Organ stops

This page will try to give an overview of the different organ stops, with names in various languages, and roughly in chronological order; the newly invented stops last. My main source is my own experience, things I learned from other people, and the written works of Michael Praetorius and dom Françoys Bédos de Celles. I will mostly be describing the stops as they are known and used today, acknowledging that medieval organbuilding is often quite different.


Principal

Prestant, Dooff, Montre, Flautat, Open diapason, rarely Flute

The principal is the base sound of any organ : it is an open pipe of moderate scale. Throughout history it has been compared to a singing voice, a flute, or a string instrument. It is the medium timbre, the reference for everything else. It is with these pipes the Plenum is built. They are used as the front pipes in nearly all organs, and partly for that reason have long been made of a higher tin alloy, pure tin, or been tin plated when they were made of higher/pure lead. Some organs use tin for the front pipes and lead for the interior principals. They take the name "Octave" if they are one or multiple octaves above the proper Principal of the division. Italians and the English extend this system and refer to all principal pitches as a diatonic interval from the base Principal.

Different names for certain pitches :


Flute [open]

Hohlfloit, Flauto, Openfluyt, Fluyt, Holpyp, Grosse flute

The Flute was invented by shortening a principal pipe, making it a lot wider compared to its length. They also usually have a higher cutup than principals. The germans quickly called them "Hollfloit", hollow flute, because of the effect of the wide scale on the sound. This name is also found in France as Flute creuse in the 20th century. They have a thick, often boomy sound.


Bourdon

Gedackt, Bordun, Holpyp, Stopped diapason, Bordone, Violòn, sometimes Nachthorn

The Bourdon was invented by taking a Hollfloit, and stopping it : soldering a flat sheet of metal at the top. They also usually have a high cutup, which helps them speak. Stopped pipes present the advantage of sounding an octave lower than open pipes of the same size, at the cost of lower volume and a different sound quality. Stopped pipes only have odd numbered harmonics.

Different names for certain pitches :


Gemshorn

sometimes interchangeable with spitzfloit

The Gemshorn is a flute which is narrower at the top than it is at the bottom, often at a ratio of about 1/2. It was named after an instrument which is a recorder carved into an animal's horn.


Conical flute

Spitzfloit, Flute à fuseau, flute conique, conical flute, sometimes interchangeable with gemshorn

The Spitzfloit is a flute which is narrower at the top than it is at the bottom, but more so than the gemshorn. often at a ratio of about 1/3 or 1/4.


Quintadena

Quintaton, sometimes Nachthorn

The Quintadena is a stopped principal, a narrow stopped pipe. They have a lower cutup than bourdons, which along with the narrow scale accentuates the natural strong 3rd harmonic of stopped pipes.