Audsley lists this stop with the following description:

The term which has occasionally been employed by German organ-builders to designate an open labial stop, the pipes of which were cylindrical, of small scale, and properly made of tin in the best examples. The stop, voiced on wind of low pressure, yielded a tone of an extremely refined and delicate character, probably closely resembling that of the Vox Angelica, 8 ft., of today. It was usually and properly made of unison (8 ft.) pitch but an Octave seems to have sometimes been made.

Adlung lists Vox Virginea with the following description:

Vox virginea, the “maiden's voice” (Jungferstimme), is perhaps identical to the Jungfernregal mentioned above in §.161. Its voicing must be gentler (lieblicher) than that of the abovementioned Vox humana. It is likely of narrower scale, an octave higher, and also usable only in the upper octaves.

Examples

All known examples of Vox Virginea are given below. No examples of the other names are known. Contributions welcome.

Vox Virginea 8', Manual I; Nauvo, Finland; Schwann 1791.

Vox Virginea 8' (Discant), Manual II; Rauma, Finland; Stromack 1783.

Vox Virginea disc. 8', Manual; Ilmajoki, Finland; Wahlstrom 1768. Moved to Raippaluoto in 1876; apparently no longer extant.

Bibliography