Fugara German? Horn Gamba English Tibia Aperta Latin Vogar[a] (unknown)

The Fugara is a string of 8' or 4' pitch, popular among German builders of what Audsley calls the “later school”. It is made of open metal or wood pipes, sometimes tapered. Locher describes its tone as being midway between that of the Gamba and Geigenprincipal; Sumner calls it “indefinite”, half string and half reed. According to Audsley it may be a string/horn hybrid, or it may be a cutting string. Wedgwood calls it a Gamba that is horny rather than keen. Irwin describes it as bright, keen, penetrating, and usually loud; Grove calls it soft and slow-speaking. Adlung describes its construction as narrow, and its tone as slow, cutting and delicate, “little different from the Violdigamba 4'”. Maclean describes it as an octave Horn Diapason, and synonymous with German Gamba. Horn Gamba is mentioned only by Wedgwood, who lists it as a synonym for Fugara, but then says:

The Horn Gamba, as sometimes found in Hope-Jones organs, is of quite a different character. It is more musical. Though horny in a sense, it is not hard. It may be described as a Dolce pipe fitted with a beard, and “Gamba-ed” in tone. Roehampton Parish Church (Hope-Jones).

Regarding the history of the Fugara, we turn to Williams, who writes:

A term derived from Slav words for a shepherd's pipe (Polish fujara, etc.) and denoting a gentle string-toned stop of 8' or 4' found in Silesia [a region of east central Europe straddling Poland and Czechoslovakia] (Jauer, 1663, J. Hoferichter), Austria (late 17th cent.), German Switzerland (18th cent.) and Saxony. Janovka (1701, 1715) notes that it is common in Bohemia. Construction could vary.

The name Tibia Aperta derives from the Latin word apertus, meaning “open”. While Wedgwood gives it as a synonym for Fugara, Adlung gives it as a synonym for Offenflöte. The name Vogara is mentioned only in a quotation from Seidel in a footnote in Audsley.

Examples

Osiris contains about 150 examples of Fugara, of which about 30 are at 8' pitch, three are at 2' pitch, two at 16', one at 32', and the rest at 4'. The earliest examples are listed below. No examples of Horn Gamba, Tibia Aperta, Vogar, or Vogara are known. Contributions welcome.

Fugara 4', Manual I; St. Clement Church, Prague, Czech Republic; Steit 1719.

Fugara 8', Oberwerk; Schlosskirche, Altenburg, Germany; Trost 1739.

Fugara 4', Ruckpositiv; Wenzelskirche, Naumburg, Germany; Hildebrandt 1746.

Fugara 32', Pedal; Cathedral, Oliwa, Poland; Wulf & Daliz 1763-93. This stop may have been added at a later date.

Sound Clips

Would you like to hear what a Fugara sounds like?

For as little as $10 (US), you can sponsor a page in this Encyclopedia, and help purchase more sound samples!

Bibliography