down and remains in that position until released by the depression of the suitable bass tablet belonging to another manual, or by touching any of the Pedal stop-knobs or stop-keys.

When the suitable bass tablet belonging to any manual is thus locked down, the stops and couplers of the Pedal department will automatically move so as to provide at all times a bass that is suitable to the combination of stops and couplers in use upon that particular manual.

On touching the suitable bass tablet belonging to any other manual with extra pressure, the tablet formerly touched will be released and the latter will become locked down. The Pedal stops and couplers will now group themselves so as to provide a suitable bass to the stops in use on the latter-named manual, and will continue so to do until this suitable bass tablet is in turn released.

This automatic suitable bass device does not interfere with the normal use of the stop-keys of the pedal department by hand. Directly any one of these be touched, the suitable bass mechanism is automatically thrown out of action.

The combination pedals and pistons are all provided with double touch. Upon using them in the ordinary way the manual stops alone are affected. If, however, considerable extra pressure be brought to bear upon them the appropriate suitable bass tablet is thereby momentarily depressed and liberated—by this means providing a suitable bass. In large organs two or three adjustable toe pistons are also provided to give independent control of the Pedal organ. On touching any of these toe pistons all suitable bass tablets are released, and any selection of Pedal stops and couplers that the organist may have arranged on the toe piston operated is brought into use. The Hope-Jones plan seems to leave little room for improvement. It has been spoken of as "the greatest assistance to the organist since the invention of combination pedals." [1]

Compton, of Nottingham, England[2] (a progressive and artistic builder), already fits a suitable bass attachment to his organs and it would seem likely that before long this system must become universally adopted.

[1] Mark Andrews, Associate of the Royal College of Organists, England, President of the National Association of Organists and Sub-Warden of the American Guild of Organists.

[2] Mr. R. P. Elliott, organizer and late Vice-President of the Austin Co., said on his last return from England that Compton was at that time doing the most artistic work of any organ-builder in that country. He is working to a great extent on the lines laid down by Hope-Jones, and has the benefit of the advice and assistance of that well-known patron of the art, Mr. J. Martin White. His business has lately been reorganized under the title of John Compton, Ltd., in which company Mr. White is a large shareholder.

To most organs in this country, to many in Germany, and to a few in other countries, there is attached a balanced shoe pedal by movement of which the various stops and couplers in the organ are brought into action in due sequence. By this means an organist is enabled to build up the tone of his organ from the softest to the loudest without having to touch a single stop-knob, coupler or combination piston. The crescendo pedal, as it is called, is little used in England. It is the fashion there to regard it merely as a device to help an incompetent organist. It is contended that a crescendo pedal is most inartistic, as it is certain to be throwing on or taking off stops in the middle, instead of at the beginning or end of a musical phrase. In spite of this acknowledged defect, many of the best players in this country regard it as a legitimate and helpful device.

We believe the first balanced crescendo pedal in this country was put in the First Presbyterian Church organ at Syracuse, N. Y., by Steere, the builder of the instrument.

Under the name of Sforzando Coupler, the mechanism of which is described and illustrated in Stainer's Dictionary, a device was formerly found in some organs by which the keys of the Swell were caused to act upon the keys of the Great. The coupler being brought on and off by a pedal, sforzando effects could be produced, or the first beat in cadi measure strongly accented in the style of the orchestration of the great masters. Hope-Jones in his pioneer organ at St. John's Church, Birkenhead, England, provided a pedal which brought the Tuba on the Great organ. The pedal was thrown back by a spring on being released from the pressure of the foot. Some fine effects could be produced by this, but of course the whole keyboard was affected and only chords could be played. Various complicated devices to bring out a melody have been invented from time to time by various builders, but all have been superseded by the invention of the "Double Touch." On a keyboard provided with this device, extra pressure of the fingers causes the keys struck to fall an additional eighth inch (through a spring giving way), bringing the stops drawn on another manual into play. If playing on the Swell organ, the Choir stops will sound as well when the keys are struck with extra firmness; if playing on the Choir the Swell stops sound; and if playing on the Great the Double Touch usually brings on the Tuba or Trumpet. It is thus possible to play a hymn tune in four parts on the Swell and bring out the melody on the Choir Clarinet; to play on the Choir and bring out the melody on the Swell Vox Humana or Cornopean; or to play a fugue with the full power of the Great organ (except the Trumpet) and bring out the subject of the fugue every time it enters, whether in the soprano voice, the alto, tenor, or bass.

In the latest Hope-Jones organs arrangements are made for drawing many of the individual stops on the second touch, independently of the couplers.

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