Cor d'Harmonie French

This stop is listed by Audsley with the following description:

This term, associated with Hautbois, 8 ft., occurs in the stop apportionment of the Positif of the Cavaillé-Coll Organ in the Royal Church of Saint-Denis. It would appear, in this connection, to be applied to the bas extending downward the tone of the Hautbois, which would properly be of Bassoon quality, and, accordingly would be furnished by Bassoon pipes from CC to A, almost two octaves.

Wedgwood also lists it with much the same description, using considerably fewer words. A note in the Osiris[1] listing for St.-Denis reads:

Cor d'harmonie seems a rare stop from early in Cavaillé-Coll's career. One is extant at the Chapelle Royale, Dreux, 1845: a reed with half-length resonators with a pierced double-cone at the top, reminiscent of Dom Bedos' Basson.

Examples

Cor d'Harmonie 8' (?), Positif; Royal Church, St.-Denis, France; Cavaillé-Coll.

Cor d'Harmonie 4', Solo; Basilica del Santisimo Sacramento, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Mutin-Cavaillé-Coll 1912. (The only other reed stop in the Solo is an 8' Tuba Mirabilis.)

Cor d'Harmonie 16', Positif; proposal for St. Peter's, Vatican City, Rome, Italy; Cavaillé-Coll 1875. (This organ was never built. The Positif would have also contained a Basson et Hautbois 6' [sic].)

Bibliography