Discantprincipal German Diskantprinzipal German Principaldiscant German Prinzipaldiskant German

Audsley describes this stop as follows:

A Principal or Diapason, 8 ft., of large scale and short compass, which extends throughout the treble octaves of the manual compass, or from middle c1 to the top note. The stop has very rarely been carried to tenor C. This short stop was considered of considerable value by the old German organ-builders, on account of its power of reinforcing the weaker octaves of the unison foundation-work. This weakness was so forcibly realized by Christian Muller, that he inserted two pipes to each note in the treble of several of the more important stops in his noble Organ in the Cathedral of Haarlem. This matter might, with advantage, recieve serious consideration at the present time; for the natural weakness of the treble in the Organ still remains one of its tonal shortcomings.

In The Art of Organ Building, Audsley describes five ways of overcoming weakness in the treble:

• Duplicating ranks of pipes. The primary drawback of this approach is the possibility of the two ranks diminishing rather than augmenting each other due to phase differences.
• Increased wind pressure in the upper octaves. The drawback of this approach is the additional space and expense required for additional chests and reservoirs.
• Enlargement of pipe scales in the upper octaves. This approach is generally a good one, though increasing the scale has a tendency to reduce harmonic development, all other things being equal.
• Use of harmonic pipes. This approach is not very useful for Diapasons, because harmonic pipes tend towards flute-tone. See Harmonic Flute.
• “Simple voicing and regulation.”

Sumner observes: “The stop is not now made, since proper scalings are used which prevent the characteristic falling off in power of the upper octaves of the old 8-ft. diapason stops.”

Examples

Principal Diskant 16', Manual; Kangasala, Finland; Thule 1845.

Principal Discant 8' (c'), Oberwerk; Jacobikirche, Dornburg, Thuringia, Germany; Gerhardt 1820.

Bibliography