These names have been given to soft-toned reed stops of a variety of forms. Most of the names refer to an old double-reed instrument, an ancestor of the bassoon, which some examples of this stop are intended to imitate. It has been made with either free or striking reeds, and with short resonators (1/8 to 1/4 length) of inverted conical or cylindrical metal, or of straight or pyramidal wood. The resonators are sometimes fully or partially capped. Audsley and Sumner given them a small scale; Wedgwood claims they are large scale. Its tone is most often described as being similar to the Bassoon. It can be found at a variety of pitches, but usually 8' or 16'. According to Grove, the names Touzyn, Toussein and Douseynen were early forms from around 1510. The name Doucaine does not appear in the literature, but we assume it to be a synonym: all known examples are reeds, dating from the second half of the 20th century.

Compare with Tussin; see also Dulcayna, Dulzayna and Dolcan.

Variants

Examples

Osiris contains one example of Dolcian, listed below. It contains 32 examples of Dulciaan at 8' pitch and 12 at 16' pitch, the oldest of which are listed below. Of Dulcian and Dulzian there approximately 300 examples, of which approximately 75% are at 16' and nearly 25% are at 8', with three at 4', one each at 2' and 32', and two at 64' (resultants). There are 16 examples of Doucaine, all at 16' pitch except for one at 32' pitch, and one each at 8' and 4', borrowed from a 16' rank. The only known example of Dolciana is a flue. There are 40 examples of Dulciane, but only two are reeds. No examples of the other names are known.

Dolceaan 8', Bovenmanuaal; Westerkerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Duyschot 1686. May have been added in 1726 by Vater.

Dolceaan 8', Bovenmanuaal; St. Bavokerk, Haarlem, Netherlands; Müller 1735-38.

Dolcian 8' (flue), Manual III; Ochsenhausen, Baden-Württemburg, Germany; Gabler 1755.

Dolciana 8', Récit; Cathedral, Murcia, Murcia, Spain; Merklin 1857. This is the only known example of this name, and is a flue.

Dulciaan 8', Rugwerk; St. Nicolaas Kerk, Vollenhove, Overijssel, Holland; Schnitger 1720 (restored 1977).

Dulciaan 8', Rugpositief; Aa-Kerk, Groningen, Netherlands; Schnitger 1700-02.

Dulciaan 16', Hauptwerk; Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, Holland; Schonat 1655 (restored 1981).

Dulcian 32', Pedalwerk; Peterskirche, Sinzig-am-Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; Walcker 1972.

Dulcian 16', 8', 4', 2', Pedal; Dreifaltigkeitskirche, Liepaja/Libau, Latvia; Grueneberg 1885.

Dulcian 16', Brust; Katherinenkirche, Hamburg, Germany; Stellwagen 1543. (It is not known whether the Dulcian was part of the original 1543 organ.)

Dulcian 16', Ruckpositiv; St. Cosmae, Stade, Germany; Schnitger 1668-75 (restored 1975).

Dulciane 8', Brustwerk; St. Marien, Loxstedt, Niedersachsen, Germany; Wilhelmy 1786.

Dulciane 16', Positif; St-Louis de Vichy, France; Aubertin 1990's?.

Dulzian 16', Rückpositiv; Cappel Church, Wursten, Germany; Schnitger 1680 (restored 1977).

Dulzian 16', Rueckpositiv, Pedal; Dulzian 8', Brustwerk; St. Jakobi, Hamburg, Germany; Schnitger 1693. (An alternate stoplist for this organ spells these stops Dulcian.)

Dulzian 16', Rueckpositiv; Dulzian 8', Pedal; Marienkirche, Stralsund, Germany; Stellwagen 1659.

Dulziana 8' (horizontal), Manual II; Sacraments-Chapel, Liebfrauendom, Munich, Germany; Jann 1985.

Dulziana 8', Positive; Ferré-Lang residence, Garland, Texas, USA; Bedient 1994.

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Bibliography