Spitzgedackt German Spitzgedeckt German

Irwin lists this stop with the following description:

An 8' or 4' stopped manual wood Flute of pyramidal shape and very dull tone. It sounds fewer harmonics than even the regular straight-walled Gedeckt. The conical metal form also exists.

Sumner also lists it, saying: “A spitzflöte which tapers to a very narrow top, closed with a small stopper. The tone is quiet, dark and interesting.”

It is well known that if a conical pipe is stopped and over-blown, it sounds its octave, just as if it was an open cylindrical pipe. German builders have constructed a stop of such pipes, calling it Spitzgedeckt, but it does not seem to have come into general use, why, we cannot say.

Variants

Examples

Spitzgedackt 16', Schwellwerk; Kreuzkirche, Dresden, Germany; Jehmlich 1963.

Spitzgedackt 2', Schwellpositiv; Grossmuenster, Zuerich, Switzerland; Metzler 1960.

Spitzgedackt 4', Positiv; Trinity Lutheran Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; Noack 1969.

Bibliography