Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/106

94 great inclination to music. In 1848 he entered the Conservatoire at Ghent, where he was placed for piano under Max Heyndericks; and in two years, while following the instruction of Joseph Mengal, he obtained the prize for harmony. Gevaert gave him lessons in counterpoint. In 1854 his father removed him to the Conservatoire at Brussels, where Lemmens taught him the organ, and Fétis composition. Among his numerous compositions, the fruit of these studies, there is a trio for piano, harmonium, and cello, dedicated to Fétis. A second trio for the same combination is dedicated to Gevaert. In 1856 Regibo contracted for two years with Messrs Mercklin and Schütze to display their organs and harmoniums, and was publicly heard on the latter in Holland, in London and in Paris. Having found in a garret of his father's house a spinet by Albert Delin of Tournai, dated 1756, which had been the musical instrument of his childhood, he conceived the idea of collecting all the old Belgian clavecins, spinets and dulcimers possible—an idea the successful carrying out of which is likely to make his name widely known. Regibo has proposed to himself the patriotic task of redeeming the works of the old Belgian makers from their unmerited obscurity, and after a quarter of a century's research he has now the largest collection existing of the clavecins of the great Antwerp makers, including the greatest of all, the family of Ruckers. [See ; also in the Appendix.] To justify the importance of his object he is now engaged upon a technical treatise, soon to be published, upon the last three centuries of this instrumental art of his native country, which has no early rival even of approximate importance except the still earlier efforts of Northern Italy in the same direction. In 1872 Regibo was summoned to his native town to take the direction of the School of Music, a post which he still holds (1881). [ A. J. H. ]

REGISTER, of an organ. Literally, a set of pipes as recorded or described by the name written on the draw-stop; hence, in general, an organ-stop. The word 'register' is however not quite synonymous with 'stop,' for we do not say 'pull out, or put in, a register,' but, 'a stop,' although we can say indifferently 'a large number of registers' or 'of stops.' The word is also used as a verb; for example, the expression 'skill in registering' or 'registration' means skill in selecting various combinations of stops for use. The word 'stop' is however never used as a verb, in this sense. [ J. S. ]

REGISTER is now employed to denote a portion of the scale. The 'soprano register,' the 'tenor register,' denote that part of the scale which forms the usual compass of those voices; the 'head register' means the notes which are sung with the head voice; the 'chest register,' those which are sung from the chest; the 'upper register' is the higher portion of the compass of an instrument or voice, and so on. How it came to have this meaning, the writer has not been able to discover. [ G. ]

REGISTRATION (or REGISTERING) is the only convenient term for indicating the art of selecting and combining the stops or 'registers' in the organ so as to produce the best effect and contrast of tone, and is to the organ what 'orchestration' is to the orchestra. The stops of an organ may be broadly clased under the two divisions of 'flue-stops' and 'reed-stops.' [See .] The flue-stops again may be regarded as classed under three sub-divisions—those which represent the pure organ tone (as the diapasons, principal, fifteenth, and mixtures), those which aim at an imitation of string or of reed tone (as the violone, viola, gamba, etc.), and those which represent flute tone. In considering the whole of the stops en masse, a distinction may again be drawn between those which are intended to combine in the general tone ('mixing stops') and those, mostly direct imitations of orchestral instruments, which are to be regarded as 'solo stops' to be used for special effects, as the clarinet, orchestral oboe, vox humana, etc. Some stops, such as the harmonic flute, are capable of effective use, with certain limitations, in either capacity.

The use of the pure solo stops is guided by nearly the same æsthetic considerations as the use in the orchestra of the instruments which they imitate [see ], by suitability of timbre for the expression and feeling of the music. These stops form, however, the smallest and on the whole the least important portion of the instrument.

In the combination of the general mass of stops there are some rules which are invariable—e.g. a 'mutation stop,' such as the twelfth, can never be used without the stop giving the unison tone next above it (the fifteenth), and the mixtures can never be used without the whole or the principal mass of the stops giving the sounds below them, except that on the swell manual the mixture may sometimes be used with the 8-feet stops only, to produce a special effect. On the great-organ manual it is generally assumed that the stops are added in the order in which they are always placed, the unison diapason stops and the 16-feet stops lowest, the principal, twelfth, fifteenth, and mixtures in ascending order above them; and the reeds at the top, to be added last, to give the full power of the instrument. But this general rule has its exceptions for special purposes. If it be desired to play a fugato passage with somewhat of a light violin effect, the fifteenth added to the 8-feet steps, omitting the principal and twelfth, has an excellent effect, more especially if balanced by a light 16-feet stop beneath the diapasons. The 8-feet reeds, again, may be used with the diapasons only, with very fine effect, in slow passages of full harmony. The harmonic flute of 4-feet tone is usually found on the great manual, but should be used with caution. It often has a beautiful effect in addition to the diapasons, floating over them and