En chamade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

En Chamade (French: "to sound a parley") refers to powerfully voiced reed stops in a pipe organ that are mounted horizontally rather than vertically in the front of the organ case, projecting out into the church. They produce a commanding, loud trumpet-like tone, used for fanfares and solos.

Any stop mounted en chamade will be much louder than a stop elsewhere in the organ, even though the stops stand on the same windpressure in church organs. In theatre and concert organs en chamade stops often stand on higher windpressure than the other stops, to sound even more powerful and commanding.

First seen in Spanish organs of the early eighteenth century, where the stop was called the "trompetta real" (royal trumpet) it was first referred to as a trompette "en chamade" in an organ built in Provence in 1772. The term was popularized by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in his organs of the nineteenth century.

Chamade was a trumpet call designed to be heard across the battlefield in the enemy camp, just before a charge.

[edit] See also

List of pipe organ stops

[edit] External links

In other languages