Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/108

96 an arpeggio accompaniment for flutes in three octaves—

though it is perhaps better with the 4-feet flute omitted. The clarinet, though intended as a solo stop, may occasionally be used with great effect in harmonised passages (in combination with a light flue-stop to fill up and blend the tone), and should therefore always be carried through the whole range of the keyboard, not stopped at tenor C, as most builders do with it. The vox-humana should never be combined with any other stop on the same manual; the French organists write it so, but it is a mistake; and, it may be added, it should be but sparingly used at all. It is one of the tricks of organ effect, useful sometimes for a special expression, but very liable to misuse. The modern introduction of a fourth keyboard, the 'solo manual,' entirely for solo stops, puts some new effects in the hands of the player, more especially through the medium of brilliant reed-stops voiced on an extra pressure of wind. These give opportunity for very fine effects in combination with the great-organ manual; sometimes in bringing out a single emphatic note, as in a passage from Bach's A minor Fugue—

where the long blast from the solo reed, sounding above the sway and movement of the other parts, has a magnificent effect. The solo reeds may be used also to give contrast in repeated phrases in full harmony, as in this passage from the finale of Mendelssohn's first Sonata—

Combinations and effects such as these might be multiplied ad infinitum; in fact, the possible combinations on an organ of the largest size are nearly endless; and it must be observed that organs vary so much in detail of tone and balance, that each large instrument presents to some extent a separate problem to the player.

It is remarkable that in the great organ works of Bach and his school there is hardly an indication of the stops to be employed. It is perhaps on this account that it was long the custom, and is so still with a majority of players, to treat Bach's fugues for the organ as if they were things to be mechanically ground out without any attempt at effect or colouring; as if, as we heard a distinguished player express it, it were sufficient to pull out all the stops of a big organ 'and then wallow in it.' It is no wonder under these circumstances that many people think of organ fugues as essentially 'dry.' The few indications that are given in Bach's works, as in the Toccata in the Doric mode, show, however, that he was fully alive to the value of contrast of tone and effect; and with all the increased mechanical facilities for changing and adjusting the stops in these days, we certainly ought to look for some more intelligent 'scoring' of these great works for the organ, in accordance with their style and character, which is in fact as various as that of any other branch of classical music, and to get rid of the idea that all fugues must necessarily be played as loud as possible. Many of Bach's organ works are susceptible of most delicate and even playful treatment in regard to effect; and nearly all the graver ones contain episodes which seem as if purposely intended to suggest variety of treatment. There must, however, be a distinction made between fugues which have 'episodes,' and fugues which proceed in a regular and unbroken course to a climax. Some of Bach's organ fugues, and nearly all of Mendelssohn's, are of the latter class, and require to be treated accordingly.

In arranging the effective treatment of organ music of this class, it is necessary often to make a special study of the opportunities for changing the stops so as to produce no perceptible break in the flow of the whole. The swell-organ is the most useful bridge for passing from loud to soft