What on earth is the point?

[NonPlayingAnorak]

Here, I address the subject of one of my least favourite organ stops - the Dulciana. That uniquely bland, insubstantial, English stop: not singing like a good small-scale diapason, not mellifluous like a nice flute, but with no string character either. Also generally is gentle to the point that it's impossible to hear against another stop of the same pitch. I've encountered dozens of the blasted things and always thought they've been useless. Pretty much every organist I've spoken to agrees. Yet I've seen so many cases on the NPOR of Dulcianas being retained while far more useful stops get kicked off the same department to enable the addition of such-and-such - WHY?! Come on, you need an Orchestral Oboe or a Vox Humana much more than you need a Dulciana - replace THAT with a Larigot if you must!

[David Pinnegar]

Hi!

The reason is because the Dulciana, apart from being a necessary quiet stop when one wants it, contains open principal harmonics. Therefore it blends with stopped pipes to give a quieter open pipe sound where for instance contrary to early 20th century and late Victorian fashions one does not have multiple open diapasons on a department.

It can also blend with a reed to modify it.

Earlier today I remarked upon a theatre organ played in all its collection of non blending solo tone colours glory . . .  and the Dulciana is part of that contrast in the classical organ which is more more an instrument of additive harmonic synthesis. In flue pipes one has three families of harmonics to blend - open principal pipes with a well developed harmonic synthesis (some Open Diapasons making up for a lack of reeds on a small instrument), flutes which are a fundamental plus perhaps one partial, and stopped pipes containing only odd harmonics. This is precisely why the pipe organ is such a fascinating instrument.

Best wishes

David P

[NonPlayingAnorak]

Well, my mother says that, in 40 years of playing the organ (and teaching it) she's never yet found a Dulciana anything other than a waste of space, from a 10-stop organ to a 100-stop organ... certainly, every one I've ever heard has been not just soft, but utterly gutless and all but inaudible right by the organ, certainly utterly inaudible to members of the choir across the church!

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

In well over 40 years of organ playing, I've only come across on virtually useless Dulciana - and that was in part due to the tonal make-up of the rest of the instrument (which probably holds the title for the worst organ that it's been my misfortune to play (aside from those where lack of maintenance has been more of an issue than downright poor design.

Every Blessing

Tony

[Holditch]

On my house organ the Dulciana is a very useful stop, its the only stop that can't be heard through the walls! It also is quite stringy which works very well with the stopped flute.

I understand what you are saying about not being able to hear many Dulciana stops especially in larger churches, however when you are only a couple of meters away in the case of my house organ then the rank is a blessing!

[NonPlayingAnorak]

Hmm. I do remember that at Ewell PC (39 stops of Father Willis in a church half the size of what the organ needed) the Dulciana didn't so much blend as disappear, being completely overwhelmed by even the Lieblich Gedact on the same manual - it really was no use to accompany the choir on either, it was so gutless, despite being very near the console. I know that there was talk of replacing it with a 4ft Octave Oboe to go wish the racishing, searing 8ft Orchestral Oboe (this combination being one of my mother's favourite sounds on the big Walker at the Sacred Heart in Wimbledon). I can, however, understand that in a very small church or domestic setting, a stop like a Dulciana could be useful - if only they weren't so bland and characterless!

Even worse than the Dulciana rank at Ewell was that on the 1952 Walker at Christ Church, West Wimbledon (not to be confused with the aforementioned SH RC, a vastly better organ) - that [b****r] was much extended, being available at 16ft, 8ft, 4ft, 2 2/3 and 2ft - there was even a three-rank Dulciana Mixture derived from the blasted thing!

Mind you, that organ was bad through and through. Barely a nice sound on it anywhere, positioned disastrously and crammed into a chamber nothing like big enough.