Octave Quint English
Twelfth English
Docena Spanish
Quint French, German
Duodecima Latin
Minerici (unknown)
Open Twelfth English

A mutation stop of 2-2/3' in the manuals and 5-1/3' in the pedal. It represents the lowest non-unison pitch that reinforces a harmonic of the fundamental pitch (8' on the manuals, 16' on the pedals). As such, it is the most important mutation pitch. It serves to bind together the 8' and 4' tones in a Principal chorus.

This stop is usually constructed of open cylindrical metal pipes yielding Diapason tone, usually and properly of smaller scale than the 4' Octave of the same division. Other forms and tones are used, especially conical pipes. On the theatre organ, the 2-2/3' pitch is taken from the Tibia Clausa or Concert Flute.

The name Quint is more properly a synonym for Fifth The name Nasard and its variants are often used as synonyms for Twelfth, but they are more properly of flute tone. Adlung writes: “Minerici 3' formerly stood in the Cathedral at Merseburg, and must have been an ordinary Quinte.”

Variants

Cylinderquint  
Echo Twelfth
Flute Quint
Gedeckt Twelfth  
Geigen Twelfth
Gemshorn Twelfth  
Major Twelfth
String Twelfth

Examples

This stop is extremely common, especially under the names Quint, with about 400 examples in Osiris, and Twelfth, with about 240 examples. Osiris contains 120 examples of Docena, 45 of Octave Quint, and 13 of Duodecima. No examples of Minerici or Open Twelfth are known. Contributions welcome.

Sound Clips

See the Sound Files appendix for general information.

Qvinta 3' [2-2/3'], Hauptwerk Reinhardtsgrimma, Sachsen, Germany Silbermann, 1731 arpeggio
Nazard 2-2/3', Swell First Baptist Church, Riverside, California, USA Schantz, 1966 arpeggio

Bibliography

Adlung[1]: §140 Duodecima, §166 Minerici, §179 Quinta. Audsley[1]: Octave; Twelfth. Audsley[2]: I.XIII Octave; Twelfth. Bedos[1]: § 152, 154, 157, 168, 242-245, 266, 953, 1293.4-5. Bonavia-Hunt[1]: Octave Quint; Twelfth. Grove[1]: Twelfth. Hopkins & Rimbault[1]: § 611. Irwin[1]: Twelfth. Locher[1]: Nassat. Maclean[1]: Quint. Skinner[1]: 24; XII Nazard, Twelfth. Strony[1]: Nazard. Sumner[1]: Duodecima; Twelfth. Wedgwood[1]: Docena; Duodecima; Minerici; Twelfth. Williams[1]: Glossary: Decem; Gemshorn; Untersatz.
 
Copyright © 2004 Edward L. Stauff, all rights reserved.
Twelfth.html - Last updated 4 December 2004.
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