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Written by William Porter

In finding appropriate registrations for this concert, I was impressed by how much was possible using only the combination pedals while hand-registering the Choir and couplers, making only occasional modifications to the pre-set combinations, and I was able to achieve results that, both in terms of dynamic relationships and of tonal variety, were superior to those that I had initially tried to achieve through registering entirely by hand. My curiosity about the concept of dynamic relationships in the organ led me to listen more carefully to the relationships among individual stops. I was surprised to find what I believe to be a concept of voicing that is grounded in four basic and distinct levels of dynamic intensity among the open pipes, albeit pipes of different scale. Essentially, all of the Diapason and string pipes of a given length sound at one of these four levels.

Here is what I observed:

Level l:
Swell: Contra Gamba 16, Gamba 8', Flageolet 2'
Choir: Dulciana 8'

Level II:
Great: Quinte 2 2/3
Swell: Octave 4'

Level III:
Great: Double Diapason 16', Octave 4', Super Octave 2', Viola 8'
Swell: Open Diapason 8'
Pedal: Violone Metal 16' (C-f common with Great 16'), Violoncello 8'

Level IV:Great: Open Diapason 8'
(Pedal: Grand Open Diapason 16')

Comments:

The Grand Open Diapason is close to the Open Diapason 8' in strength, but somewhat louder in its upper range.

Concerning the Mixture III: this stop has ranks sounding at octaves, fifths, and thirds. The octaves correspond to Level III, the fifths and thirds very close to level 1.

All of these observations are about dynamic strength, not about differences of color and intensity achieved through scaling. Thus, the Great Viola 8' has more "edge" than the Swell Diapason, but their dynamic levels are virtually identical for a given pitch.

The flutes at eight-foot pitch do not fit into these categories, but have their own relationship of ascending loudness: Swell Lieblich Gedact 8', Choir Lieblich Gedact 8', and Great Claribel Flute 8'. As such, they also serve to bridge the gap between the levels of the strings and diapasons.

The specific result of this arrangement of dynamic levels is that within a given division of the organ there is the maximum possible number of different levels present among the eight-foot stops, that is to say, there is no duplication of the same level at the same pitch. At the same time, the "vertical" flue ensembles of the Swell and of the Great each show a tapered construction as follows:

Swell:
16': I
8': III, I (+Lieblich Gedast 8')
4': II
2': I
16': III

Great
8': IV, II (+Claribel Flute 8')
4': III
3': II
2': III
M: (two ranks of I, one rank of III)

The two registers of open pipes that do not fit into any of the four levels are the Choir Gemshorn 4' and Piccolo 2'. Since these are new pipes, replacing corresponding original stops that were removed in 1902, and since the rest of the diapasons and strings fit so clearly into one of these four levels, the question is naturally raised whether (at least) the original Gemshorn might have been at Level l. It is now considerably louder. There is no 4' stop at Level I, which is surprising, considering the way in which the 16' and 8' stops are ordered.

The success of the registrations afforded by the use of the combination pedals is, in my view, related to the way in which these four dynamic levels are realized throughout the registers of the organ. The concept of tonal relationships within the organ seems to be that of maximum possible complexity of tonal levels for any given registration; stops having a similar scale, such as the diapasons, are found at all four levels, while the most frequently realized levels, I and III, have pipes of both diapason and string tone. This idea, of varying levels within a tonal family, and a variety of families at the same level, gives an effect of tonal depth and complexity to the registrations that the pedals provide, and allows their manipulation, aided by the swell box, to achieve subtly graded dynamic effects.

These observations are based only upon my experience with this particular instrument, and not upon any study of the Willis tradition. I therefore invite reactions and comments from those who have wider experience with the tradition than I, especially concerning how the specific characteristics of this instrument relate to Willis's work as a whole.