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Following a suggestion by Thomas in another discussion, I'm starting one here about registration in French symphonic music. For the moment, I just restrict myself to the typical registration for the outer mouvements of symphonies by Widor and Vierne, where indications in the score are usually least explicit.
Widor and Vierne tailored their works to the instruments built by Cavaillé-Coll (some other organ builders of that time, such as Puget or Merklin, used similar tonal designs), so first of all, a few words about the way these instruments were built.
Usually, Cavaillé-Coll (CC for short) built two chests for each division (the chest is the device which conducts the wind into the pipes through "valves" that are linked to the keys of the manuals; see this link for some nice diagrams on the inner architecture of a chest). The first chest contains all lower pitched flue stops, up to 4', whereas the second chest contains all the higher pitched flue stops (including mutations and mixtures) and the reeds. The point is that the stops on the first chest need a lot of wind, but not at high pressure, while those on the second chest need a lesser amount of wind, but at (much) higher pressure. (There are exceptions sometimes: one often sees some 4' flue stops on the second chest, or a soft reed such as the oboe on the first.)
In CC's instruments, reeds always predominate over mixtures (and there are only very few mutations), hence the second chest is usually called the reed chest.
Now remember: you have two chests for each division (for example, an instrument with three manuals and pedal will have eight chests). In addition, the admission of the wind into the reed chests is controlled by a valve that the player can operate from the console with his feet. I've found a nice picture of how this looks like.
<font color="yellow">1. THEORY</font>
As an example, let us take Widor's famous Toccata, from his Symphony #5, on a standard three-manual CC organ (Great-Choir-Swell).
<ul type="square">[*]At the beginning, you pull all the stops (except some soft reeds like the Voix humaine and undulating stops like Voix céleste or Unda maris), as well as all couplers, you check that the swell box is open, and you activate all the reed chests.
[*]Towards the middle, Widor asks for a diminuendo leading from fff to pp. This is done in stages, as follows:
-shut down the reed chests of Pedal and Great (fff to ff),
-then shut down the reed chest of Choir (ff to f),
-(very important!) keep the reed chest of Swell active at all times,
-close the swell box (f to pp).
[*]The "small" crescendo" in the middle of the pp section should be done by the swell box alone - don't add any stops here.
[*]Of course, the subsequent big crescendo from pp to fff is realized via the reverse operations in reverse order: first open the swell box, then add the Choir reed chest, then the Great and Pedal reed chests.
[/list]
In some symphonies, Widor and Vierne tell you to add "Anches du Positif" or "Anches du Grand-Orgue" at some point. Literally, this means "Choir reeds" or "Great reeds", but again: it really means you should add all the stops on the division's reed chest (i.e. the actual reeds, plus the mixtures, plus the high pitched flue stops). On a CC organ, you can do this by drawing the corresponding stops in advance, but keeping the chest closed until the "Anches" indication tells you to activate it. You then simply operate the chest valve with your foot, so changes in registration can be done without the help of an assistant.
You may wonder why I insisted, in Widor's Toccata, to keep the Swell reeds going at all times. There are two reasons for this.
<ul type="square">[*]Their continuous presence insures that the decrescendo from fff to pp, and the subsequent crescendo back to fff, change the sound's intensity, but not its colour (when the Swell reeds are the only ones left, removing them would give you flue stops only - an abrupt change in colour).
[*]When the Swell reeds are present, the action of the swell box is much more effective.
[/list]
If you can get hold of Ben van Oosten's recording of the Toccata at St-Ouen (published by MDG), listen to it: it's a textbook rendition of the principles I've described here - and very exciting playing, too!
<font color="yellow">2. PRACTICE</font>
Of course, if you play on an organ whose tonal design is different from those of CC, you can't apply all these recipes literally. Even if it's a CC, you have to adapt them to the particular instrument you're playing. But you should still try to render the spirit:
<ul type="square">[*]a crescendo should be done with the swell box first (the Swell being strongly registered to make this effective), then by adding groups of stops, in stages (if the crescendo is to lead to a tutti)
[*]such additions (or subtractions) of groups of stops should occur on a strong beat
[*]register those (de)crescendi in such a way that the sound's colour remains as constant as possible
[*]the original "CC sound" requires predominance of reeds over mixtures, so if the latter are too sharp, you should consider not using all of them
[/list]
OK, I'm afraid that's all I have time for today. - Comments are of course welcome!
Widor and Vierne tailored their works to the instruments built by Cavaillé-Coll (some other organ builders of that time, such as Puget or Merklin, used similar tonal designs), so first of all, a few words about the way these instruments were built.
Usually, Cavaillé-Coll (CC for short) built two chests for each division (the chest is the device which conducts the wind into the pipes through "valves" that are linked to the keys of the manuals; see this link for some nice diagrams on the inner architecture of a chest). The first chest contains all lower pitched flue stops, up to 4', whereas the second chest contains all the higher pitched flue stops (including mutations and mixtures) and the reeds. The point is that the stops on the first chest need a lot of wind, but not at high pressure, while those on the second chest need a lesser amount of wind, but at (much) higher pressure. (There are exceptions sometimes: one often sees some 4' flue stops on the second chest, or a soft reed such as the oboe on the first.)
In CC's instruments, reeds always predominate over mixtures (and there are only very few mutations), hence the second chest is usually called the reed chest.
Now remember: you have two chests for each division (for example, an instrument with three manuals and pedal will have eight chests). In addition, the admission of the wind into the reed chests is controlled by a valve that the player can operate from the console with his feet. I've found a nice picture of how this looks like.
<font color="yellow">1. THEORY</font>
As an example, let us take Widor's famous Toccata, from his Symphony #5, on a standard three-manual CC organ (Great-Choir-Swell).
<ul type="square">[*]At the beginning, you pull all the stops (except some soft reeds like the Voix humaine and undulating stops like Voix céleste or Unda maris), as well as all couplers, you check that the swell box is open, and you activate all the reed chests.
[*]Towards the middle, Widor asks for a diminuendo leading from fff to pp. This is done in stages, as follows:
-shut down the reed chests of Pedal and Great (fff to ff),
-then shut down the reed chest of Choir (ff to f),
-(very important!) keep the reed chest of Swell active at all times,
-close the swell box (f to pp).
[*]The "small" crescendo" in the middle of the pp section should be done by the swell box alone - don't add any stops here.
[*]Of course, the subsequent big crescendo from pp to fff is realized via the reverse operations in reverse order: first open the swell box, then add the Choir reed chest, then the Great and Pedal reed chests.
[/list]
In some symphonies, Widor and Vierne tell you to add "Anches du Positif" or "Anches du Grand-Orgue" at some point. Literally, this means "Choir reeds" or "Great reeds", but again: it really means you should add all the stops on the division's reed chest (i.e. the actual reeds, plus the mixtures, plus the high pitched flue stops). On a CC organ, you can do this by drawing the corresponding stops in advance, but keeping the chest closed until the "Anches" indication tells you to activate it. You then simply operate the chest valve with your foot, so changes in registration can be done without the help of an assistant.
You may wonder why I insisted, in Widor's Toccata, to keep the Swell reeds going at all times. There are two reasons for this.
<ul type="square">[*]Their continuous presence insures that the decrescendo from fff to pp, and the subsequent crescendo back to fff, change the sound's intensity, but not its colour (when the Swell reeds are the only ones left, removing them would give you flue stops only - an abrupt change in colour).
[*]When the Swell reeds are present, the action of the swell box is much more effective.
[/list]
If you can get hold of Ben van Oosten's recording of the Toccata at St-Ouen (published by MDG), listen to it: it's a textbook rendition of the principles I've described here - and very exciting playing, too!
<font color="yellow">2. PRACTICE</font>
Of course, if you play on an organ whose tonal design is different from those of CC, you can't apply all these recipes literally. Even if it's a CC, you have to adapt them to the particular instrument you're playing. But you should still try to render the spirit:
<ul type="square">[*]a crescendo should be done with the swell box first (the Swell being strongly registered to make this effective), then by adding groups of stops, in stages (if the crescendo is to lead to a tutti)
[*]such additions (or subtractions) of groups of stops should occur on a strong beat
[*]register those (de)crescendi in such a way that the sound's colour remains as constant as possible
[*]the original "CC sound" requires predominance of reeds over mixtures, so if the latter are too sharp, you should consider not using all of them
[/list]
OK, I'm afraid that's all I have time for today. - Comments are of course welcome!
