Johann Sebastian Bach: The Organist and His Works for the Organ

by André Pirro

He copied a suite in A major by Nicolas de Grigny, organist at Rheims, and a suite in F minor by Dieupart,[149] and added to them a table of twenty-nine ornaments, with their interpretation. And he was acquainted with the works of Marchand, Nivers, d'Anglebert, and particularly of François Couperin. I doubt whether the intrinsic value of these compositions, despite their entertaining nature in some cases (for instance, Couperin's descriptive pieces), succeeded in holding his attention for any length of time; Bach could learn nothing from their technique, so often elementary; but he knew how to draw profit from their accessory qualities. Certain combinations of registers seem to us, in fact, to have been directly inspired by the study of their livres d'orgues, just as certain ornaments appear to have been borrowed from the "Agrémens" of their clavecin pieces.

I

We have said that one must not invariably interpret, by their present meaning, certain expressions whose significance is no longer the same as when Bach wrote.

First of all, the term Organo pleno, sometimes the sole indication given by Bach for preludes, fugues, or fantasies; one is often tempted to interpret it, on modern organs, by calling into requisition the uproar of all the registers combined, to whatever family they may belong.

Let us see what was understood in Bach's time by organo pleno, or volles Werk. "The volles Werk," says Mattheson,[150] "consists of principals, Sordunen (the bourdons of to-day), salicionals, octaves, quints, mixtures, Scharffen (small-scale mixtures of three ranks), of the quintadena, cymbale, nazard,[151] twelfth, sesquialtera,[152] and of super-octaves; with the Posaunen in the pedal, but not upon the manual; for the Posaunen are reeds, which are not drawn upon the manual with full organ, where, on account of the higher pitch, they would be too rasping; in the pedal, on the contrary, through the sonority of their tones, they produce a majestic effect, especially if the mouths of the pipes are covered, as is desirable."

In a former work, Mattheson had laid down the following rule for omitting the reeds from the ensemble of the registers:[153] "A reed-stop may not be drawn with the flutes upon the same keyboard, unless it be in the pedal." He makes an exception only in case the organ is not sufficiently powerful to keep a choir from wandering from the pitch and into chaos, when advantage must be taken of all resources.

The combination indicated above was, moreover, in accordance with general usage;[154] it corresponded to what the French called the plein-jeu. Nivers,[155] for instance, wrote: "The plein-jeu is composed of the Prestant, the Bourdon, the Doublette, the Cymbale, and the Fourniture; to those may be added the other sixteen- and eight-foot stops, if any there be; if there be no Prestant, the Flute may be drawn."

The same combinations are found in Le Bègue, Clairembault, André Raison. The last-named presents a curious example of the contrast of the plein-jeu to the reeds, in the "Kyrie in the first mode for the plein-jeu accompanied on the pedal by a Trompette en taille."[156]

This absence of the reeds from the volles Werk, to which other writers also bear witness, is, from a practical point of view, worthy of perpetuation, especially if we consider the very considerable place in certain modern organs occupied by this family, and the intensity of timbre due to their harmonic construction.

These registers were not numerous in organs of that time, at least in Germany, and, it must be added, badly voiced; they were often nothing but antiquated imitations of the thin and shrill Regal.