Organ Works Organ (Sol

Solo Organ (3 Preludes and Fugues Op.37 - 6 Sonatas Op.65)

"With the following compositions much depends upon a judicious choice of the stops. But in as much as every organ of which I have cognisance required, in this respect, is own particular treatment owing to the fact that the like-named stops on different instruments do not always produce uniform effects, I have confined myself to prescribing certain limits only, without actually indicating the specific stops to be used. Thus I employ the term FORTISSIMO as suggestive of the full organ (grand jeu) and PIANISSIMO as generally implying a soft 8-foot stop by itself; FORTE as indicative of the full organ without the admixture of any of the fullest stops; PIANO as a combination of several 8-foot stops, and so on. Where the PEDALS are indicated my idea is, even in the PIANISSIMO, that the 8-foot and 16-foot stops should be combined, excepting only where the contrary is especially prescribed (see the sixth Sonata). It is, therefore, left to the discretion of the player himself to select the mixtures of the various stops in a manner suited to the individual pieces, but it is essential to take care that in combining two manuals the one manual shall be distinct from the other as regards tone-quality without, however, producing a harsh contrast in this respect." (Felix Mendelssohn)