Walter Parratt

“ The fact is, that Touch depends on so many and such various conditions, that though its diversities can be felt and recognised by any ordinarily attentive listener, they are by no means easy to analyse satisfactorily. ”

“ Still the question of organ touch is complicated by the peculiarities of the instrument and the varieties of mechanism. Many organs exist with four keyboards (even five may be met with) , and the necessarily different levels of these make it almost impossible to keep the hand in a uniform position for all of them. It is rare to find any two of these manuals with a similar touch, and the amount of force required to press down the key varies within wide limits. Even on the same keyboard the touch is appreciably heavier in the bass, and inequalities occur between adjacent notes. ”

“ The boom of a pedal Open, or the indistinct murmur of the Bourdon, become very irritating when heard for long. There is no finer effect than the entrance of a weighty pedal at important points in an organ-piece, but there are players who scarcely take their feet from the pedal-board, and so discount the impression. Care should be taken to keep the pedal part fairly near the hands. The upper part of the pedal-board is still too much neglected, and it is common to hear a player extemporising with a humming Bourdon some two octaves away from the hand parts. ”

“ Much of it applies with almost greater force to the organ than to the piano. Extemporising on the organ will frequently become an aimless, barless, rhythmless wandering among the keys to which no change of stops can give any interest. So much oratorio music is now sung in churches and in other places, where on account of the expense or from other reasons, an orchestra is unattainable, that the organ is often called upon, to supply the place of a full band. ”

“ In acoustically favourable buildings, and when only just audible, the stop has sometimes a weird effect which is not unimpressive, but distinctness is quite fatal. The Vox humana should be placed in a box of its own inside the swell box. It is nearly always used with the tremulant. Opinions differ as to its capacity for combining pleasantly with other registers, and this depends upon the kind of stop. ”

“ However, I must confess, that of all the stops I have yet heard which have been honoured by the appellation of Vox humana, no one, in the treble part, has ever yet reminded me of anything human, so much as of the cracked voice of an old woman of ninety, or, in the lower parts, of Punch singing through a comb.' This more than century-old description is by no means out of date. ”

“ Reeds too, when good, are much brighter when unclouded by Diapason tone, and this is especially the case with a Clarinet or Cremona, though both are coupled almost always with a stopped Diapason. Organ-builders seem to have a craze on this point. The writer has often noticed that they ask for the two to be drawn together. The employment of single stops has this further advantage in an instrument of such sustained sound, and which it is almost impossible to keep quite in tune, that the unison beats are then not heard. Families of stops should be oftener heard alone. ”

“ The string tone, in spite of stops named Violin-Diapason, Gamba-Violoncello, and others, has no equivalent in the organ. The wind is susceptible of closer imitation, but the attempt to produce with two hands and feet the independent life and movement of so many instruments is obviously absurd. ”

“ It seems possible that the great improvement manifested by modern pianofortes in the direction of sonority and sustaining power may have given rise to a certain danger that the cultivation of the second kind of touch, that which has for its object the production of beautiful tone in cantabile, may be neglected. ”

“ There can be no doubt that this treatment of the organ has had a mischievous effect upon organ building, organ music, and organ playing.
The employment of the organ with the orchestra is not without its dangers, but the main principles are clear. Never use imitation stops or mixtures and hardly ever 4-ft. or 2-ft. work. The Diapasons and the pedal stops are the only effects which can be used without clash and harshness. A pedal alone has often a wonderfully fine effect. ”

“ A recently regulated mechanism is sometime in a state of adjustment so nice, that the slightest pressure upon the key produces a squeak or wail. This same mechanism after a time will be so changed by use and variations of temperature as to allow of the key being pressed almost to its limit without producing any sound. ”

“ It is generally said that the hand should be held rather higher above the keys than in the case of the piano, but as has been before pointed out, it is difficult to keep the same position towards keys so differently placed in relation to the performer as the upper and lower of four or even three manuals. ”

“ These repercussions are a great relief from the otherwise constant grind of sound. Again, the great aim of the old organist was to put down as many notes as possible, not merely those belonging to the chord, but as many semitones as could conveniently be held below each. ”

“ It would seem possible that the greater rebound of the hammer which would be the consequence of a sharp blow upon the key might render the actual contact with the string shorter, while the greater force of the blow might compress and so slightly harden the soft surface of the felt with which the hammer is covered ”