Richards, Fowkes & Co., Opus 7

Organ Installation Chronology

Westminster's organ was introduced a stop at a time, as each became playable. The worship service on Sunday, October 11, 1998, was especially memorable, as we got to hear the organ -- and sing hymns with it! -- for the first time. Three stops were used: the Principal 8 foot, the Quintadena 16 foot, and the Subbaß 16 foot.

The Principal 8 foot, which speaks at the same pitch level as the piano, has a relaxed, vocal tone quality that provides a full, warm foundation for hymn singing. Many of the polished tin pipes in the organ facade are parts of the Principal (other pipes of this stop are behind these facade pipes at various places, but always near the front of the case). The Principal has pipes with open tops, so its longest pipes are about 8 feet tall above the mouth.

As its name implies, the Quintadena 16 foot, which speaks an octave lower than an 8 foot stop, has a colorful overtone structure in which the fifth (a sound five notes above the note played) is prominent. The distinctive color of this stop is reminiscent of strings and possibly of oboe. At first only the upper part of this stop will be used, but in the coming weeks it will also provide depth to the organ accompaniment of hymn singing and other repertoire. Most of the pipes of the Quintadena are right behind those of the Principal, particularly in the towers to the sides of the facade (you can see their feet between those of the Principal pipes). The Quintadena is a stopped rank (there are caps over the tops of the pipes), so its pipes, though they speak at 16 foot pitch, are only about the same length as those of the Principal. The pipes have a narrow scale (even though they speak a octave below the principal, they are not much greater in diameter than the principal), which gives them the strong harmonic devleopment that suggests a string. However, since the Quintadena is a stopped rank, its pipes do not produce even harmonics the way open pipes, including principals and strings, do.

The Subbaß 16 foot is a pedal stop made of wood and capped (similar to the one on the organ in the Chapel). The Subbaß pipes can be seen at the backs of the catwalks at the floor and impost levels of the organ. Like the Quintadena, the Subbaß is a stopped rank (in this case, with tuning stoppers inserted into the tops of the pipes), and its longest pipes, on the upper level, are about eight feet tall.

Two new stops were introduced on Sunday, October 18: the Octave 4 foot on the Great division and the Gedackt 8 foot on the Swell.

The Great Octave 4 foot is from the same family as the Principal 8 foot, first heard last week, but speaks one octave higher in pitch. This stop has a clear, moderately bright quality that remains gentle and singing.

The Gedackt 8 foot is a capped flute in the Swell division of the organ, which is located in the top center, behind louvers that can be opened or closed, thereby allowing for dynamic shading. The lowest pipes of this flute rank are made of wood, but the majority are of a hammered 98 percent lead alloy, which contributes to the dark, round timbre. Like the Quintadena and Subbaß, the Gedackt has capped pipes (the literal meaning of Gedackt in German is "covered") that are half the length of those of a principal of the same pitch level. Though the Gedackt 8 pipes are thus about the same length as those of the Octave 4, they are considerably wider than the Octave pipes, and this width, in addition to the material, contributes to their timbre. The swell box is very compact, and the largest pipes of the Gedackt are tucked into all sorts of odd places, including a few fastened to the ceiling of the box!

On Sunday, October 25, another two stops were playing: the Octave 2 foot and the Rohrflöte 8 foot, both on the Great division.

The Octave 2 foot is in the same family as the Principal 8 foot but plays two octaves higher. Like the Principal 8 and the Octave 4, it has open pipes, but of half the length of those of the stop an octave below it. Its sweet, clear quality lends a relaxed brilliance to the principal chorus.

The Rohrflöte 8 foot is a round-toned flute that contrasts nicely with the brighter Gedackt 8 foot of the Swell division. Like the Gedackt, it is basically a covered stop whose biggest pipes are accordingly only about 4 feet long. However, most of its pipes have a little tube (German Rohr) in their caps, which gives just the least hint of an open stop like a Principal. The roundness of tone comes from the pipes being a bit larger in diameter than their counterparts in the Gedackt.

Three more new stops were introduced on Sunday, November 8: the Viola da Gamba 8 foot and the Octave 4 foot on the Swell division, and the Spitzflöte 4 foot on the Great.

The Viol d'Gamba is our first example of another tonal family, the strings. (The Viola da Gamba is a cello-sized instrument, but it is held between the player's legs rather than supported on a post.) Like the Principals, the Gamba has open metal pipes, but its pipes are narrower in proportion to their length than those of the Principals. The result is a tone somewhat resembling that of a bowed string instrument: although there is a hint of the vocal quality of a Principal, there is a more intense core to the tone. The Gamba works well as a solo stop; because it is in the Swell division of the organ and thus under expression, its sound can be made very quiet and meditative. Several of the other stops on the organ, such as the Quintadena and Spitzflöte, have narrow-scaled pipes that produce some of the characteristics of string tone, but the Gamba is the first open, narrow-scaled stop to be introduced in this organ.

The Swell Octave 4 foot is similar to the Octave 4 foot on the Great, but it serves a slightly different purpose. As the longest Principal on the Swell, it sets that division's pitch emphasis an octave higher than that of the Great. The Swell Octave 4 foot is an open cylindrical pipe that is warm and vocal, but slightly more pointed than the Octave 4 on the Great, primarily because of its placement high in the case. The Swell Octave 4 foot is supported by the Gedackt, which provides a unison pitch.

The newest stop on the Great is the Spitzflöte 4 foot, a conical, open flute that has a hint of string color because of the construction of its resonators. As its name sugegsts, the Spitzflöte has tapered pipes (German Spitz, point). Near their mouths, the pipes are almost as wide as the other flutes, but by the tops, they are narrow like a string pipe. The result is a hybrid tone, sounding like a string at the bottom of the keyboard but making a transition to flute-like tone at the top. At 4-foot pitch, the Spitzflöte works with the Rohrflöte in much the same way as the Octave works with the Principal.

On November 15 another new stop on the Swell made its first appearance: the Viol Celeste 8 foot. This stop is an exact duplicate of the Viola da Gamba that is tuned slightly sharp (high) so that when used with the Gamba it produces a fluid, undulating sound. The Celeste is not played by itself, but when combined with the Gamba it provides a warm solo tone that is needed for much 19th and 20th century music.

Three new stops were introduced on November 22: the Gemshorn 2 foot on the Swell and the 8 foot and 4 foot Octaves in the Pedal. (Appropriately for us and our organ, the Sunday before Thanksgiving of 1998 fell on November 22, St. Cecilia's Day, which honors the patroness of music and musicians. We rejoiced and gave special thanks for the magnificent instrument with which we were being blessed!)

The Gemshorn is a string with a great deal of versatility: it is round enough to work with the 8 foot and 4 foot flutes and yet pointed enough to "cap" the Octave 4 foot. This is one of several examples of the ingenious efficiency with which the stop list was designed. Like the Spitzflöte on the Great, the Gemshorn is a rank of tapered pipes. (The gems is an Alpine mountain goat; a gemshorn is a kind of renaissance recorder made from a horn of the goat.) The Gemshorn 2 foot continues the pattern of the Swell having stops similar to those on the Great, but an octave higher.

The Octaves 8 foot and 4 foot, similar in construction and tone the Principal 8 foot on the Great, now allow the pedals to be independent of Principal ranks on the manuals (the keyboards for the hands).The Pedal Octave pipes are mostly in the towers on the sides of the case, though some are in the facade (on the upper level).

On the first Sundays in December we heard for the first time mutations, that is, stops that do not speak at octave multiples of unison speech but fill in and reinforce other components of the natural harmonic series. These stops are the Nasard and Sesquialtera.

The mutation we first heard on December 6 is the Nasard 3 foot on the Great. This stop has conical pipes, and it speaks at the octave fifth above the Principal (so its length is actually close to 2 2/3 feet). It adds considerable pungency to the 8, 4, 2 series of principals or the 8 and 4 flutes to create solo combinations or to strengthen the principal or flute choruses.

The Quint/Sesquialtera 3 foot/II on the Swell, introduced December 13, is more than just an example of a mutation stop, it was the first compound stop to be heard. This stop, unlike all the ones introduced earlier, has two pipes for every note, one speaking at the octave fifth (2 2/3 feet, like the Nasard) and the other at the second octave third (1 3/5 feet). When the Sesquialtera is played with the Gedackt 8, Rohrflöte 4, and Gemshorn 2, the combination is called a "Cornet," and, indeed, it sounds almost like a small trumpet. This stop is also unusual in that its stop knob has a double-draw capability: pulled out only halfway, it turns on only the 2 2/3-foot rank; pulled out all the way, it brings on the second rank of pipes. Either in the cornet or in other combinations, the Sesquialtera adds many colorful possibilities to the organ's repertoire of sounds.

On December 20 the Mixture V on the Great appeared, adding brilliance and sparkle to the Principal chorus. Like the Sesquialtera II, this stop has more than one pipe per note: with 5 ranks and nearly 300 pipes, it is the most complex stop in the organ. Unlike the Sesquialtera, which has the same composition throughout the the entire range of the keyboard, the Mixture changes composition several times. The composition of the mixture is, however, always of octave-speaking (2 foot, 1 foot, etc.) and fifth-speaking (1 1/3 foot, 2/3 foot) pipes. The Mixture is never used by itself but always as a completion of the harmonic development of the Principal chorus and will, in the future, also support the brilliance of reed stops.

A bold new organ stop appeared on January 24, 1999: the Posaune 16 foot in the Pedal division. (The name is German for "trombone.") This member of the reed family is the first of five such stops in the organ. The sound is produced by the same mechanism used in a clarinet, except that instead of the wooden reed and mouthpiece of the clarinet, those of the organ reed are made mostly of brass. The resonators for these pipes are made of hammered 98 percent lead, the longest weighing around 75 pounds! These pipes are also among the tallest in the organ, the longest being just over 14 feet. Because of the size of the pipes, the Posaune is mounted on a separate wind chest behind the main case, a centuries-old practice. The Posaune is a most exciting stop because of its gravity and color; it will be indispensable when grandeur of registration is needed. It is, indeed, the rock upon which full organ can be built!

The Scharff IV (the German adjective scharf means "sharp," in the sense of "biting" or "pungent") was heard for the first time on January 31, 1999. This stop, located in the Swell, is comparable in function, structure, and sound to the Mixture V of the Great, except that it is pitched a fifth higher. With this stop playing, the fluework of the organ is now essentially complete, leaving only the four remaining reed stops yet to finish.

The eagerly awaited Trompet 8 foot on the Great, featured in the prelude and postlude for the worship service on May 16, is a robust reed stop with a festive flair. It also has great versatility, since its timbre allows it to be used as either a solo stop or a chorus reed.

On Trinity Sunday, May 30, the Trompet 8 foot in the Pedal was introduced. This reed stop, which lends a great deal of color and strength, works nicely as a solo stop or in combination with the Posaune 16 foot.

The tremulant on the organ was introduced on June 13. This is a mechanism on the winding system of the organ that causes the wind pressure to fluctuate with a periodicity, thus creating vibrato. It lends a gentleness and expressivity, which are lovely.

Also introduced on June 13 was the Dulcian 16 foot on the Swell, which was heard on the hymns. This warm and colorful reed (bassoon) can be used as a solo stop, especially when played up an octave, or as a strong foundation underneath full manual registrations.

Two more stops, completed earlier, were featured in the prelude and postlude on August 8, 1999. The Schalmey 8 foot is a reed found on the Swell that can be used as either a solo or chorus reed. A smaller version of the Great Trompet, it exhibits a dark and slightly creamy color. It has great versatility: not only can it serve successfully as either a trompet or haubois (oboe) but also, because it is on the Swell, it is under expression (that is, the dynamics can be varied with the opening and closing of the shades).

The Vogelgesang, also featured on August 8, 1999, is a centuries-old accessory that adds charm to the instrument in much the same way that gargoyles do for a cathedral. The "bird's song" is achieved by immersing the top of a small principal pipe in a reservoir of water, whereby the bubbles created cause the pipe's speech and pitch to warble.

On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2002, the Zymbelstern made its first appearance. German and Dutch organbuilders have, for at least five centuries, adorned instruments with Zymbelsterns or "ringing stars" as a symbol of humankind's lifelong journey to the Child born in Bethlehem.

As with the Vogelgesang, the Zymbelstern presents the organbuilder with an opportunity to charm the listener with a novel use of ingenious engineering. Both are wind-driven devices, powered by pressurized air from the windchests. The stars have paddle wheels behind them that are set into motion by air jets when the stop at the console is pulled. There is a third paddle wheel (looking like a water wheel on its side) that turns a metal beater hanging in the middle of four small bells mounted on a frame. When the wheel is set into motion by wind from its jet, centrifugal force swings the beater to strike each of the bells as the wheel spins.

The stars were carved from basswood and gilded, using a method developed thousands of years ago. In this process, the wood is painted with an emulsion of clay and gelatin, and the gold leaf is then applied directly to this surface and absorbed by it. After the gold leaf has dried, it can be made shiny by burnishing it with a polished stone or left simply with a frosty finish.

It is hoped that we all will find delight in the Zymbelstern, that it will speak to the child within each of us, and that it can be a reminder of our continual journey to the Child who is our salvation.

With the installation of the Zymbelstern, Opus 7 is complete. Soli Deo Gloria.

Organ Specifications

Mechanical stop and key action

Flexible winding through two wedge bellows

Unequal temperament by Kellner, 1979

Wind pressure: 69 mm

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Updated 9/8/2002