List of pipe organ stops

For audio examples, please see the article on organ stops.

An organ stop can mean one of three things:

• the control on an organ console that selects a particular sound
• the row of organ pipes used to create a particular sound, more appropriately known as a rank
• the sound itself

Organ stops are sorted into four major types: principal, string, reed, and flute.

This is a sortable list of names that may be found associated with electronic and pipe organ stops. Countless stops have been designed over the centuries, and individual organs may have stops, or names of stops, used nowhere else. This non-comprehensive list deals mainly with names of stops found on numerous Baroque, classical and romantic organs. Here are a few of the most common ones:

Stop name	Alternate name	Type	Notes
Aeoline	Aéoline Éolienne	String	an extremely small scaled stop with a very delicate, airy tone; built frequently as a single-rank stop, or as a double-rank celeste.
Blockflöte		Flute	German for "recorder"; a wide scaled conical or stopped flute of 4′ or 2′ pitch, taking its name from the common flute called a "recorder" which its tone closely resembles
Bombarde		Reed	a powerful chorus reed stop with a brassy timbre, occurring on the manuals at 16′ (and occasionally 8′), or in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch
Bourdon		Flute	a wide-scaled stopped-flute, 16′ or 8′ on the manuals, and 16′ or 32′ in the pedals (where it may be called Subbass or Contra Bourdon)
Cello	Violoncelle	String	a string stop at 8′ or 16′; has a warmer, more "romantic" tone than the Gamba
Choralbass		Principal	a 4′ strongly voiced octave Diapason in the pedal division, mainly for cantus firmus use
Claribel	Clarabel Flute Claribel Flute Melodia	Flute	an 8′ open wood manual stop.
Clarinet	Clarinette Clarionet	Reed	a reed stop with a rich tone imitating the orchestral instrument
Clarion	Clairon	Reed	8′ (pedal) or 4′ (manual or pedal) chorus reed, similar tone as the Trumpet
Cornet		Flute	A multi-rank stop consisting of up to five ranks of wide-scaled pipes. The pitches include 8′, 4′, ​2 2⁄3′, 2′ and ​1 3⁄5′. Three- and four-rank cornets eliminate 8′ and 4′ ranks. This stop is not imitative of the orchestral cornet.
Cornopean		Reed	8′ chorus reed similar to the Trumpet; normally located in the Swell division.
Cromorne	Krummhorn	Reed	Cylindrical solo reed that has a distinct buzzing or bleating sound, imitative of the historical instrument of the same name
Diapason	Montre Open Diapason Principale Principal Prinzipal Tenori[1]	Principal	A flue stop that is the "backbone" sound of the organ. Most commonly at 8′ in manuals, and 8′ or 16′ in the pedals.
Diaphone			A special type of organ pipe that produces tone by using a felt hammer to beat air through the resonator. Common on theatre organs, not often used in classical instruments.
Fagotto	Bassoon Fagott	Reed	16' chorus reed. Inverted conical construction, softer than a trumpet or trombone.
Flageolet		Flute	A flute stop of 2' or 1' pitch.
Fugara		String	A flue stop in 4' or 8' pitch. The tone has a sharp "stringy" quality.[2]
Gamba	Viola da Gamba Viole	String	A string stop that has a thinner, more cutting tone than the Cello stop. It one of the earliest designs of string stops, and is named after the Baroque instrument viola da gamba.
Gedackt	Gedeckt	Flute	a basic stopped 8′ flute in the manuals, and stopped 16′ and/or 8′ flute voice in the pedal
Gemshorn	Cor de Chamois	String	German for "chamois horn"; a narrow-scale, tapered stop. It is also usually the lowest stop in the organ that has one.[3]
Gravissima			Name for a resultant 64' flue (a 32' stop combined with a 21​2⁄3' stop, which is a fifth, producing a difference tone of 8 Hz on low C.)
Harmonic Flute		Flute	an open metal flute made to sound an octave above its length by means of a small hole at its midpoint. This stop has a very pure flute tone and was popularized by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
Hohlflöte	Hohlflute Holpijp	Flute	a metal or wooden 8' open or stopped flute.
Larigot		Flute	flute mutation stop at ​1 1⁄3′ pitch
Mixture	Fourniture Plein Jeu	Principal	Multi-rank stops that enhance the harmonics of the fundamental pitch, and are intended for use with foundation stops, not alone. Mixture IV indicates that the stop has four ranks. Mixture 15.19.22.26 indicates the composition.
Nachthorn	Night Horn Cor de Nuit Corno de Nacht	Flute	wide-scaled flute with a relatively small mouth, produces a soft, but penetrating sound; occurring at 8′ and 4′ pitch, and also at 2′ pitch at pedal
Nasard	Nasat Nazard	Flute	flute mutation stop of ​2 2⁄3′ (sounding a twelfth above written pitch)
Oboe	Hautbois	Reed	reed stop used as both a solo stop and a chorus reed.
Octave	Oktav Prestant Principal	Principal	A 4′ Principal. "Prestant" often indicates ranks that have pipes mounted in the front of the organ case.[4]
Ophicleide		Reed	powerful reed stop, much like the Bombarde; normally a 16′ or 32′ pedal reed; unusually an 8′ or 16′ on the manuals
Orchestral Oboe		Reed	a different stop from Oboe; intended to imitate the orchestral instrument; of smaller scale than the non-imitative oboe
Piccolo		Flute	2′ flute
Quarte		Flute	2′ flute on 17th and 18th century French organs; short for Quarte de nasard, sounding an interval of a fourth above the nasard stop
Regal		Reed	a reed stop with fractional-length resonators; produces a buzzy sound with low fundamental frequency.
Rohrflöte	Chimney Flute	Flute	German for "reed flute"; a semi-capped metal pipe with a narrow, open-ended tube (i.e. "chimney") extending from the top which resembles a reed
Salicional		String	An 8′ string stop, softer in tone than the Gamba.
Scharf	Cymbale	Principal	A high-pitched mixture stop.
Sesquialtera		Principal	Comprises ranks at 2​2⁄3' and 1​3⁄5'
Sifflöte	Piccolo Sifflet	Flute	1′ flute
Super Octave	Doublette Fifteenth	Principal	the manual 2′ Principal or Diapason; its name merely signifies that it is above (i.e. "super") the 4′ Octave.
Tibia Clausa	Tibia	Flute	a large-scale, stopped wood flute pipe, usually with a leathered lip; performs same function in a theatre pipe organ as a principal in a classical organ.
Tierce	Seventeenth Terz Tertia	Flute	mutation stop pitched ​1 3⁄5′, supporting the 8′ harmonic series
Trichterregal		Reed	an 8-ft reed stop on a pipe organ with funnel-shaped resonators.[5][6] A trichterregal was used by Schnitger in the Schnitger organ that he built for St. James's Church, Hamburg.
Trombone	Posaune	Reed	Chorus reed simulating the trombone; most commonly in the pedal at 16′ or 32′ pitch
Trompette en Chamade		Reed	Solo trumpet laid horizontally; can often be heard over full organ.
Trompette Militaire		Reed	powerful solo reed of the trumpet-family, with a brassy, penetrating tone
Trumpet	Trompete Trompette	Reed	a loud chorus reed stop, generally a single rank, with inverted conical resonators.
Tuba		Reed	large-scale, high pressure, smooth solo reed usually 8′ in the manuals and 16′ (sometimes 32′) in the pedal. Tuba is Latin for Trumpet; it is not named after the orchestral tuba.
Twelfth		Principal	principal mutation stop of ​2 2⁄3′
Twenty-Second	Kleine Principal	Principal	a 1′ principal
Unda Maris		Flute	Latin for "wave of the sea"; a very soft rank tuned slightly sharp or flat. It is drawn with another soft rank to create an undulating effect. Occasionally built as a double-rank stop called Unda Maris II, which has both a normal-pitched and detuned rank.
Voix céleste		String	An 8′ string stop tuned slightly sharp or flat to create an undulating effect when combined with another string stop. Some variants contain both a normal-pitched and detuned rank.  Play
Vox humana	Voix humaine	Reed	fractional length regal supposedly intended to imitate the human voice

References

External links

• Encyclopedia of Organ Stops, (retrieved from original, 8 February 2017) a fairly exhaustive reference that describes over two thousand stop names.
• Pipe organ tonal design, a French organ builder's site in sometimes puzzling English.
•  "Harmonic Stop". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.