Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:46 pm
Most intriguing, I was not aware that there would be a difference ...
Dictionary of Organ Stops:
Clarabella English
Claribel English
Claribella English?
Offenflöte German
Flauto Tedesca Italian?
Dolciano (unknown)
The Clarabella, whose name derives from the Latin clarus (“bright”) and bellus (“beautiful”), is an open wooden flute invented by J. C. Bishop in the early 1800's; Grove dates it from around 1825, Sumner from around 1840. It was originally a Stopped Diapason with the stoppers removed, intended to replace the treble range of that stop, which Bishop found insufficient to balance the ever-increasing power of the Open Diapasons of the time. Pitched at 8', it was at first a treble stop only, starting at middle C, and later extending down to tenor C, the bass being of stopped pipes or borrowed from another rank. The open pipes of the Clarabella were only rarely extended down to 8' C. While Bonavia-Hunt maintains there is no advantage to using open pipes in the bass octave, claiming that the break between open and stopped pipes “can be completely covered by a skilful voicer & finisher”, other sources insist that the preferred practice is to use open pipes throughout. It became a great favorite of English organ builders, appearing more often than not in instruments of the latter half of the 1800's. By the turn of the century, Wedgwood reported that it had apparently fallen into disfavor. It is almost invariably found at 8' pitch, and rarely at 16' or 4'.
The tone of the Clarabella has been variously described as fluty, full, round, velvety, thick, dull, and cloying. It has been compared to the Hohlflöte, though not as strong and full. Audsley considers its tone to be midway between that of the Hohlflöte and the Open Diapason. Maclean suggests that it may be considered a scaled-down Pedal Open Wood, and Bonavia-Hunt writes: “The 16' Clarabella frequently appears in pedal, but is never so labelled, the name of open diapason 16' being commonly (and incorrectly) assigned to it.” Generally considered to be a good solo voice, Audsley considers the Clarabella to be even more useful in combination, but other sources do not consider it a good blender.
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Claribel Flute English
Clarabel Flute English
Octave Clarabella English
The name Claribel Flute was apparently first used by Henry Willis for a form of Clarabella. In his entry for Clarabella, Wedgwood provides the illustration reproduced here, with the following description:
The Willis variety of this stop (Claribel Flute), though first constructed of wood, was later made of metal and was of harmonic form. In some instances large holes were pierced in the pipes both in the centre and at the top. The size of these apertures could be regulated by means of overlapping (tuning) slides (only one of which is shown in the accompanying illustration).
According to Grove, Willis's stop was sometimes harmonic in the top octave. More likely is Audsley's and Sumner's claim that it was metal from middle c1, harmonic from g1, and wooden in the tenor and bass. While Grove and Irwin describe the Claribel Flute as a 4' stop, and Audsley calls it an Octave Clarabella, in actual usage it is far more common as an 8' stop. Skinner defines it simply as a small-scaled Clarabella, and Maclean lists the two as synonymous. Grove dates it from around 1860; the earliest known examples (see below) are from around 1870.
GrahamG