RADIATING AND CONCAVE PEDAL BOARDS.
Pedal boards had always been made flat with straight keys until Willis
and the great organist, Dr. S. S. Wesley, devised the radiating and
concave board whereby all the pedal keys were brought within equal
distance of the player's feet. This was introduced in the organ in St.
George's Hall, Liverpool, in 1855, and Willis has refused to supply any
other type of board with his organs ever since. Curiously enough, the
advantages of this board were not appreciated by many players who
preferred the old type of board and at a conference called by the Royal
College of Organists in 1890 it was decided to officially recommend a
board which was concave, but had parallel keys. The following letter
to the author shows that the R. C. O. has experienced a change of heart
in this matter:
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ORGANISTS.
LONDON, S. W., 27th May, 1909.
Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry the Resolutions and Recommendations
to which you refer were withdrawn by my Council some years ago. No
official recommendation is made by them now. It is stated in our
Calendar that the Council wish it understood that the arrangements and
measurements of the College organ are not intended to be accepted as
authoritative or final suggestions. I am,
Yours faithfully,
THOMAS SHINDLER,
_Registrar_.
The radiating and concave board has been adopted by the American Guild
of Organists and has long been considered the standard for the best
organs built in the United States and Canada. It is self-evident that
this board is more expensive to construct than the other. That is why
we do not find it in low-priced organs.
In most American organs built twenty years ago, the compass of the
pedal board was only two octaves and two notes, from CCC to D.
Sometimes two octaves only. Later it was extended to F, 30 notes,
which is the compass generally found in England. Following Hope-Jones'
lead, all the best builders have now extended their boards to g, 32
notes, this range being called for by some of Bach's organ music and
certain pieces of the French school where a melody is played by the
right foot and the bass by the left. The chief reason is that g is the
top note of the string bass, and is called for in orchestral
transcriptions. Henry Willis & Sons have also extended the pedal
compass to g in rebuilding the St. George's Hall organ in 1898.
PEDAL STOP CONTROL.
For a long time no means whatever of controlling the Pedal stops and
couplers was provided, but in course of time it became the fashion to
cause the combination pedals or pistons on the Great organ (and
subsequently on the other departments also) to move the Pedal stops and
couplers so as to provide a bass suited to the particular combination
of stops in use on the manual. This was a crude arrangement and often
proved more of a hindrance than of a help to the player.
Unfortunately, unprogressive builders are still adhering to this
inartistic plan. It frequently leads to a player upsetting his Pedal
combination when he has no desire to do so. It becomes impossible to
use the combination pedals without disturbing the stops and couplers of
the Pedal department.
The great English organist, W. T. Best, in speaking of this, instanced
a well-known organ piece, Rinck's "Flute Concerto," which called for
quick changes from the Swell to the Great organ and _vice versa_, and
said that he knew of no instrument in existence on which it could be
properly played. An attempt had been made on the Continent to overcome
this difficulty by the use of two pedal-boards, placed at an angle to
each other, but it did not meet with success.
The Hope-Jones plan (patented 1889) of providing the combination pedals
or pistons with a double touch was a distinct step in advance for it
enabled the organist by means of a light touch to move only the manual
registers and by means of a very much heavier touch on the combination
pedal or piston to operate also his Pedal stops and couplers. Most
large organs now built are furnished with a pedal for reversing the
position of the Great to Pedal coupler. Though to a certain extent
useful when no better means of control is provided, this is but a
makeshift.
Thomas Casson, of Denbigh, Wales, introduced an artistic, though
somewhat cumbersome, arrangement. He duplicated the draw-knobs
controlling the Pedal stops and couplers and located one set of these
with the Great organ stops, another set with the Swell organ stops and
a third with the Choir. He placed in the key slip below each manual
what he called a "Pedal Help." When playing on the Great organ, he
would, by touching the "Pedal Help," switch into action the group of
Pedal stops and coupler knobs located in the Great department,
switching out of action all the other groups of Pedal stops and
couplers. Upon touching the "Pedal Help" under the Swell organ keys,
the Great organ group of Pedal stops and couplers would be rendered
inoperative and the Swell group would be brought into action. By this
means it was easy to prepare in advance groups of Pedal stops and
couplers suited to the combination of stops sounding upon each manual
and by touching a Pedal Help, to call the right group of Pedal stops
into action at any moment. The combination pedals affecting the Great
stop-knobs moved also the Pedal stop-knobs belonging to the proper
group. The Swell and Choir groups were similarly treated.
But the simplest and best means of helping the organist to control his
Pedal department is the automatic "Suitable Bass" arrangement patented
by Hope-Jones in 1891 and subsequently. According to his plan a
"Suitable Bass" tablet is provided just above the rear end of the black
keys on each manual.
Each of these tablets has a double touch. On pressing it with ordinary
force it moves the Pedal stop keys and couplers, so as to provide an
appropriate bass to the combination of stops in use on that manual at
the moment. On pressing it with much greater force it becomes locked
down and remains in that position until released by the depression of
the suitable bass tablet belonging to another manual, or by touching
any of the Pedal stop-knobs or stop-keys.
When the suitable bass tablet belonging to any manual is thus locked
down, the stops and couplers of the Pedal department will automatically
move so as to provide at all times a bass that is suitable to the
combination of stops and couplers in use upon that particular manual.
On touching the suitable bass tablet belonging to any other manual with
extra pressure, the tablet formerly touched will be released and the
latter will become locked down. The Pedal stops and couplers will now
group themselves so as to provide a suitable bass to the stops in use
on the latter-named manual, and will continue so to do until this
suitable bass tablet is in turn released.
This automatic suitable bass device does not interfere with the normal
use of the stop-keys of the pedal department by hand. Directly any one
of these be touched, the suitable bass mechanism is automatically
thrown out of action.
The combination pedals and pistons are all provided with double touch.
Upon using them in the ordinary way the manual stops alone are
affected. If, however, considerable extra pressure be brought to bear
upon them the appropriate suitable bass tablet is thereby momentarily
depressed and liberated--by this means providing a suitable bass. In
large organs two or three adjustable toe pistons are also provided to
give independent control of the Pedal organ. On touching any of these
toe pistons all suitable bass tablets are released, and any selection
of Pedal stops and couplers that the organist may have arranged on the
toe piston operated is brought into use. The Hope-Jones plan seems to
leave little room for improvement. It has been spoken of as "the
greatest assistance to the organist since the invention of combination
pedals." [1]
Compton, of Nottingham, England[2] (a progressive and artistic
builder), already fits a suitable bass attachment to his organs and it
would seem likely that before long this system must become universally
adopted.
[1] Mark Andrews, Associate of the Royal College of Organists, England,
President of the National Association of Organists and Sub-Warden of
the American Guild of Organists.
[2] Mr. R. P. Elliott, organizer and late Vice-President of the Austin
Co., said on his last return from England that Compton was at that time
doing the most artistic work of any organ-builder in that country. He
is working to a great extent on the lines laid down by Hope-Jones, and
has the benefit of the advice and assistance of that well-known patron
of the art, Mr. J. Martin White. His business has lately been
reorganized under the title of John Compton, Ltd., in which company Mr.
White is a large shareholder.