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The question of timbre and harmonic

vibratos in Les Laudes (0p.5) for
organ
Jean-Louis Florentz
Published online: 21 Aug 2009.

To cite this article: Jean-Louis Florentz (1993) The question of timbre and harmonic
vibratos in Les Laudes (0p.5) for organ, Contemporary Music Review, 8:1, 95-111, DOI:
10.1080/07494469300640211

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The Question of Timbre and Harmonic Vibratos

in Les Laudes (0p.5) for Organ
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Jean-Louis Florentz

Composing for the organ is a difficult task for anyone who is not familiar with all the characteristics and
peculiarities of the instrument.
For some years, however, perhaps more accurately since the beginning of the 1960s, a number of
composers, whether they received training as organists in addition to their composition studies or not,
have applied to the organ, as to many other solo instruments, a range of sound techniques which exist
within the different trends of post-serialism. With a few exceptions, they have not paid much attention to
the question of timbre or, more precisely, to the instrumental score. The various accounts available to us,
together with the works we have consulted, reveal an omission regarding the possible evolution of the
organ as far as the nomenclature and distribution of its stops are concerned. Brief remarks and in particular
suggestions relating to possible mechanical and technological improvements (choice of actions, variability
of temperament, coupling mechanism, setting of registrations, etc.), may be found here and there, without
the question of the stops actually being raised as a problem capable of improvement.
This omission has a well-known historical Explanation. Serialism, and the various aesthetic options
which subsequently derived from it, advocated the avoidance of all parallelism in composition; from this
requirement arose the specific, but understandable difficulty of writing for organ, created by the
reinforcement of harmonics at the octave, fifth and third when the organist added stops, particularly in
order to provide dynamic contrasts.
At the same time, the organist-composers who were not contemporary with this aesthetic movement
dating most notably from the post-war period, pursued their music against a background of traditional
inspiration and neoclassical aesthetics in which registrations were perceived as a form of coloration.
Olivier Messiaen opened up an important line of development in the investigation of organ timbres, and
I am often inclined to believe that his Messe de la PentecOteis a far more fertile work from this point of view
than the Livre d'orgue, which adopts a completely different, and more limited approach within his output
as a whole.
When I composed Laudes, I had, as a result of my (distant) training as an organist, a clear idea of the type
of instrument for which I wanted to write; I adapted myself to the present situation, while specifying my
intentions exactly.
This article attempts to document a line of research which appeared to be a fruitful one in the course of
my work: fruitful not only for my own purposes, but perhaps for the work of other composers also.

Translated by Catherine Dale

LAUDES, seven pieces in three sections

A L 27259 1st section nos. 1,2,3.
A L 27272 2 n d section nos. 4,5,6.
A L 27273 3rd section no. 7.

95
 96 J-L Florentz

Introduction

Laudes is the central section of a Marian triptych whose composition has taken nine
years, from 1979 to 1988. This trilogy began with the Magnificat-Antiphon for the
Visitation for tenor, mixed choir and orchestra (Op.3). It was completed with the
Requiem of the Virgin in for soprano, tenor, baritone, children's choir, mixed choir
and orchestra (Op.7).
Each of these three works is a paraphrase of one of the fifteen mysteries of the
Rosary: the Visitation (second Joyful Mystery); the Crucifixion and Death (fifth
Sorrowful Mystery); the Assumption (fourth Glorious Mystery). The whole consti-
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tutes an Office, intended to honour the Holy Virgin in a particularly solemn way,
which is derived from and inspired by the Ethiopian Keshtat za" Arvam.
In fact, the Ethiopian liturgy is omnipresent in this Marian fresco. It might also
be claimed that this is the religious and cultural world of east Africa, even in the
compositional details.
On the spiritual level, I have tried to give this work a supra-confessional
dimension. Mary, Mother of God and of Christians, is the Mother of Humanity, the
Universal Mother. This is evident in Requiem of the Virgin in which extracts from the
Koran, Jewish Falasha texts and Greek and Ethiopian Apocrypha appear side by
side. In the Magnificat-Antiphon of the Visitation this dimension, more disguised, is
translated into a symphonic style where certain polyphonic configurations are
repeated and linked to different rites of encounter (in the manner of inter-tropical
birds) after the long separation o'f African and Muslim civilisations.
Les Laudes are thus flanked by two works similar to the oratorio. The first is
actually an antiphonal h y m n with orchestra, and the second a liturgical story.
Between these two poles there were the Seven piecesfor solo organ, collected under
the subtitle Kidan za-Nageh or Morning Office. I have preserved only the form of the
original Office: a succession of short prayers which can be found in prayerbooks of
private devotions.
The title of each piece refers either to a particular prayer or to one of Mary's titles:
1. "Tell me your N a m e . . . (Nagranni samaka) : a call to prayer.
2. "Prayer for the deliverance from witchcraft" (Maftehe serav): an incantation.
3. "Harp of Mary'(Arganona Maryam): a sacred dance.
4. "Song of Flowers" (Mahleta sege): a meditation.
5. "Tears of the Virgin" (Laha Marvam): a canticle.
6. "Rampart of the Cross" (Hasura Masaal): a procession.
7. "Lord of Lights" (Agzi abaher zabarhanat): a hymn.
The texts corresponding to each of these prayers are often carried in amulets by
Ethiopians, both men and women. The amulet is contained in a case which can be
either rectangular or cylindrical. It is in the form of a smallbook or roll of parchment,
decorated with magical designs.
The Ethiopian Magnificat : "Watible Marvam ta'abbio nefsive" which appears in
almost all the pieces, is developed in a different manner each time. It is one of the
two principal leit-motifs in the work, the second being the Undulation of Aquarius,
taken from the last "Carillon" of the Magnificat-Antiphon of the Visitation.
The main importance of these two leit-motifs in Les Laudes demands an explana-
tion.
I. Christian Abyssinia consists of mysterious rock and crypt churches, frequently
monolith, perched on mountain summits with sheer precipices (in the Semien,
 Les Laudes 97

north-west Ethiopia) and at the entry to which stone bells (phonoliths), suspended
from creepers, summon the faithful. When day breaks on a religious festival, the
monolith churches of Lalibala vibrate with the effects of the repetitive liturgical
chants, like the "singing wells" of the Boranas, which the majority of southern
Ethiopian and northern tribes claim to have inherited from unknown ancestors.
There is one hypothesis that the rock-churches, like the "singing wells" and other
rocky constructions, are the work of a common megalithic civilisation encompass-
ing all of north-east Africa.
Through an association of ideas, the vibrato, more precisely the "harmonic
vibrato", became one of the fundamental basics in the construction of Les Laudes.
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But I wish to proceed further with these symbols.

II. The vibration is the result of an undulatory phenomenon and the double
undulation is the symbol of The Age of Aquarius, the twelfth and last cycle in the
precession of equinoxes before the End of Time, according to Assyrian Holy Writ.
The Age of Aquarius is often associated with "Paradise Regained". This is perhaps
the "thousand year reign" during which Satan would be chained (Apocalypse 20,
vv.l-3). Also, the only known phrase of the third secret of Fatima (which the Vatican
has not yet revealed) is its conclusion : " . . . In the end m y Immaculate Heart will
triumph; the Holy Father will consecrate me to Russia which will be converted and
an age of peace will be given to the world". Ethiopia became a Soviet ally after the
1974 coup. The persecution of Christians began in 1977 and was "part of a plan" by
the regime in Addis-Ababa to "eradicate Christianity".
The depth of filial piety and the devotion of the Ethiopians towards Mary, the
Mother of God, is well known. The rulers of Ethiopia have always considered their
kingdom as a Marian fiefdom ("Resta Maryam" means "the legacy of Mary"), and
the thirty-two feasts of Our Lady were scrupulously observed.
I have tried to make these Laudes "musical icons" of Mary weeping for the
persection of Ethiopia; but they should also be regarded as songs of hope in a world
delivered from tribulations and wars.
In this lies the central place of the Marian Triptych in the Laudes.
Since allegory is at the heart of this fresco, which I wanted to be unitary, the
principle of undulation and vibration is equally present in the Magnificat-Antiphon
for the Visitation and the Requiem of the Wrgin. But it has an organic importance in
the Laudes because it is also linked to the idea of a boundary, a temporary
inaccessibility (an allusion to the Age of Aquarius which has not yet begun " . . . In
the end, m y Immaculate Heart will t r i u m p h . . . ' ) .
In fact the "harmonic vibratos" are realised in the same registers which have an
orchestral value in the work which, although they may be sufficiently flexible in the
Laudes, can be given to most organs. Certain stops are, however, indispensable
because their absence would inherently modify the musical content of particular
pieces. Basically this involves the Mutation stops, and more precisely the Tierce
stop, 1'3/5.
The Tierce stop intends the sound to be understood as the fifth tone of a given
Fundamental, the major Tierce. Its inversion, the minor sixth, is the nearest interval
to that whose correspondence is 1,618, the famous Golden Section, but is even
closer to that of the logarithmic spiral which appears in so many cosmogonies. The
minor sixth is the generative interval of the whole modal, sub-chromatic universe
of the Marian fresco.
Some "harmonic vibratos" are composed so that in adding certain Mutation
 98 J-L Florentz

stops which are still insignificant (those of the Ninth, the Eleventh, the augmented
Twelfth and the Fifteenth which logically terminate the sequence of perceptible and
useful harmonics), they can resound in the colour of the leit-motif of the Woman
( . . . The Sun surrounds her, the moon is beneath her feet and twelve stars crown
her head; she is pregnant and cries out amid the pain and labour of childbirth . . .
(Apocalypse, 12, vv.l-2). It is with this leit-motif, with a large orchestra, that the sixth
tableau of the Requiem of the Virgin begins: "Columns of Sun".
Begun in Spain in 1983, the Laudes were composed mostly in Kenya and were
completed at Palma de Mallorca at the beginning of 1985. They were dedicated to
Bertrand Lazenne and Daniel Birouste, for their new organ at Plaisance-du-
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Gers.

The organic role of timbre in the Laudes

The instrumental palette varies extremely from one organ to another. It becomes
unstable in the course of time because of the introduction of various new innova-
tions for the organ. When revision occurs, all or part of the instrument can be
involved. The use of certain stops can be debated on the basis of criteria which
sometimes have nothing to do with music. This mechanism can be censured and the
opportunity to review this concept is rarely examined---even the internal machin-
ery, in order to adapt it both to features acquired after the building of the organ, and
to present and future needs.
For the time being, and for a long time to come, the composer must be content
with imagining the instrument of his music and to adapt his ideas constantly to
existing organs. He must also be aware that in certain cases, the stops which will be
heard and attempted on a given instrument will perhaps have been suppressed
several years later.
Whatever the future developments in manufacture, every organ is different.
Adaptation, re-transcription, and even reduction are intrinsic elements of the
instrument.

To composefor the organ means imagining a relative sound universe

Taking account of present restrictions, there is a choice of three options:
- - t o compose for a particular existing instrument.
- - t o conceive the work in the abstract and to register it with an organist according
to his instrument and his personal ideas,
- - t o have an organ in mind but which does not have to exist. To compose for this
organ with sufficient flexibility, allowing as many variants as possible in the very
construction of the work.
I chose the third option when composing Laudes.
The first option presents a major inconvenience: the imagination is limited
arbitrarily to the potential of a single organ, possibly of modest size. Conversely,
composing for a large instrument restricts the possibilities of performance to
cathedrals or great concert-halls.
The second option involves the abdication of the composer from his responsibili-
ties. Even if the organist can give valuable advice, he needs to know clearly what
the composer's wishes are. In other respects, certain stops, common to most organs,
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~4
,,,r

~4
H
o
r~

xs
Les Laudes 99
 100 J-L Florentz

can have a determining function in the work; they must necessarily be indicated
accurately.
The advantage of the third option lies in the search for a general form which
permits variants, while maintaining the organic functions of timbres in the very
material of the work. Such a concept allows breaks according to the possibilities of
the instrument, without directly harming the coherence of the whole. Thus the
same work assumes many aspects from the shorter version until it reaches full
flower on an adequate instrument. The adjustments always necessary from one
organ to another will thus convey inorganic parameters; it is the choice of a
salicional rather than a gamba ... the realisation of one cornet motif from many
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differentiated cornets, or alternating with an oboe, etc.

I. A n instrument for "Laudes"

The organ of Laudes is the instrument I imagined for more than twenty years : a
mutations organ.
By this I mean a relatively important instrument, built on a synthesis of harmon-
ics of 32', 16' and 8', up to tone 7, with at least three keyboards: a pedal-board, and
two manual keyboards. On a keyboard of resonance harmonics VIII to of 32' and 16'
are arranged, among them the Ninth, the Eleventh, the augmented Twelfth, and the
Fifteenth (= to the major Seventh of 2'). The following table gives the actual tones
of the 46 stops of mutation harmonics for the same played note. These stops are
distributed on an organ with four manual keyboards.
The totality of actual available notes is entered in the general range of a medium
to large scale organ, whose manual keyboards extend to C 6. In this also are the
limits corresponding more or less to the medium range of notes perfectly audible
to people.
This division of mutations presents a technical advantage which is far from
negligible each keyboard has at its disposal at least two Tierces and two Quints. In
fact on ordinary organs, the mutation stops--never numerous--are sometimes
placed in a w a y which does not suit certain registers. This happens no matter what
the repertory may be.

L l m l t e des sons a t g U s : 32va-i

Note r 6 e l l e :

# 006
2093 Hz 16743 t~z

Ls des sons graves.:

Rote Jou6e: [~] Bourdon 3 2 ' ~ =

_.
m
~0 1 Note r ~ e l l e : 9
8vaJ
65~4 Itx
DO -1

Figure 2
 Les Laudes 101
The table below gives the respective tessituras, in actual tones, of each of the
mutation stops on the resonant keyboard.

Etendue du e l a v t e ~ manuel. =-:" -----~ ::

-N'otes j o u 6 e e : --/
41- d

H'armoniques du 32 o l e o s : ~1 Harmoniques du 16 p i e d s :
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T r i p l e Octave F~ ---
-- rlOte harm.4' d FlOte harm.2' --~dP"

~Q
.,~,a1

~on 9 : G'zande Neuvib.me~': : - - ~ -~" P e t i t e Neuvi~me

-- harmonique r hermontque
1'?/9
3 '5 / 9

0 i / ~ ~1
T i e r c e harm. ~--~- / I
Son 10: T i e r c e harm. ~}: ~-- ~ --~ 1'3/5 ~ -
'" 3'1/5 d

Son 11: G~ande Onzl~me 9

~:~=- ~ Petite Onzt~me ---~=E ~ _ ~ _ _ ~ . "
harmonique hes
1' 5/11
2' 10/11
11q1

9 on 12: Q u t n t e harm. .:--" --- Q u i n t e harm.

2'2/3" - "J 1'1/3

Son 13: Gra~de Douzi~meu~~ ~ 9 P e t i t e Douzi~me

eugmentee harm augment6e harm.
1 ' 3/13
2' 6/13

_0 S'epti~mel,1/Thazm. ~ = ~ ~il
Son 14': 5eptt~me harmo -.~.11---~ ~-
2'2/? ~

Son 15:Gtende Quinzibme P e t i t e Quinzi~me ~

harmonique harmonique ....
1' 1/15 -J
2' 2/15

,
$'on 1 6 : Q u a d r u p l e Octave Q u a d r u p l e Octave ==_.'"- ~ |l
FlOte harm.2' F1Ote h a r m . l '

Figure3 Composednotesand thetotaleffectwiththestopsindicated

 102 J-L Florentz

The instrument is complemented by the totality of ordinary registers. My o w n

preference leans towards

---a wide range of flutes,

---gamba and undulating stops,
- - a large variety of soft reed-pipes with an occasionally archaic timbre.
---Great Full stops, mordents with strong attack.

II A necessary adjustment
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There is nothing revolutionary about "the organ of m y music". It only becomes so

if one thinks of other mechanisms, other stops, the intervention of other sounds
which are themselves natural: the inharmonic differential tones, additionals and
partials (the latter b y means of separable mixtures with the resonance of a bell).
This perspective is purely speculative.
It w o u l d be better to compose the score as one wishes, and then wait for several
centuries...
At present, the lack of mutations beyond the seventh on existing organs obliges
the composer to transpose certain sound events onto the score, so that they will be
heard from a corresponding height.
When I composed Laudes, the major problem was knowing how to organise the
work in order to avoid using an assistant, except as a last resort. To make a melodic
motif heard from the distance of a fifteenth of a Fundamental is meaningful only if
the fundamental is itself expressed. If this is not heard, an approximate harmonic
can suffice to infer this in its perception, according to the context. In any case, a
hand, a foot or a stop will be always be lacking in order to realise the passage in
question, especially if it is polyphonic.
The superimposition of the same pitch on the Fundamentals, obtained through
the transposition of distant harmonics, causes characteristic vibratos, due particu-
larly to the general harmonisation of the instrument. These phenomena can
intervene organically in a work, but necessitate the presence of mutations at least
as far as the Tierce. If the organ does not have a Tierce, a palliative should be
provided. This palliative can perhaps be the parenthesising of the passage con-
cerned, playable only on a suitable organ. In this case it is necessary to imagine the
functional consequences of what becomes a variant in the general development.
The use of weights assumes sustaining a tone or a harmony on the pedal-note.
The organist must have the time to place and remove the weights. It is sometimes
convenient, but its excessive use can lead to monotony.
The margin for manoeuvre is very restricted.
From the beginning of the Laudes project, I wanted a work for solo organ, without
the aid of a computer or instrumental complement. I did not wish to compose for
two organists (with four hands and four feet). All or part of the work could be
performed on a maximum of instruments. In the end, since this is religious music,
because Laudes is the second art of my "Marian Antiphon", other religious imperatives
are grafted onto preceding constraints, and have led me to compose Laudes in seven
sections which are clearly differentiated.
 Les Laudes 103

III. The provisional responses of Laudes

In order to respond in the best possible way to all the imperatives, I have adopted
the following five solutions:

- - T h e division of the work into several independent pieces of varying degrees of

virtuosity.
raThe parenthesising of certain sequences, allowing the performance of a piece in
an abridged form.
- - T h e limitation of mutations to the Tierce 1'3/5 and to the 2'2/3 in the "harmonic
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vibratos"; the systematic transcription of actual heard tones, allowing the organist
to use these vibratos in a different way.
~ T h e restriction of sustained notes (with the help of weights or an assistant) to only
two or three examples.
--The transcription into actual tones of harmonics beyond the seventh.

Seven independent pieces.

Laudes forms a whole. It involves an Office comprising:
- - a call to prayer ("Tell me your Name")
---an incantation ("Prayer for deliverance from witchcraft")
- - a sacred dance ("Harp of Mary")
---a meditation ("Song of Flowers")
---a canticle ("Tears of the Virgin")
- - a procession ("Rampart of the Cross")
- - a h y m n ("Lord of lights").

From a liturgical point of view, each piece has its place in an Office. As to virtuosity,
every level is represented, from the simplest (II) to the most difficult (HI).
The Tierce 1'3/5 and the 2"2/3 are the only two stops whose deficiency impedes
the performance of the greater part of the work, beginning with the "Song of
Flowers". Nevertheless they are common stops, indispensable to the whole reper-
tory of organ music.

The parentheses-sequences
These are not optional but do not impede the performance of the piece in which they
appear, between two double-bar lines. Laudes contains three of these:

--"Tell me your Name", bars 46 to 57.

- - " H a r p of Mary", bars 65 to 73.
"Lord of lights", bars 40 to 69.

1. The Little Seventh 1'117 is necessary in the first parenthesis-sequence. It involves

a "bells sound", distributed on a minimum of three manual keyboards. The same
chords, with approximate modulations, are found again from one keyboard to
another, but they are registered differently:
 104 J-L FIorentz

Fundamental 8' and octave-flute 2'

Fundamental 8' and Seventh 1"1
Fundamental 8' and piccolo 1'

The harmonics sound at least two octaves distant from the Fundamentals. This
distancing puts into relief a chant produced by these sole mutations and in which
the octave, the minor seventh and the major second dominate.
It is worth noting that a stop other than the little seventh would intrinsically
modify this "bell sound".
In other respects, the contrasting levels, the play of timbres in the Fundamentals
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the particular role of the pedal to which the little seventh is coupled, do not permit
arrangement. The single absence of the Quint 10"2/3 is not a major obstacle; the
sonority of the whole will simply be more muffled because of the lack of lightness
in the bass register.
2. There is a different problem at the end of "Harp of Mary". The absence of a stop
in Tierce 1'3/5 impedes the vibrato of bar 71 which the motif of harmonic flute
should amplify. The reason for this conclusion is no longer interesting. Accepting
that the use of the tremulant is barred from the work, because it does not allow
vibratos to be controlled, no other solution can be envisaged. In this example of the
figure, "Harp of Mary" is finished on an ostinato of small mixtures imitating the
sistrum of young deacons (bars 63-64).
3. The third parenthesis-sequence is an exposition, in rhythmic translation, of the
thirteen Sacred Names of God, in the initiatory poem "Language of Jacob". The
vibratory activity of this period is basically due to the superimposition of the bass
and Tierce stops on the Fundamentals.
The realisation of this sequence, without the mutations, has neither musical nor
symbolic meaning. Moreover, the pedal motif has no more 'colour, and its own
rhythm is no longer perceptible.

The "harmonic vibratos"

In Laudes I limited these to those which can be currently obtained with the stops of
Tierce 1'3/5 and 2'2/3.
Different formulas were adopted, independently of those which figured in the
parentheses-sequences. In each case, the actual tones are specified between brack-
ets, so that the organist always knows what needs to be heard effectively.
In the first part of "Lord of lights" (bars 11-12 and 18-20), the manual harmonic
flute 8 ~doubles the actual notes given by the sesquialtera II of the pedal-board. From
this comes the "vibration" of bell-sounds, and the action of beating.
Without recourse to mutations, it is possible to produce a vibrato superimposing
Fundamentals on several keyboards. A chord of harmonic flute 8', uttered simul-
taneously on the same chord with Bourdon 8', leads to a specific undulation. (Cf.
the coda of "Tell m e Your Name" bars 66-80).

Using an assistant
At a concert, the organist is almost always accompanied by one or more assistants.
I wished to limit this practice because the Laudes were designed for the liturgy.
 Les Laudes 105

An assistant is required only once, in "Rampart of the Cross", bars 38-52. For this
the position of the left hand is not fixed and the weights have no practical use. Two
chord changes (bars 48 and 50) oblige the assistant to play the part of the left hand.
Indeed, the organist can always omit the harmonics at the Eleventh of the melodic
motif in parallel fourths; in this case the anthem is distorted but his left hand is free
to play the chords. This problem will be resolved when the stop of Eleventh 11'5/
11 finally figures in the list of basic organ registers.
The chord of "Lord of Lights", bars 96-102 is fixed. The sequence is composed in
such a w a y that the organist has time to place and remove the weight necessary to
hold the chord.
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An assistant would obviate this necessity.

The harmonics beyond the seventh

As I have said above, the mutation stops stop at the Tierce. Some rare organs have
one or more sevenths. The inconvenience is that these sevenths are often Principals;
they are Doublettes and Whistles, resounding at the minor seventh. The acoustic
qualities of the Principals are different in nature, and the "harmonic vibratos" are
scarcely possible.
Beyond the seventh, there are sometimes two or three harmonic rows of mix-
tures, grouped in a single stop. The finality of mixtures is the inverse of those of the
mutations. The resulting timbre must dominate the perception of the harmonics.
The number and placement of the repeats of octaves are also designed to ensure this
homogeneity.
Finally, all these stops, beginning with the sevenths, are rareties, local curiosities.
Moreover, the acoustic qualities of harmonics given by the Mutations are all quite
extraordinary and still too little explored.
Here is an example of a 'complex vibratory field" realisable with a complete
Mutations-Organ.
The "distant bells" of "Tell Me Your Name" (bars 59-64) are registered on the
score in the following manner:

A)--[Swell: Fourth 2', Nazard 2'2/3, Tierce 1"3/5.

[G.0. : Quint 2'2/3.
[Ped. : Bourdon 32', Bourdon 16', Tirasse Swell.
B)--The same register, without the fourth 2' of Swell. The "bells" appear to
"resound on the dominant".
 106 J-L Florentz
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"t'.. E;,2 2 ~'#'k'_ I A ./.L~

/"i , .,r~l rl ~i Ill '!/

" I~ IIIT~ --TIIV .Ii|

~I~ I*~ ~ IT.V L - -

,,L -- .. "1

9 qiEi v 9 ! 1 " C.ll AI~IIF~

I ~1" b

I d.""

Figure 4

(1) If instead of the Tirasse Swell, a Flute, a 2'2/3 and a Tierce 1'3/5 originating in
the third manual keyboard, are coupled to the pedal-board, the actual supplemen-
tary notes will reinforce the entire vibrato.
 Les Laudes 107
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Figure5

Composed notes, and the total effect with the following registration:

[Resonance: Great Ninth 3'5/9, Great Eleventh 2'10/11, Great Thirteenth 2"6/13,
Great Fifteenth [ 2'2/15.
[Swell. : Fourth 2', 2"2/13, Tierce 1"3/, [ seventh 1'1/7, Swell/Resonance.
[G.0. : Fifth 2'2/3, Tierce 3"1/5.
[Ped. : Bourdon 32', Bourdon 16',Flute 16', Seventh [ 4'4/7, Tirasse Swell.
 108 J-L Florentz

(Conventionally, all the low tones, from the sevenths, are composed with a
descending arrow on the signs for raising or lowering pitch. For convenient
reading, the transcription of actual tones does not take account of the enharmonic.)
The following keyboard arrangement, playing in arpeggios all the notes in a
monotonous, ascending way, shows the anticipated, vibratory complexity in such
a registration (particularly between the connected notes), without having to take
account of cross-relations from one keyboard to another.
7J
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W'cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

,,~ '[ ~
Figure 6
 Les Laudes 109

IV. The 16 tone, real limit of useful harmonics

The total range of tones clearly perceptible to human beings is about 16Hz to 20,000
Hz. Beneath the threshold of 16 Hz, a very fine particle is first transformed
gradually into tight vibrations whose number diminishes by the second in propor-
tion as it descends towards the bass.
It is hardly worthwhile constructing a 64 foot stop because C I of the pedal-board
in real tone: C-2 = 8 Hz a approximately,, or eight shocks per second, given a
continuous rhythm:
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On the other hand, the limit of 20,000 Hz between D sharp 9 and E natural 9
(respectively 19911 and 21095 Hz). C 9 is the last real possible note, with the Piccolo
1' (on a manual keyboard going up to the key C 6 which, alas, is not always the case).
Between tone 16 and tone 32 of a given Fundamental, the harmonic frequencies
are brought together to the point of dividing the octave into sixteen parts. These
extreme harmonics are impossible to tune in the synthesis of 32'; moreover, from
tone 20, the upper limit of 20,000 is surpassed.
One can speculate indefinitely, imagining an organ whose mutation stops would
give harmonics far removed from non-existent fundamentals (a tone 32 beginning
with C 0 for example). Everything is possible but I believe that here the real limit of
the pipe organ will be found. After this, the computer will take over. But this
concerns another instrument.
The unity and harmonisation of stops of the Ninth, Eleventh, Thirteenth and
Fifteenth is certainly difficult but feasible because the actual notes which are the
sharpest will never be more than those of piccolo 1", a classic stop.

I have described "the instrument of my music" from Laudes, an office conceived

above all for a mutations organ.
Every organist-composer has own his preferences for his music, a reed-pipe
organ or a principal-organ etc.
I have not considered the denominations of "baroque organ", "symphonic
organ" or "neo-" whatever that may be. These terms refer to a particular aesthetic,
limited in space and time, and thus old-fashioned, like all historical elements.
This means that a work skilfully conceived for the organ in general and registered
with m a n y precautions, will always give a valid result, whatever the quality of the
instrument.
The score gives no idea of what is actually heard. The registration here has an
orchestral value. The absence replacement of mutation stops which are required
completely disfigure the piece.
 110 J-L Florentz

Appendix

" -; ~ { ro[ . . . . . P
~ . ,

" ' oO ,, . . . .
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-~): l , ~ I 1

Preparer:
X~.:-6ourdon 8'el Piccolo I' Cloches Iointllnes ,J-63
*Q.arle 2; Nlsard 2"~/~el "l'lerceI'~s

"~ t,1Doubletlel'
I~' ~,o:-r~o~,iea~,~,s"
2'§ 1,2,V,
' 5 /" C I 6 - -'~"
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[-" "l'-'~
~' ~ =n,"
" Rdc.:-C~mrte2"
~, ]. I [-. I~_-i(11 ..~ _.
la. i i i ) -:
x~ P&l.:-'l~r. Pos.~'rir. R~r R~= ~ L--~ij =.,..
(snr nn plus grand ins~nlnlent, P
r~ Fatdr 8ourdon 32'. enlev~r Quinte |O'sh)
l,,F.-.-,
I
'--~ ~ ~ ~ ), }
9, l- a, a, p,

' llt~.T.pours.b--J -4

(3.0:
, ... , [] -Ou|nte 2% Plus anim~ ~-IO0

Rt!c.:-Hasard2~ I " F,,. I

et Tierce l'J/s ~.u '
/.J.~

R~c.
_.t [.~ ~q.(')--[. -
Z Nd.: +Siff~t f
l

I'~
('li~.

I) Sonsf~rLsr

Example 1: The superimposition on the Fundamentals of the same absolute heights obtained by
transposing harmonics with the help of mutation stops. The creation of "harmonic vibratos". Laudes for
Organ, Op.5.I: "Tell Me Your N a m e . . . " bars 59 to 64.
 Les Laudes 111

Actual heard sounds

IV. ,,CHANT DES FLEURS"

(llamade: Bourdon 16'
R~cit:Masard 2"~/Jet Tierce |'~s (I)
rUS|tjf: J:JO(e r 8~
P~da|Jer: "l ir,Cha.T|r.R~c.
Tr~s souple al-60 [Trilles el I~tt~ies t r h irapides el Mynchron~]

; - : .-: ;-"" !f'----.;" ~',.;-"-."_',." i"..r'_-'F ~.;-~-" J. -"" ,; "T~3--~

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~ ~ i - ~ / . ~ "'----~1 ~-~ ,--- '~+- ~"

f
"l: ;. ~ I ~ I '. 1 -4.. -'~

rTi

Example 2 Dissociation of Fundamental sand distant harmonics. Maintenance and development of the
vibratory field through tills, batteries, holds, cross-relations of octaves. Laudes for oRGAN, oP.5, iv: "Chant
des Fleurs" (Song of Flowers), bars 19.