Hybrid Hauptwerks

The Hybrid organ is something of an accidental tradition. Many large Cathedrals and Churches are home to an instrument that has been gradually added to and modified over the years, to the point where it is almost impossible to say what builder the organ represents or what style of voicing it conforms to.

A notable example of this was Worcester Cathedral, England, where a large four manual hybrid organ (commonly described as a "hotch-potch") was in place until comparatively recently. This instrument, while flawed, could produce intriguing tones that were uniquely its own.

It was this instrument and others like it that inspired my little experiment with creating a custom Hauptwerk organ using the CODM.

It is a large 3-manual instrument with 54 speaking stops of very mixed origin, being made up of sampled pipework from a number of instruments, all modified and revoiced to try to blend them together.

Like many organs of its type, this one is laid out unconventionally.

The main body of the instrument is split out on two sides of the room - Swell pipes and Pedal flutes on the left, Great, Choir and most of the Pedal on the right.

There is then a section located to the far right, in the Transept area of a typical Cathedral. This contains the 32 foot Pedal Contre Bourdon, the Pedal Open Metal 16, the Pedal reeds and the two solo reeds from the Choir - the Tromba Real 8 and Contra Tromba 16.

The specification is as follows:

GREAT

Double Diapason 16
Open Diapason I 8
Open Diapason II 8
Hohl Flute 8
Principal 4
Wald Flute 4
Fifteenth 2
Twelfth 2 2/3
Larigot 1 1/3
Cornet V
Mixture IV
Trombone 16
Trumpet 8
Clarion 4

SWELL

Rohr-Gedackt 16
Open DIapason I 8
Open Diapason II 8
Rohr-Flute 8
Voix Celeste 8
Viol D'Gamba 8
Octave 4
Flauto 4
Piccolo 2
Nazard 2 2/3
Mixture III
Sharp Mixture IV
Oboe 8
Trumpet 8
Cornopean 8
Contre Trompet 16

CHOIR

Violin Diapason 8
Hohl Flute 8
Erzahler 8
Unda Maris 8
Flute 4
Gems Octave 4
Principal 2
Nazard 2 2/3
Clarinet 8

Tromba Real 8
Contra Tromba 16

PEDAL

Contre Bourdon 32
Open Metal 16
Principal 16
Bourdon 16
Principal 8
Nachthorn 8
Choral Bass 4
Nachthorn 4
Mixture IV
Contre Fagotto 32
Trombone 16
Bombarde 16
Trumpet 8

This recording of Cocker's fantastic Tuba Tune is taken from Daniel Cook's excellent MIDI file, made available on ContreBombarde Concert Hall.

Hope you enjoy a bit of hybrid Hauptwerk!

http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/17635

I could see it as a 4M with many interesting stops on the Solo manual.

Rgds,
Ed

Nice job voicing and tuning to sound real!

I'll be honest, I went to listen with the expectation of not liking what I heard, which often happens when I hear these hybrid sets. However, I was very, very surprised to find all the stops seemed to blend beautifully and sound as if they were found on a single instrument. Also, I've never cared for the St. Anne's and used it only very briefly when I first purchased Hauptwerk some years ago; however, you seem to have turned it into a magnificent "cathedral" organ, which I would have thought impossible. Very impressive, indeed!

-Chris

Thanks for the comments folks.

Here's the crazy list of pipe sources for the Hybrid:

GREAT (Panned Mid-Right)

Double Diapason 16 FBR
Open Diapason I 8 St Anne's
Open Diapason II 8 St Anne's
Hohl Flute 8 St Anne's
Principal 4 St Anne's
Wald Flute 4 St Anne's
Fifteenth 2 St Anne's
Twelfth 2 2/3 FBR
Larigot 1 1/3 FBR
Cornet V FBR
Mixture IV St Anne's
Trombone 16 FBR
Trumpet 8 Litomysl
Clarion 4 FBR

SWELL (Panned Mid-Left)

Rohr-Gedackt 16 FBR
Open DIapason I 8 Little Wadlingfield
Open Diapason II 8 FBR
Rohr-Flute 8 Little Wadlingfield
Voix Celeste 8 FBR
Viol D'Gamba 8 St Anne's
Octave 4 St Anne's
Flauto 4 St Anne's
Piccolo 2 St Anne's
Nazard 2 2/3 FBR
Mixture III Little Wadlingfield
Sharp Mixture IV St Anne's
Oboe 8 St Anne’s
Trumpet 8 St Anne's
Cornopean 8 Groton
Contre Trompet 16 FBR

CHOIR (Panned Mid-Right, Reeds panned Hard-Right)

Violin Diapason 8 Little Wadlingfield
Hohl Flute 8 FBR
Erzahler 8 FBR
Unda Maris 8 FBR
Flute 4 FBR
Gems Octave 4 FBR
Principal 2 FBR
Nazard 2 2/3 FBR
Clarinet 8 FBR

Tromba Real 8 Litomysl
Contra Tromba 16 Litomysl

PEDAL (Panned Mid-Right except where stated otherwise)

Contre Bourdon 32 FBR (Panned Hard-Right)
Open Metal 16 St Anne's (Panned Hard-Right)
Principal 16 FBR
Bourdon 16 St Anne's (Panned Mid-Left)
Principal 8 FBR
Nachthorn 8 FBR
Choral Bass 4 FBR
Nachthorn 4 FBR
Mixture IV FBR
Contre Fagotto 32 FBR (Panned Hard-Right)
Trombone 16 St Anne's (Panned Hard-Right)
Bombarde 16 Litomysl (Panned Hard-Right)
Trumpet 8 FBR (Panned Hard-Right)

The Hybrid organ is something of an accidental tradition. Many large Cathedrals and Churches are home to an instrument that has been gradually added to and modified over the years, to the point where it is almost impossible to say what builder the organ represents or what style of voicing it conforms to.

Indeed. I remember chatting with the vicar of a church (in Suffolk I think) about the organ who said was by 'Bitzer'. In my innocence I had to admit it wasn't a maker I recognised.

The reply was "Oh, it's bits o' this and bits o' that" . Probably this is a well known joke but I hadn't heard it before.


Nick

Bitzers have feelings too!

Ask the old Worcester Cathedral organ...

I love this concept! I'm putting touches on a 5 manual hybrid CODM myself, I'm at the point of trimming back a couple of ranks here and there, and finding the best combinations for celestes...but it's almost done. (Though loading the thing in an 8GB RAM footprint is not really feasible anymore)

I really think, though, if someone could pleasantly combine a Willis and a Skinner...they'd have a real Winner of an organ.