2. It will stand well in tune, without attention, even for years, especially if the smaller stopped pipes be of metal with chimneys.
3. A new player will be met by no special difficulty whatever.
4. As there is no "swell," there can be no exhibition, on the part of the player, of the peculiar forms of bad taste to which that invention lends fatal facility; and as there are no pedals, there will be no lumbering and blundering attempts to play grand compositions never meant for village churches.
5. Its power, or volume, will be ample for the accompaniment of the ordinary congregational singing of two or three hundred persons, and more than abundantly sufficient for the support of a rustic choir; and it emits no sounds which can provoke criticism by singularity of intonation, and which have not been found, by long years of experience, to be invariably agreeable to all musical ears.
Organ No. 2. To the four-stop instrument just described, a "Dulciana" might be added, at a further cost of about £10, less or more, according to quality of pipe-metal, &c. Its compass will be from Tenor C to top, or, still better, from B flat or a lower note, the remaining sounds being obtained by grooving to the Stopped Diapason. The Dulciana is of beautifully delicate tone, slightly nasal; when played with the Stopped Diapason it gives a charming clearness and sonority to that soft stop. When the Flute is added, we have a true choir-organ quality, most useful in the accompaniment of low and solemn music.
Remark.—Some builders or organists may recommend a "Salicional," or "Viola di Gamba," or "Keraulophon," in place of the Dulciana. All these stops, when properly made, are of beautiful tone, but their beauty is of a kind which soon satisfies, and then is apt to weary the listener. They are therefore excluded from our village organ by one of our maxims. The same sentence of exclusion must be passed upon the class of stops known as "Lieblich Gedact," and rightly introduced in large organs as alternatives for the Stopped Diapason and Stopped Flute. "Their tone in the treble," says Mr. Hayne,[7] "is so peculiar as to become wearisome, and a little of them goes a very long way." The imitative Flutes, which have many different names, as "Flauto Traverso," "Concert Flute," "Oboe Flute," and the like, find their place in organs of much larger dimensions than our village organ; and Harmonic stops, of every pitch and quality, are shut out by their costliness, if not by the character of their tone, which is unacceptable to some ears.
[7] "Hints, &c.," p. 14.
Organ No. 3. Perhaps greater loudness may be reasonably desired when the village church is large and the singers numerous. This accession of power will be gained by adding two more complete ranks of pipes, namely, a Twelfth of three feet (nominal) and a Fifteenth of two feet, both in metal. We cannot enter into controversy with modern purists who object to the Twelfth. Enough that its effect, when duly balanced, has been accepted as dignified and elevating for centuries past. As it is never used without the Fifteenth, the pipes of both may be governed by one slider, and in this case the stop may be called "Mixture, ii. ranks."
The additional cost of the Twelfth and Fifteenth, with the necessary enlargement of the sound-board and bellows, may be £20 or £25.
Organ No. 4. The stops which have been enumerated, with one or two additions, might be distributed between two manuals, with great advantage to the player, and without a violation of any of our self-imposed conditions. Instead of suggesting the list of stops ourselves, we give the names and distribution of those in the beautiful little organ in the choir of Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, designed by the late Sir J. Sutton, Bart., and built by the late J. C. Bishop, some old wooden pipes by Schmidt being worked in.