Bourdon (organ pipe) on:
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Bourdon, bordun, or bordone normally denotes a stopped
This stop is most commonly found in the manuals and the
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
/flue type of pipe in an organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
characterized by a dark tone, strong in fundamental, with a quint transient but relatively little overtone
An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
development. Its half-length construction makes it especially well suited to low pitches, and economical as well. The name is derived from the French word for 'bumblebee
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...
' or 'buzz'.
Description
This stop is most commonly found in the manuals and the pedal
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...
at 16′ pitch. In lower registers, it provides the foundation but does not provide much pitch definition. It is also found in the pedal division at 32′ pitch, where its roll of sound can actually shake the building it is installed in. When installed in the pedal division, it is often known as ''Subbass'' or ''Soubasse'' (Fr.).
The Bourdon is also frequently found at 8′, especially in French organs, and is equivalent to the German Gedackt
Gedackt (also spelled gedeckt) is the name of a family of stops in pipe organ building. They are one of the most common types of organ flue pipe. The name stems from the Middle High German word ''gedact'', meaning "capped" or "covered".
Histor ...
and English Stopped Diapason, which give a similar sound. Although varying between builders, the Bourdon stop is usually fairly soft and neutral, but colorful in the tenor/alto register.
The pipes can be built of wood or metal, but are overwhelmingly constructed of wood in modern organ building (French makers from Cavaillé-coll on prefer metal). They are thick-walled and generally square in cross-section, with a high mouth cut-up to produce the fluty tone. Bourdon is a stopped pipe, having an airtight stopper fitted into the top. This makes the tone one octave lower than a pipe of open construction (they are only one half the length of an open pipe of the same pitch), and also eliminates the development of even-numbered harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
s (" squaring off" the timbre), helping to create the characteristic tone quality.
This stop is very common in church organ
Carol Williams performing at the United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.">West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.
...
s and indeed theatre organ
A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s.
Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements o ...
s. In an organ so small as to have only one 16′ stop in the pedal division, it will almost invariably be a bourdon, as the unassertive tone works well under soft or loud combinations, and blends well with all sounds of the organ.
Spelling
'Bourdon' has many spellings andGerman
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
organ builders will often use "Bordun", or even "Untersatz" (typically when it is in the pedals) on the stop knob for this rank. " Subbass" was originally a stop of a somewhat different design than the Bourdon, but the word is accepted today as a synonym for a Bourdon in the pedals. The Italian spelling is "Bordone".
Sources
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdon (Organ Pipe) Flute type organ stops