Fern Flute English Fernflöte German

A very soft flue stop of 8' or 4' pitch, made in a variety of forms, including wood, metal, open, and stopped. Audsley calls it the softest flute tone in the organ, essentially the same as the Echoflöte. The name means “distant flute”. The name Fern Flute does not appear in the literature; we assume it to be a synonym.

Other stops which claim to be the softest are Dolcissimo, Echo Dulciana Celeste, Echo Gamba, Viola d'Amore, Vox Angelica, and Vox Mystica.

Examples

Osiris contains two dozen examples, roughly half at 8' pitch and half at 4'. The earliest are listed below.

Fern Flöte 4', Nebenwerk; Dom, Fulda, Germany; Sauer 1874-77. Rebuilt in 1996 by Rieger, this stop is now in the Oberwerk.

Fern Flute 8', Echo; Congregational Church, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA; Roosevelt 1883.

Fern Flute 8', Choir; Church of St. Mary, Tyne Dock, England; Schulze. Audsley describes this example as an extremely soft Spitzflöte, Wedgwood calls it a delicate Gemshorn, and according to Bonavia-Hunt it is almost exactly the same as Schulze's Zartflöte.

Bibliography